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

EFFECTS ON COMMUNICATIONS

223

That the latter must have decreased may be seen by the comparative study of the average miles per ton of goods and the
average rate per ton per mile, with the total amount of goods
transported on land.
The fact that in 1904 the long-distance freight traffic suddenly increased and the average receipts per mile decreased
unmistakably points to how greatly the general freight transportation was affected by military requirements.
AMOUNT OF GOODS TRANSPORTED ON LAND a
Increase or
1903 1904 Indecrease or
Tons............... 34,o85,539 43,212,925 +- 9,I27,386
Kin................ 480,209,500 429,658,680 -50,550,820
Pieces.............. 20,901,809 I7,259,302 - 3,642,507
Kamme............. I,60I,697 87,731,530 -23,870, 167
a Investigations by the Revenue Bureau, Treasury Department.
The above table shows the amount of goods transported by
means of railway trains, electric cars, horse wagons, carts,
and horses. The figures expressed in kin, pieces, and kamme
show the amount of goods conveyed by horse wagons, carts,
and horses. These suddenly fell off in I904. From this
we gather that ordinary railway freight must also have decreased, because railway transportation alone can not increase when that by other means decreases in volume; for
it must further be remembered that railway freight requires
other means of transportation either in loading or delivery,
so that a decline in one must be accompanied by a decline in
the other.
Thus the war exerted a great adverse influence upon railway traffic, and inconvenienced the public, especially in their
commercial and industrial interests. But the railway business itself was benefited rather than injured by the war, as
can be seen from the table of the earnings of the leading lines
at the top of the next page.
These results were obtained in spite of a practical rebate on