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

240 ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR

and this, as well as the greater use of animals, was a result of
the efforts of the people to economize their labor. The fact
that the number of farming animals decreased through the
war and yet the area of cultivated land increased is proof
positive of a better or intensified use of animals.
FIELDS TILLED BY HORSES AND CATTLE, 1903-I906
Year Paddy fields Other fields Total
Cho Cho Cho
I903............................. 1,481,268 773,6I6 2,254,884
I904............................ 1,518,284 813,835 2,332,II9
1905............................ 1,522,926 803,777 2,326,703
I906............................ 1,543,378 805,039 2,348,617

In this connection, due attention should be paid to the
cooperation among peasants which enabled them to make
good the diminution in labor during the war. This liquidation of labor, so to speak, was carried out chiefly by the
following three methods:
(I) Cooperation between neighbors and relatives.
(2) Aids extended by the patriotic league and other bodies
organized to help the families of soldiers and sailors.
(3) A convenient system by which arrangements were made
to postpone paying for hired labor until the autumn harvest.
This enabled the self-supporting families of soldiers and
sailors to get necessary hands through recommendation of
influential villagers.
Thus, the peasants effected their economy of labor and
managed to tide over the hard times. Mention has already
been made of their pecuniary difficulties, and of the kind of
economy exercised and how it operated to cause a general
depression in the domestic market. Among the items of
expenditure of a farmer, the most important is the purchase
of fertilizers, and so his general thrift must be reflected in that
purchase. Of the two chief fertilizers, bean cakes and herring, the export of the former from the port of Newchwang
was stopped at one time during the war, so that the goods