Newspaper Page Text
the JEFFERSON! ?N
Vol. 111. No. 12.
'Railroad Load Almost "Breaks Back
of Japan
Tokio, March 15. —The government of Ja
pan, finding that the self-imposed burden of
nationalized railroads is likely to prove too
heavy, is now engaged in consideration of
tentative projects for relieving itself and at
the same time serving the double purpose
of building up the industries of the country,
providing additional exports for its sub
sidized steamship lines and increasing its own
income by the revenues from increased pro
duction. To the layman, nothing presents
so difficult a problem at the present time as
that of high finance in Japan.
Outlay on Army and Navy.
The tremendous outlay on army and navy
continues to be the point on which states
men, politicians and financiers are quarrel
ing. With sixty per cent of its appropria
tions given to the three divisions, finance,
army and navy, necessarily but little is left
for the so-much-needed improvement of rail
roads, and in the present condition of the
country, the four hundred millions that must
be paid to the old railroad companies for the
purpose will strain the engenuity of the finan
ciers who have undertaken the re-organiza
tion.
Meanwhile, but little can be done to extend
the trackage throughout those sections of Ja
pan where it is much needed for development
and to improve and equip the present lines
in such a manner as to enable them to fetch
and carry in an adequate degree. It is quite
realized by the commercial men, who oppos
ed the nationalization of the railroads at the
time the question came up and those who
favoi’ed the movement, but have since changed
their views, that without a network of rail
roads in the island it would be impossible
to develop resources and consequently impos
sible for the government to adjust its finances
so that in future years its income may meet
its necessary and legitimate expenditures.
Japan May Lease Roads.
It is in this connection that financiers, en
gineers and railroad men from foreign coun
tries have been in conference for the last
month and more with certain leading men
in Japan. It is understood that the proposi
tion now finding favor is that the railroads
A Weekly Paper Edited by THOS. E. WATSON and J. D. W.
Atlanta, Ga., Thursday, March 19, 1908.
of Japan should be leased for a. period of
years to a private company or syndicate which
will take from the shoulders of the Japa
nese government the financial burden and re
sponsibility it has undertaken in this con
nection ; which will pay to the government
a certain percentage of profits and undertake
improvements and extensions under a given
schedule.
The present plans in this connection are
entirely tentative but it may be stated that
they have assumed a somewhat concrete form
and that under certain conditions, European
financiers have expressed their willingness to
undertake the work.
The influence that has undoubtedly prompt
ed Japan to at least take into consideration
this question of. the future conduct of the
railroads is stated to be the fact that, in view
of the financial necessities of the coming
twelve months, financiers believed that a for
eign loan was inevitable and that the foreign
markets were sounded.
Plain Talk for Japan.
It then developed that Europe and America
regarded the naval and military policies of
Japan, which it was thought indicated an ex
pectation of trouble, as fatal to Japan’s
credit as a borrower of large amounts in the
foreign field. In other words, Japan has been
told that money will not be forthcoming for
the building up of an army and navy beyond
such standard as it is reasonable to expect
Japan to maintain, and that the financial
world would prefer to see Japan really and in
earnest developing her resources for the bet
terment of her people than taxing those peo
ple for an army and navy which, rightly or
wrongly, are said to be destined for aggres
sion sooner or later. The reply of the Japa
nese government to this seems to have been
that financial programs for the future contem
plated a very large reduction of expenditures
on the army and navy. But those who were
in a position to lend money apparently re
joined that they would prefer a guarantee as
to the expenditure of the money loaned and
added that in common with so many people
in Japan, they thought, the nationalization of
the railroads quite as great a mistake as too
rapid and ambitious plans for army ami navy.
—Atlanta Constitution.
THE FLEET’S WORLD TOUR.
Definite and official announcement is now
made that the United States fleet, under Ad
miral Evans, will circumnavigate the globe
and return home byway of the Suez canal.
The time between now and our national
birthday will be spent on the Pacific coast
in target practice and in visiting Puget
Sound, perhaps including an official visit to
Vancouver.
The big fleet will then start from San
Francisco on the grand tour, making first
for the Hawaiin islands. The next objective
point will be Australia. A courteous invita
tion has been received from Alfred Deakin,
the premier of the Australian common
wealth, asking that the fleet visit that coun
try in the course of its journey, and this
invitation has been seconded by the desire
on the part of the British government, ex
pressed through Ambassador James Bryce,
that the invitation be accepted.
The government of the Australian common
wealth bears a close analogy to our own in
many respects —except that they have no pres
ident whose election comes along as a dis
turbing element every four years. Each state
in the confederation has its own local self
government, while the federal parliament leg
islates for the entire commonwealth. Many
of the same questions as to state and federal
authority have come up for settlement in Aus
tralia which ha've arisen to vex us here in
the United States of America, and it is an
interesting fact that practically every issue,
as adjudicated in every tribunal up to the
privy council of the king, has been decided
in favor of the larger autonomy of the indi
vidual states.
With a population of slightly more than
four million people the commonwealth has
about fifteen thousand miles of railroads,
capitalized at less than forty-eight thousand
dollars a mile, while the average for the
world is about seventy-seven thousand five
hundred dollars.
The distance from San Francisco is a little
more than seven thousand miles.
After visiting* the ports of Australia the
fleet will proceed to the Philippines, where
it will remain some time, engaged in target
practice. There is hardly a doubt but what
the vessels will take occasion to call at one
of the Japanese ports before turning south
to thread the Straits Settlement, double the
southern coast of India and push on through
the Red Sea on the way to Europe and home.
So it will be a long time, indeed, before
the double octette of big ships, with their
auxiliaries, will gel back to American waters.
The voyage through the straits of Magel
lan and to the Pacific coast without the
slightest accident, four days ahead of time,
has already excited the wonder and admira
tion of the world, and the remainder of the
journey, it is safe to assume, will be a.
triumphal procession among friendly powers
who will do all they can to testify the good
will they have for the United States. —The
Atlanta Journal.
Price five Cents.