It has been observed in the past that the commerce and trade of Japan was largely concentrated in the hands of a few rich families. This tendency has become intensified since the earthquake, and firms like Mitsui, Furukawa, Okura, Yasuda and a few others, each of whose name is a matter to conjure. with in the Japanese business and financial world, are growing richer and richer, while the small merchant and the poor business man 1s growing poorer and poorer as day succeeds day. The difficulty that small firms experience in getting money from the banks 1y said to be the main reason for this, while the bigger firms, whose names have been cited, in many cases, have banks of thely own, or certainly are placed in an immensely more convenient position financially. It seeing as though the big firms are determined fo bring all the smaller ones under their sway and the latter are faced with either total extinction or the humiliation of never daring to aot otherwise than in concert with, and at the dictates of, the larger establish-..
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.