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apparent that the shareholders of a business company do not always base their amount of subscription on the amount of cash at their command, but on various forms of properties, such as bonds, real estate, merchandise, etc., so that a sudden requisition to convert them into ready money could not fail to cause a financial disturbance of no small magnitude. The cry of danger menacing the finances of this country has been raised by mere alarmists, who, judging by the sudden demand for ready money, accompanied by its natural consequences, jumped to the conclusion that Japan’s financial credit was in danger. The mistake was caused by judging a nation’s wealth on a wrong basis. It need hardly be stated that the existing financial condition of this country is far from that which the alarmists would have the world believe. The so-called financial crisis, instead of being such, is to be looked upon as a phenomenon of progress and advancement.

The alarmists also lament the excess of imports over exports, and conclude that Japan’s wealth will be drained in proportion to the excess of imports. They forget that the foreign trade is not the only criterion of national wealth. Statistics give data for investigations, but they are often so faulty that it is not wise to base arguments solely on those figures. Especially is this the case with those that deal with the data concerning the foreign trade of any country. The economical progress of a country cannot be judged by the figures of its foreign trade alone, but it cannot be denied that they afford a very important evidence for observing the growth of a country in its commercial and industrial advancement. I give here a table of Japan’s foreign trade for the ten years 1891–1900, from which it will be apparent that her commercial transactions are showing a remarkable development: