I want to stress that. our people consume much of such commodities themselves, rather extravagantly, instead of selling them abroad. We should certainly export all we can, to obtain the resulting revenue. The former may be all right in time of peace, but not of war.
As an illustration, very fine ayu (a species of river trout) are caught in the Nagara River, in Gifu prefecture. The whole catch of the better quality is shipped to Tokyo, and only the poorer grades can be obtained or eaten in Gifu. This is the established rule of business. To a businessman like me it is strange indeed that our people do not apply this rule to their export trade and increase their revenue from abroad, instead of freely consuming their best goods themselves, at a time like the present.
It is true that, politically, Britain, the United States and [France are not very amicably inclined toward Japan at present, but the people of all those countries are willing to buy from Japan whatever foodstuffs they need in their daily life.
AW other countries entertain friendly feelings toward Japan. To them, the sale of our foodstuffs is much easier than of our industrial manufactures. Unlike for instance, our fibre industries, which depend on foreign raw materials, our foodstuff industry needs only metal for the containers as the sole material that may have to be imported All the chief materials required by the foodstuffs industry are produced it home, Therefore, practically all the money obtained from the export of foodstuffs is net profit to our country. This is the reason why it should be "encouraged.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.