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

RESOURCES FOR DEFRAYING WAR EXPENSES

55

istered bonds with coupons, and were directly issued by the
government on its own responsibility, the Bank of Japan
being ordered to attend to the issuing business. As regards
the conditions, the amount of each issue was IOO,OOO,OOO yen,
excepting the third issue, which was 80,000,000 yen. The
bonds were to be redeemed within seven years, except for the
first issue, the term of redemption of which was fixed at five
years. The minimum issue price per IOO yen nominal capital
was 95 yen for the first issue, 92 yen for the second and third
issues, while the price fell to 90 yen for the fourth and fifth
issues. The interest rate was 5 per cent per annum for the
first three issues, but it was raised to 6 per cent per annum for
the fourth and fifth issues. The conditions of issue in this
way gradually became disadvantageous to the government
with the increase of its liabilities and the decrease of the power
of the people to purchase the bonds. The following table
shows the conditions for the five issues of the exchequer bonds:
ISSUES OF SHORT-TERM EXCHEQUER BONDS, MARCH, I904, TO MAY, 1905
i~~o X <~ c |Commission
^ ^ -..y '- 1) 3 to bankers
Issue ' o _ - __
I SM 0 M I. - I I On sub- On
X c g.S g X a) op. g scription amounts
a < ~ = d QH <.= deposits paid in
In mil- Per
1904 lion yen Yen cent Years Yen Per cent Per cent
First..... Mar. I00 95 5 5 2.. 8 2 or 3.3 or0.4
Second... June I00 92 5 7 2. 9 3 0.4
Third.... Oct. 80 92 5 7 2'.. 8 3 1.3
I905
Fourth... Mar. Ioo 90 6 7 4.. 6 1.5 0.7
Fifth.... May Ioo 90 6 7 4.. 6 1.5 0.7
aAcceptance subject to the following conditions: (I) All applications above minimum issue
price. (2) Accepted applications at minimum issue price in proportion to the amount applied for.
(3) Applications of small amounts accepted without reduction, except the fifth issue, in which such
applications were accepted with reduction.
To bring these national-loan bonds within reach of all
classes, denominations were made as varied as possible. The
bonds were issued each time in seven denominations, namely,