Expenditures of the Russo-Japanese war / by Gotaro Ogawa.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
The Russo-Japanese War was the greatest war that Japan
has ever waged. If, in the military sense, she attained nearly
all for which she fought, she suffered a most severe blow in
every sphere of her social activity. In the economic field
in particular the war consumed an enormous amount of capittl, and necessitated the withdrawal of a large number of ablebodied men from productive employment. There was,
indeed, not a single economic project or enterprise that was
not affected by the exigencies of the war. We have now to
consider the extent of this economic blow, and also the extent
to which the nation succeeded in repairing the injury.
The economic strain came principally from two different
directions. On the one hand, the war cost Japan nearly 1,700,ooo,ooo yen. It was inevitable that this sudden increase of
her fiscal burden should throw her national finance into a
state of dislocation. Domestic funds were absorbed in the
form of public loans and taxes, while a large amount of capital
was newly imported from foreign countries, thereby producing important changes in the industrial world. On the other
hand, the war withdrew about a million workers from domestic industries. The Japanese troops at the front were reckoned at some 800,000, but it may safely be assumed that the
number that actually took the field was far above this figure,
for any diminution in the fighting strength on account of
casualties and sickness had to be constantly filled up. When
several hundred thousand combatants and noncombatants
in the rear service are added, the number of men who took
part directly or indirectly in the war will come up nearly to
2,000,000. In Japan, at the outbreak of the war, there were
not more than 10,000,000 males employed in production who
led independent lives and supported their families by the
fruits of their labor. Out of this productive population of
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