Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/22

 ciple was that four-tenths of the gross produce went into the hands of the tax-collector and six-tenths to the farmer. This rule applied to the rice crop only, the assessments for other kinds of produce being levied, partly in money and partly in manufactured goods, at rates often of a very arbitrary nature. Forced labour also was exacted, and tradesmen were subjected to monetary levies as official necessity arose. Neglecting all these factors of uncertain dimensions, since they do not admit of arithmetical statement for the purposes of a general review, and taking the case of rice only, the data are that the total yield of that crop in 1867 was 154,000,000 bushels, approximately, of which the market value then ruling was 24,000,000 pounds sterling, or 240,000,000 yen, and it follows that the grain tax alone represented 96,000,000 yen on the lowest calculation, the farmers' portion being 144,000,000. Thus much premised, a basis is obtained for comparing the burdens of the people in ante-Meiji and in post-Meiji days.

When the administration reverted to the Throne in 1867, the central treasury was of course empty, and the funds hitherto employed for governmental purposes in the fiefs did not at once begin to flow into the coffers of the State. They continued to be devoted to the support of the feudatories, to the payment of the samurai, and to defraying the expenses of local administration, the central treasury receiving only what-