ble to draw more
largely upon Manchuria for wool. The answer is that the sheep in
Manchuria at present yield what is called "China" wool, which is
suitable only for blankets and coarse cloth.

To some who feel a sympathy for Japan in her present stage of
industrial development and are inclined to take long views it may seem
a pity that she should contemplate making such a radical change in her
national habits as is represented by the demand for woollen materials
and for meat. Japanese dress, easy, hygienic and artistic though it
is, and admirably suited for wearing in Japanese dwellings, is ill
adapted for modern business life, not to speak of factory conditions.
But it has not yet been demonstrated that Japan is under the necessity
of substituting, to so large an extent as she evidently contemplates
doing, woollen for cotton and silk clothing, and Western clothing for
her own characteristic raiment.[270] The cotton padded garment and bed
cover are both warm and clean. It is odd that this new demand on the
part of Japan for woollen material should coincide with movements in
Europe and America to utilise more cotton, for underclothing at any
rate. There is undoubtedly a hygienic case of a certain force against
wool. The same is true of meat. It may well be that the dietary of
many Japanese has not been sufficiently nutritious, but much of the
meat-eating which is now being indulged in seems to be due more to an
aping of foreign ways than to physical requirements. The more meat
Japan eats and the more she dresses herself in wool the more she
places herself under the control of the foreigner.[271] Whatever
degree of success may attend sheep breeding within the limits imposed
upon it by physical conditions in Japan, the raw material of the
woollen industry must be mostly a foreign product. As far as meat is
concerned, it is difficult to believe that while the agriculture of
Japan is based upon rice production there is room for the production
of meat on a large scale. If the meat and wool are to be produced in
Manchuria and Mongolia we shall see what we shall see. The
significance of the experiment of the Manchuria Railway Company since
1913 in crossing merino and Mongolian sheep and the work which is
being done on the sheep runs of Baron Okura in Mongolia cannot be
overlooked. Ten years hence it will be interesting to examine
industrially and socially the position of the woollen industry[272]
and the animal industry in Jap