Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/433
But in 1895 the Government called for the War Loan of 100,000,000 yen, and in 1899 a Foreign Loan of 97,630,000 yen (£10,000,000). Thus, the public debts increasing enormously after the war with China, the total indebtedness in 1900 reached the large sum of 526,664,194 yen, which was double that of the indebtedness of the empire before the war.
National Debt.
| Year. | Foreign Debt. | Home Debt. | Extraordinary Debt. | Total. |
| Yen. | Yen. | Yen. | Yen. | |
| 1890 | 5,180,120 | 238,050,535 | 32,000,000 | 275,230,655 |
| 1891 | 4,488,624 | 237,255,085 | 32,000,000 | 273,743,709 |
| 1892 | 3,748,816 | 231,877,456 | 32,000,000 | 267,126,272 |
| 1893 | 2,957,280 | 231,856,571 | 32,000,000 | 266,814,851 |
| 1894 | 2,110,112 | 229,595,941 | 51,530,000 | 283,236,053 |
| | ||||
| 1895 | 1,203,408 | 319,420,487 | 71,500,000 | 392,123,895 |
| 1896 | 233,752 | 350,888,182 | 76,000,000 | 427,121,934 |
| 1897 | 382,953,128 | 28,831,132 | 411,784,260 | |
| 1898 | 391,281,873 | 22,000,000 | 413,281,873 | |
| 1899 | 97,630,000 | 381,070,649 | 24,500,000 | 503,200,649 |
| 1900 | 97,630,000 | 388,534,194 | 40,200,000 | 526,664,194 |
Note.—Under the item of Extraordinary Debts is included chiefly the money borrowed by the Government from the Bank of Japan.
Amounts existing at the end of the fiscal year are shown for the years 1890–1892. Amounts existing at the end of December of respective years are shown for the rest.
The amount of money in circulation has yearly increased along with the recent growth of commercial transactions. Especially is this true since April of 1899, when the limit of the convertible notes of the Bank of Japan which were being issued reached an amount above the reserve, having risen from 85,000,000 yen to 120,000,000 yen. In 1890 it was not more than 120,000,000 yen, but in 1899 it reached 250,000,000 yen. However, the Government notes and bank-notes have been gradually withdrawn from circulation, especially the latter, since the abolishment of the national banks in 1899. In 1900 it was seriously discussed whether it would be advisable to coin more silver subsidiary coins and also 1 yen pieces to take the place of the smaller notes and to supplement them, but no such decision was come to definitely.