| 6,851,599 | 640 1896 | 53,831,713 | 680 | | 1897 | 56,165,694 | 320 | | 1898 | 111,748,403 | 630 | | 1899 | 5,472,031 | 680 | | 1900 | 82,831,851 | 600 | | 1901 | 3,467,101 | 600 | | =1909= | | | | THE WEALTH OF JAPAN The following estimate gives an idea of the wealth of Japan and its distribution:— Land 7,000 millions _yen_. Mines 500 „ „ Live-stock 80 „ „ Buildings 1,900 „ „ Furniture 400 „ „ Railroads 350 „ „ Warships and merchant-ships 250 „ „ Specie 200 „ „ Miscellaneous 300 „ „ Goods and other products 800 „ „ ------ Total 11,080 „ „ * * * * * The output of gold in 1908 was 168,883 ounces. * * * * * On the position Japanese occupy as regards the acquisition of wealth Mr. Kure Bunso, the well-known statistician, writes in the “Shakaigaku Zasshi” as follows: There are only two men in Japan who pay an income tax on over 250,000 _yen_. There are only 13 men in the whole country who pay on 39,000 _yen_, being in the proportion of 4 persons to every 100,000 inhabitants; only 67 who pay on 24,000 _yen_, being in the proportion of 2 persons to every 10,000 inhabitants; 96 persons who pay on 17,000 _yen_, being in the proportion of 2.8 persons to every 10,000 inhabitants; those who pay on 11,000 _yen_ number 140, being in the proportion of 4 persons to every 10,000 inhabitants. Out of every 1,000 inhabitants there are only 7 persons who make 2,700 _yen_ a year. Thus it is seen that when compared with the French and the English the Japanese are extremely poor. The Germans seem to be rich to the Japanese, though when compared with the French and English they are poor. General Grant, when in Japan nearly twenty years ago, remarked that Japan was fortunate in having such an equality among all classes of the people. He said that the gulf between the rich and the poor did not exist here. Equality may be all very well in its way, but, says Mr. Kure, a state of equality in which most of the people hardly have enough to live on is anything but desirable.[209] * * * * * The new building of the Mitsui Company in Tōkyō is constructed upon steel frames, and is the only one of its kind in the East. The Mitsui Bank is the oldest banking establishment in Japan, more than 200 years old. The building area is 2,600 square yards on a site covering 2-1/2 acres. JAPANESE YEAR PERIODS