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

CHAPTER IX

CONCLUSION
The war with Russia threw the greatest of burdens upon
the nation. The climax of misfortune was suffered by those
who fell in the field or left the service disabled forever; and
the distress of the families of the killed or disabled soldiers
will never be wholly relieved. Besides, the nation had to
bear a debt of 1,700,000,000 yen of war expenditure and the
consequent increase in taxation and in the burden of public
loans, yoked with a painful decrease in productive capacity
owing to the enlistment of no less than one million young men.
The consequences of this burden were keenly felt in various
branches of our economic activity. Demand contracted
suddenly and all productive industries had to retrench their
work, which threatened to produce economic depression.
But the nation put forth every ounce of energy in order to
overcome these difficulties, and efforts were concentrated
upon diligence and economy. Having fully made up their
minds to carry through the war to a successful issue, the
people devoted themselves to the raising of war funds and to
utilizing their spare labor to give full play to their productive
capacity. With the favorable development of the war situation both on land and sea, they regained their lost spirits,
and the foreign markets, also, were speedily cultivated.
Moreover, as the war funds were gradually scattered through
the various strata of society, their purchasing power enhanced,
thereby stimulating industrial activity. In short, the second
year of the war-190o-ushered in a renewed economic activity. This tendency continued even after the war, though
there was more or less fluctuation due to various causes.
The war marked a turning-point in every branch of our
industrial and commercial growth, foreign trade and transportation service in particular having been completely reorganized through the war. If we may judge by superficial
251