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

EFFECTS ON COMMERCE

201

merchandise, the export of cotton yarn and goods, copper,
matches, and coal greatly increased, but the market for other
miscellaneous goods also prospered; and such commodities
as refined sugar, beer, white cotton cloth, and the like, which
had been exported little before the war, found new markets
in the Far East. The marked decline in the exports to
France may be explained by her taxation on habutaye and
the uncertainty of trade routes with the European countries
in general; this applies to the fall of our trade with England
and Italy as well. The trade with America made smooth
progress, there being little obstruction on the sea. That our
exports to America decreased in Igo5 in spite of our success
in war was due to the poor crops in that country and the
consequent depression in the habutaye and tea market.
The case was quite different with the import trade. The
imports from the Asiatic countries were quite inactive, whereas
those from Europe and America increased at a rapid rate.
The general rise in prices in China and Korea, the two important exporting countries of Asia, served to check imports
therefrom. The decrease in our import from Asia might
have been greater had it not been for a large demand for
Indian cotton on account of the extensive use of cotton for
war supplies, combined with its high price in America. On
the other hand, the phenomenal increase in imports in general from Europe and America was the result of a decided
gain in the importation of such articles as iron and steel,
copper, cotton blankets, hemp yarn, hides, leather, and
machinery. Classified according to countries, England sold
us in large quantities various machinery, iron and steel,
cotton blankets, etc.; Germany, raw silk, zinc, dyestuffs, and
machinery; and America, raw cotton, leather, hides, kerosene
oil, metal articles, wheat and flour, etc.
To sum up, the greater part of our import trade before the
war was taken by British India and China, European countries catering to only one-third of our demand. In I905,
however, Europe surpassed British India and China. Imports from America, too, nearly doubled in 1905 as compared