The presentation of the Japanese Budget in the Diet during the carly days of this! month has made available a set of interesting] figures concerning the general and war expenditure of Japan. Total State expenditure for the 1939-1940 fiscal year has been estimated already at Yen 8,964,666,000 but it is! reported that the addition of a supplementary budget is expected to increase Japan's ex-Penditure to something over Yen 9,000,000,- 000. Of the former total the General Budget amounts to only Yen 3,694,666,000, Supplementary Budget (Army and Navy) Yen 670,~ 000,000 and Temporary War Expenditure Yen 4,600,000,000. Thus roughly 60 per cent. of the expenditure contemplated by the Japanese Government during the current year will be devoted to the "China Incident." Figures which have been published in Japan indicate that the end of the present fiscal year, when the "China Incident" -will have lasted just under two and a half years, the' total which will have been spent in Japan's: military adventure in China will have reached the very large sum of Yen 11,990,000,000, In this connection-it is interesting to note what the Army and the Navy have already spent in the course of their operations, and contemplate spending during the next twelve! months Army expenditure In Yen 1.000)
Fiscal year 195i 3,140,000) "inclusive) 4,999,010 the Mseal year 1998-1999
Total er 8133,019 Navy expenditure Up to the Aseal year 1938-1039..... 1,497,058 Fiscal year 1939-1940 '810,000, Total i 2,307,058 Reserve fund Up 10 the Mscal year 1938-1939 900,000 Fiscal year 1909-1000..........00.1 680,000 Total 1,550,000)
'The above figures are sufficient to show' the magnitude of the demands which are being made upon the Japanese nation in the furtherance of the military policy which has 30 embroiled it with China, and is indicative of the efforts which are being demanded from the people to carry on this costly struggle. Roughly speaking the figure of Yen 16,000,000 which it was originally believed Japan was, spending daily in China will by the end of the year have reached an average of about! Yen 13,000,000. It is possible that during] the earlier stages of the conflict when the! expenditure of ammunition, etc, must have been much heavier than it is now, the figure' might have been slightly higher, though not very much. Battles are not being fought upon so large a scale as earlier in the hostilities, but the maintenance of long lines of communication, and the necessity for main taining some sort of control, however slight it may prove to be, in occupied area are undoubtedly factors which prevent the daily outlay being more considerably reduced than it has been. Indeed, unless a very great change comes over the situation, it is! quite likely that the estimated expenditure for the year 1939-1940 will be maintained, and, providing the Chinese adhere to their resent determination, there is every pos~ sibility that Japan will find itself faced with similar expenditure for quite a number of years to come. There is nothing, judging from what has been reported of proceedings in the Diet, to suggest that these figures are fat present causing any great anxiety, though the opinion has been expressed that. this enormous expenditure will need to be closely' scrutinized at all times. The bond issues! with which much of the expenditure has. been met have been taken up by the banks who have not yet succeeded in bringing about very substantial absorption by the general public, though the latter has by no means! been behind in doing its share. Actually those bonds have been financed out of the! savings of the people, a point which it made clear by the decision of the Department of Finance to redouble its thrift and savings: movement in order to persuade the nation to} put by during this fiscal year Yen 10,000,- 000,000 as against Yen #,000,000,000 for the preceding twelve months.
'Out of the Yen 4,600,000,000 temporary War Budget Yen 3,920,000,000 will have to be raised by loan issues. 'The Services supplementary Budget requires loan issues to the amount of Yen 1,670,000,000 while the' ordinary Budget will require no less than Yen 1,080,000,000, or a total to be raised in this manner of no less than Yen 6,670,000,000 to which must be added further sums of] between Yen 200,000,000 and Yen 300,000,000 for the Extraordinary Budget and an addi tional Yen 4,000,000,000 to be defrayed in connection with the expansion of the nation's: productive power. In all, therefore, Yen' 10,000,000,000 will have to be borrowed under this latest Budget a very considerable sum indeed when it is remembered how by reason of various economic control measures the' earning power of the nation has been considerably modified. It would, however, be: rash to believe, large as these figures' undoubtedly are, that they afford any real op-Portunity of estimating how long Japan can prosecute her campaigns in China. It has been authoritatively stated that Japan could, if necessary, fight a major war to the cost of Yen 50,000,000,000, or half her' estimated national wealth. Should that be the case Japan at the present rate of expenditure could contemplate fighting for another seven or eight years, and while the financing would become increasingly dificult as the, years assed there is no reason to believe that she could not do it. OF the general effect upon the nation's fortunes there cannot be the slightest doubt, for in such an event the burden thus placed upon the people would be well-nigh intolerable. Should Japan be~ come involved with Russia, which, In view of these facts, seems to be a very remote possibility, the rate of expenditure would be even greater than that which has been created. by the "China Incident," and the magnitude of the figures already reached, together with the size to be anticipated in such a case, sug~ gest that the last thing that Japan wants 8 simultaneous struggle with Russia—an in= Gication that the Russo-Japanese "fisheries dispute may even now not lead to an open breach,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.