The Jiyuto formed by Count Itagaki (who received his title in 1887) no longer exists, for it was abolished, to all intents and purposes, in 1900, and its place has been occupied more or less by the Sei-yu-kai, or Constitutional party, which was headed until July 1903 by Marquis Ito, and since that date has had as its president the Marquis Saionji. Count Itagaki has ceased to figure on the political stage in anything approaching the degree to which he at one period of his career filled the public eye, but there is ample ground for the conviction that his influence is yet very appreciable in Liberal circles, albeit many younger men than himself have recently come to the front. Close upon seventy years of age, he surely has earned the right, after a strenuous life, to retire from the political arena, and it is indisputable that he enjoys the respect and confidence of the entire nation in those minor enterprises which have of late received a large share of his attention, and which have as their object, for the most part, the amelioration of the lot of the poor of his own province, or are kindred efforts in the cause of humanity at large. XIX COUNT MATSUKATA MASAYOSHI Born in Satsuma in the year 1835, the son of a Kagoshima samurai, the statesman whose name will for all time be identified with the adoption in Japan of a gold standard has played a very distinguished part in the affairs of his country, for it is to his untiring efforts that must in a peculiar degree be ascribed the circumstance that, in all Asia, his is the only nation which bases its financial system on gold monometallism. The Coinage law which brought about the great change that has had so vast an influence on the economic and financial conditions prevailing in Japan came into operation on the 1st October 1897. The hope which Count Matsukata entertained that capital at a low rate of interest might be attracted from gold standard countries, to help on the industrial growth of the country, has already to a very appreciable extent been realised. That in the long run the advantages of the gold standard would be deep and abiding, conducive to the healthy industrial growth of the country, was Count Matsukata’s firm and expressed conviction.