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

CHAPTER II
COST OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR
THE WAR ESTIMATES
When a rupture seemed imminent in the relations between
Japan and Russia, the government framed the estimates
for extraordinary expenses in October, I903, and later as
the situation developed it thrice compiled, besides the regular estimates for the war, extraordinary war estimates. These
estimates were to be defrayed as an urgent financial measure
or in the shape of a temporary expenditure, outside the regular budget, to meet the expenditures directly related to the
war (called the extraordinary military expenses), and those
(called extraordinary affairs expenses) required by various
branches of the Administration. Finding it impossible to
resort to increase of taxes for raising these necessary sums,
because such taxation could not under the circumstances
supply the state with a large amount of revenue, and because
the people had already been burdened by repeated increases
of taxes for military expansion, the government adopted the
course of covering the main portion of war expenses by public
loans. The increase of old taxes or the imposition of new ones,
or the revenue from the government's new undertakings were
to be resorted to as a secondary means, and its surplus and
other funds were to be the resource.
In October, 1903, the government decided on the defrayal
of the extraordinary affairs expenses amounting to 1,420,000
yen, the source of revenue being the second reserve fund and
the Treasury surplus. When the relations between Japan
and Russia were on the verge of rupture in December of the
same year, the government decided on the disbursement of
I55,970,000 yen for military preparations, and of 250,000 yen
for extraordinary affairs expenses as an urgent financial measure, with the special accounts fund and Treasury bonds as the

4

33