Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/104

 minor crimes,—the former category including homicides, incendiarisms, and robberies with violence; the latter, robberies without violence, thefts, and frauds. It appears, then, that whereas 12,291 major crimes were committed in 1884, the number in 1896 was only 4,092, or less than one-third, whereas the minor crimes in 1896 aggregated 273,990 against 225,029 in 1884. Major crimes have, in short, diminished steadily and considerably, whereas minor crimes have increased. The former result goes to prove that the sudden leap from the old criminal system to the new did not in any way disturb the nation's moral equilibrium. But do the latter figures suggest the opposite inference, or should they be interpreted as showing that the novel civilisation which Japan is assimilating tends to foster immorality? The question might be very difficult to answer were not another guide available, the guide of suicides. In 1884 the number of suicides throughout the Empire was 5,603; in 1896, it was 7,459. It seems, therefore, that life is becoming more strenuous and its burden heavier. Indeed, that conclusion might have been reached without the aid of statistics, for even the most superficial observer must perceive that if the race for wealth in the West offers splendid prizes to the winners, it condemns the losers to abject suffering such as was seldom witnessed in old-time Japan. Success and failure lie much farther apart in the one region than in the other, and