Muleden remains the principal commercial centre, but a great change hag come over that commerce. The railway town, which is practically li that many' travellers sce of Mukden, has changed most remarkably in the past four and a half years, The increase in the number of Japanese residents has naturally been great and with this increase has come a shift of the buying power of the residents which has been felt most by the Chinese merchants in the city.
A recent circular, prepared by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, fives the population of the railway town us 87,485 Japanese, 2,000 Ko-roans, 19,000 Chinese and 050 foreigners Including Russians. In the commercial soltlement and the. city there are less then 5000 Japanese, 1 little over 4,000 Koreans, 432,000 Chinese and 570 foreigners, The total Population of the city is given as 621,171, about 12 per cent, being Japanese, of whom a greater part live in the railway town, Every evening large buses bring Japanese from various government and other offices back to the Japanese section of the lly. Although there hes been a marked increase in the numder of Japanese residents in the commercial settlement and the city, yet the total number is only about one twelfth the number residing within the railway zone.
To supply the needs of this great ly Increased Japanese population, Japanese shops and department
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.