Winter clothing for the masses in general, and service clothing for the navy, army, artisans, etc., under modern conditions of hard wear, has become a stern problem in both Japan and China. Silk will not do. Cotton will not answer in this field. Wool has been adopted, and the gorgeous colors and texture of the Orient begin to vanish before the requirements of a practical age. Two of the largest woolen mills in Japan are the Mousseline (Boshuku) Weaving Company, at Osaka, and the Japan Woolen Company, at Kobe. Eighty per cent. of the total area of rocky Japan is not under cultivation, being ruined with tough bamboo grass, which seems impossible to eradicate, and which destroys the delicate mouths and throats of sheep. Japan has, therefore, to import her wool from Mongolia, Manchuria, England, France, Germany and Australia. Not having a full supply of yarn mills, she imports yarn also from England, France and Germany. Goat’s and camel’s hair is also imported from South America and Mongolia. The movement for the conservation of timber has taken hold in Japan, reinforced cement poles, as well as creosoted poles, being used. The largest creosote works are at Osaka, and the preserved wood is now used for Japan’s famous light buildings, railroad trestling, ties, bridges, etc. Japan has an exceedingly rich treasure forest (one of the world’s last) east of the South Manchurian Railway, and also bordering the Fusan-Mukden line. Much of the hard wood of Japan and her colonies is being brought to America for furniture-making at present. Japanese steamers will doubtless run to the east coast of America through the Panama Canal. Micki Shonzo talks of sending twenty of his vessels through. A Japanese line now carries nitrates, hides, salt, horses, beef, wool, fish, grain, etc., from Chile, and coal, rice, tea, silk, oils, bean cake, manufactures, matting, etc., to Chile. Japanese shipping in 1912 amounted to the enormous tonnage of 1,000,000, as compared with 170,000 tons on the day before the Chinese indemnity was paid to Japan in 1895.