The report on railway development shows that since the government constructed its first line of eighteen miles from Yokohama to Tōkyō in 1872, a great trunk line of 1,200 miles has been built, and the total mileage in the country increased to 6,042, which in 1910 handled 153,088,066 passengers and 25,815,000 tons of freight. Of this entire mileage, 506 miles are owned by private corporations, and 5,536 by the government, which was the pioneer in the movement to give the country modern land transportation. No private construction was done until 1883, when the government had 181 miles of railway under operation; and it was not until 1889 that private enterprise for a time led the governmental effort. The state railways to August, 1905, cost the sum of 85,573,511 _yen_, while the private systems represented a cost for construction to the same date of 191,230,291 _yen_. In 1910 the grand total had reached almost 577,000,000 _yen_. [Illustration: MILITARY REVIEW, HIMEJI] According to the reports made on the railways at the end of the year 1910 the gross earnings of both state and private railways for that year were 89,000,000 _yen_, the gross expenditures 46,796,000 _yen_, and the net profit over 43,700,000 _yen_. The government has arranged plans for railway construction and development which involve an outlay of 174,523,365 _yen_, the construction to extend through eight years, and the improvements through twelve. The line from Nagoya to Haichioji, near Tōkyō, opened to traffic in 1911, is about 224 miles long. The construction represents the best engineering skill, and an outlay of $17,500,000. It has ninety-five tunnels and 350 bridges. The people of the country opposed the construction of the first line from Yokohama to Tokyo as a dangerous thing, and it was several years before public opposition to the innovation was entirely removed. Bond issues for railway construction were opposed, but the government insisted on its policy and finally won the people to its general support, so that by the end of the year 1908 on all lines there were 2,156 locomotives, 5,951 passenger coaches, and 34,045 freight cars in use. POSTAL SAVINGS IN JAPAN[206] It must be admitted at the outset that the system of postal savings in Japan cannot boast of any particularly brilliant record. The study of it reveals, however, a state of things which is not without some encouraging features. We give below the amounts of the deposits and some other items for every third year since the inauguration of the institution:—