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

EFFECTS ON AGRICULTURE

235

to concentrate their efforts toward a rigid economy in both
expenditure and labor. But it is impossible to maintain the
status quo in domestic economy with thrift and industry alone
if the deficiency be too great. The question arises, therefore,
whether the economy of the peasants in the Russo-Japanese
War was sufficient to keep up their standard of living before
the war. This being a problem demanding careful examination on our part, let us first examine their burdens in the
campaign; next, what sort of economy they exercised in order
to be able to bear these burdens; and finally, whether or not
this economy had the desired effect of fully maintaining the
former standard of comfort.
BURDENS OF THE FARMING CLASS
It is needless to say that the greatest burden of war on the
nation was the entry of the able-bodied men into the army.
There must have been nearly two million people who engaged
in unproductive work through the war with Russia, but those
who were actually at the fighting line or who took up service
at the rear totaled some I,I1OO,OO. Almost all of those men
were taken away from the productive activity of the country;
and it was farming that lost the largest proportion of labor
by the war. The census taken in I904 showed that there
were 8,413,688 families in Japan, of which 5,416,703, or some
64 per cent, were engaged in farming. It will be a conservative estimate, therefore, to say that the farming class sent
700,000 men to the front, especially when the fact is taken
into consideration that the peasants are in possession of
better physique than other classes, thus rendering the
percentage passing the conscription examination much higher
in the country than in cities. Such being the case, the
agricultural population not only sent out the largest number of troops, but also their burden in this respect fell more
heavily on their interests than on other trades and occupations.
The following are the results of the conscription examination for a certain regimental district in 1904: