Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/44

 are now equal in the sight of the law, perfect security exists for life and property, the people are guaranteed against oppression or extortion on the part of their rulers, and a full measure of personal freedom is enjoyed. A comprehensive idea of the growth that has been encouraged by these circumstances may be obtained from the table on pages 26 and 27, where the statistical facts are tabulated for intervals of every five years.

Japan's great difficulty is want of capital. The capital actually engaged in public and private enterprises is 60,000,000 pounds sterling, in round numbers, and 79,000,000 more are pledged though not yet paid up. On the other hand, the volume of circulating media is only 25,000,000, of which amount 22,000,000 consist of convertible notes; the deposits in the banks total 33,000,000, and their capitals aggregate 49,500,000. Under such circumstances the rate of interest is necessarily high — it averages about twelve per cent throughout the Empire — and many profitable enterprises remain undeveloped. Recourse to cheap foreign capital would be the natural exit from the dilemma. But so long as her currency was on a silver basis, Japan hesitated to contract gold debts, and European capitalists would not lend in terms of silver. Now that she has adopted the gold standard, her situation should be more favourable. Europe and America,