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proposal. By an invitation of Admiral Rogers, of the U.S. Navy, I was received aboard an American vessel, and after a cruise along the coasts, anchored at the port of Kobe. Two German war-ships were also in port. I was surprised to see the American sailors going freely ashore while the German sailors all remained on their ships, and I asked the Admiral the reason. The explanation was as follows:

The German Government is making an effort to prevent the landing of its sailors as much as possible. As a rule, its sailors are not paid for a week before entering or during a stay in a foreign port; their pay days are always calculated to occur in mid-ocean. In a German vessel there is always provided a cigar store and saloons, so that the men can purchase their own cigars and liquors on board instead of the money being spent on the shores of a foreign country. This regard to detail in the German economic policy is interesting. The Americans, on the other hand, do not pay much attention to the sailors’ accounts, and do not object to their swelling the coffers of another country. But in larger questions, such as the coal-supply for instance, despite the coal abundantly obtainable in Japan, the United States does not rely upon us for its supply. There are established coal-supply stations at Yokohama, at Kobe, and at Nagasaki by the United States Government, and American coal is transported a long distance and stored there for use by her vessels. And, further, all the shoes, clothing, etc., worn by the sailors are made in America. Japan, on the contrary, as has been shown, has, until recently, been using all foreign goods for her army and navy, and I repeat here, that in such a manner we can never hope to improve our economic condition nor encourage industries.

It may be admitted that militarism is unproductive, and that, therefore, it adds nothing to the economy of the country. In Europe and America the unproductiveness of the military is, nevertheless, turned into productiveness by the well-applied economic policy of spending the money which might go abroad, as in the case of Japan, in their own countries. It is indisputable that supporting an army and a navy requires an enormous amount of money, and that this amount has to go somewhere. In Japan there is annually spent several millions for military defence, and what I would propose is to turn this amount into the encouragement of industries as a step towards an economic policy.

Another point necessary to be brought under consideration is that of the appointment of Consuls to foreign countries. Heretofore these appointments, as is seen in the records of foreign intercourse between various countries, have been made