oving a panegyric on the life of the farmer.

How They Got On In The World.

Brief Biographies of Successful Men Who Have Passed Through
the Crucible of Small Beginnings and Won Out.

_Compiled and edited for_ THE SCRAP BOOK.

"THE MORGAN OF JAPAN."

Farmer's Son Organized the First Japanese
National Bank and Aided in Establishing
His Country's Industries.

"Baron Shibuzawa," says Jihei Hashiguchi, "is called the J.P. Morgan of
Japan. But he is more important to Japan's industry than Mr. Morgan is to
that of the United States, for the industry of the United States can in a
sense get along without J.P. Morgan. The industry of Japan cannot do
without Baron Shibuzawa."

The man who has been the industrial and financial savior of Japan was born
near Tokyo in 1840. His father was a farmer of slender resources, and
supplemented the small earnings of the farm by the cultivation of
silkworms and the manufacture of indigo. The boy was lazy--the laziest boy
in the empire, he was called--and he spent most of his time in reading
fiction, studying the history of his country and China, and familiarizing
himself with the Japanese and Chinese classics. Fencing also was one of
his diversions, and when he was fourteen years old he swore allegiance to
one of the feudal lords at Kioto, the ancient capital of Japan.

In 1853 Commodore Matthew C. Perry visited Japan, and his visit paved the
way for the opening up of the country to foreigners as well as for a
revolution in the social and industrial conditions of the island empire.

Three years after Perry's visit, the Shogun, hereditary commander-in-chief
of the Japanese armies and head of the powerful clan of Minamoto, assumed
the title of Tycoon. At one time the Shogun rivaled and even surpassed
the Mikado in power. But his influence was rapidly declining. Shibuzawa
knew this, yet he entered the service of the Tycoon, and in 1867 he
accompanied the brother of the latter on a political mission to France.

Up to that time Shibuzawa had been nothing more than an ordinary member of
the Samurai. The contrast between conditions in Europe and in Japan
affected him deeply.

Assumed European Dress.

The first thing he did was to have his topknot cut off, discard the
Japanese dress and two swords, clothe himself in ordinary European costume
and have his picture taken. He sent copies of the photographs home, and
his family, friends, and official superiors were shocked