Nov. 29.
ALL engaged in business in the Far East would do well to make a careful study of a report issued by the Department of Overseas Trade on the commercial, industrial and financial situation in Japan from 1914 to 1919. It has been compiled by Mr. Hugh Home, Commercial Secretary to H. M. Embassy in Tokio. The period under review was one of the first importance for the country. Following upon the Russo-Japanese War Japan was experiencing a distinct setback after the prosperity which the conclusion of that struggle had ushered in. By 1915, however, the World War had dislocated many of the industries in Europe upon which the East as well as South America depended for their supplies of necessary articles, and such countries were forced to seek other sources, Japan stepped into the breach to a notable extent, and the result was"that from being a debtor nation she became a creditor. Her shipping likewise developed. All the time, however, there appears to have been a suspicion that the abounding prosperity was very largely if not entirely a wartime phase, but it was not until the armistice that trade showed signs of slackening. Again this was temporary, and prosperity was once more unlimited in 1919. The subsequent history of trade in Japan is too recent to require recapitulation here, but we may draw attention to one feature which seems to be evident throughout the/period with which we are dealing, namely, the nervous state of the country and the susceptibility of merchants to all rumours of danger ahead.
Of the goods she sent to Europe Mr. Home suggests that those most likely to retain their position as regular exports are beer, cheap cotton hosiery, glassware, brushes and matches. Since the discovery of anthrax germs in Japanese brushes, this estimate may have to be revised, but we need not go far into that point at present. Mr. Home admits that foreign competition will undoubtedly affect the demand for Japanese goods, but, he says, if the present quality and relative prices can be maintained, the hold on markets in India, Java,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.