No. 320.
Mr. Bingham to Mr. Evarts.
Legation of
the United States,
Tokei,
Japan, September 16, 1878. (Received
October 18.)
No. 863.]
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith, for your
information, the report of the Japanese minister of finance of the estimated
revenues and expenditures of His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s Government for
the fiscal year commencing July 1, 1878, and ending June 30, 1879.
The report shows the present liabilities of the government to be 375,000,000
yen, and proposes to provide for a reduction thereof of 20,000,000 yen per
annum and its full payment in twenty-eight years.
The revenues for the current fiscal year are estimated at 53,275,900 yen, and
the expenditure thereof at a like amount.
Of the estimated revenue for the year 40,373,935 yen is to be derived from
land tax alone, while but 1,070,684 yen is estimated from imposts upon
imports for the year.
And this system of raising more than three-fourths of the national revenue by
a tax on the lands of the producers of the nation’s bread is the necessary
result of the existing commercial restrictions imposed by treaties upon this
empire and to perpetuate which is the manifest purpose, in my opinion, of
some of the European states. It is to the honor of the United States of
America that its government, under your just and enlightened action, has
declared its-readiness to lift from the oppressed people of Japan this
burden, too grievous longer to be borne.
I have, &c.,
[Page 514]
[Inclosure in No. 863.]
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE.
[From the Tokio Times, September 14, 1878.]
notification no. 38.
To Kuwan, In, Sho, Shi, Fu,
Ken:
It is hereby notified that the following tables of revenues and
expenditures for the year between July of the 11th and June of the 12th
of Meiji, inclusive, have been presented by Okuma Shigenobu, minister of
finance.
SANJO SANEYOSHI,
Daijo Dai
jin.
September
4th, 11th year of
Meiji.
The tables of the estimated revenues and expenditures for the year
between July of the 11th and June of the 12th of Meiji have been
prepared. I now respectfully present them to your excellency. I must
premise that this statement, when compared with that of the previous
year, will show in some respects an increase, and in others a decrease,
on the sides both of income and expenditure. The causes of the various
differences will be explained in detail in the introduction; but I will
here briefly refer to some of the more important of them. The
insurrection which occurred in the southwest last year had a
considerable effect upon the then future financial condition of the
country. The items of repayment of the national debt; annuities for
meritorious services; favored allowances to soldiers, and police and
other expenditures, have greatly increased. In other branches of the
public service extra disbursements have been necessary; but, on the
other hand, the ordinary expenses of the Dai jo Kwan and other
departments, namely, In, Sho, Shi, and Kioku, have been reduced. Owing
to the outlay entailed in the suppression of the rebellion and the
consequent debts incurred by the government, the issue of pension bonds
to Kuwa-shi-zoku, and loans raised for the assistance of various
industries, the national liabilities now amount to more than 375,000,000
yen; and the plan of repayment previously devised cannot be carried into
effect. Now I submit my views for the establishment of a new system,
whereby I propose to devote the sum of 20,000,000 yen a year to the
purpose of liquidating the government indebtedness, which will be
cleared off in twenty-eight years from the present time. The amount of
the debt being so great, the annual appropriation, covering, I grant,
more than one-third of the yearly revenue, cannot be expected to be of
trifling amount. And, in order to allow this system to be worked out to
its successful termination, we have but to be careful, to practice
economy in our expenditures, and to avoid exceeding the sums here
calculated upon as available. For, if such excess should be permitted,
it is easy to see that the credit of the government with the people
would be destroyed, and then the distress which must follow on a great
financial calamity would be so great that its results can hardly be
predicted. The reason why I, Shigenobu, strenuously insist upon this
point here is that I esteem it as most important; and I beg that your
excellency also will vouchsafe to accord to it your illustrious
consideration.
OKUMA SHIGENOBU,
Minister of
Finance.
To his excellency Sanjo Saneyoshi,
Daijo Dai jin.
June 29th, 11th
year of Meiji.
