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

172 ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR

began to show a steady upward tendency. Once, in November
of that year, it fell to.06I, but in the following month the
interest rose again to.062. Once more the rate became.06I,
in March, I906, after which the money market gradually
slackened so that the rate became.06 in April and.059 in
July, finally to come down to.058 in and after August. A
further fall to.057 occurred in November of the same year.
The changes in the daily rate on discount went almost
parallel with the figures indicated in the table on page I71.
Bank deposits and loans
First let us consider bank deposits alone. These and
postal savings markedly increased despite the outbreak of
hostilities, due partly to the greater thrift and diligence of the
people and partly to the prosperity of those engaged in the
industries which absorbed a huge amount of outlay for military supplies. The ordinary deposits at the Bank of Japan in
1903 had been 2,000,000 yen to I I,ooo,ooo yen at every month
end. After the war began they rapidly increased, so that
their total at every month end was 6,000,000 yen to 13,000,000
yen in 1904; 6,000,000 yen to 14,000,000 yen in 1905; and 5,000,ooo yen to 26,000,000 yen in I906. This was partly due to the
fact that large sums of war expenditures were scattered in the
market and the amount returning to the Treasury was much
smaller, so that the business boom could not absorb all the
available capital, which was inflated through the importation
of foreign money and other causes, and the monetary circulation generally slackened. The monthly amounts of bank
deposits are shown in the subjoined table. These monthly
amounts were subjected to abrupt changes through demands
of capital for settling accounts for new enterprises. This
point, however, is not important enough to be discussed here.
The deposits at banks throughout the country were also on
the increase. While they totaled 435,000,000 yen in October,
1903, 449,000,000 yen were attained in June, 1904; 465,000,ooo yen in December of the same year; more than 500,000,000
yen in and after April, I905; and 599,000,000 yen in March,