om twenty to
twenty-five seers the rupee. Yes, that's about it. Well, he gets,
perhaps, three dollars and a-half a month. The people spend a good deal
in pleasuring. They must enjoy themselves. I don't think they save much.
How do they invest their savings? In jewellery? No, not exactly; though
you'll find that the women's hair-pins, which are about the only
jewellery they wear, cost a good deal. Seven and eight dollars are paid
for a good hair-pin, and of course jade may cost anything. What the
women really lock their money up in is in their _obis_--the things you
call sashes. An _obi_ is ten or twelve yards long, and I've known them
sold wholesale for fifty dollars each. Every woman above the poorest
class has at least one good dress of silk and an _obi_. Yes, all their
savings go in dress, and a handsome dress is always worth having. The
western _kens_ are the richest taken all round. A skilled mechanic there
gets a dollar or dollar and a-half a day, and, as you know,
lacquer-workers and inlayers--artists--get two. There's enough money in
Japan for all current expenses. They won't borrow any for railroads.
They raise it 'emselves. Most progressive people the Japanese are as
regards railways. They make them very cheaply, much more cheaply than
any European lines. I've some experience, and I take it that two
thousand pounds a mile is the average cost of construction. Not on the
Tokaido, of course--the line that you came up by. That's a Government
line, State built, and a very expensive one. I'm speaking of the
Japanese Railway Company with a mileage of three hundred, and the line
from Kobe south, and the Kinshin line in the Southern island. There are
lots of little companies with a few score miles of line, but all the
companies are extending. The reason why the construction is so cheap is
the nature of the land. There's no long haulage of rails, because you
can nearly always find a creek running far up into the country, and dump
out your rails within a few miles of the place where they are wanted.
Then, again, all your timber lies to your hand, and your staff are Japs.
There are a few European engineers, but they are quite the heads of the
departments, and I believe if they were cleared out to-morrow, the Japs
would go on building their lines. They know how to make 'em pay. One
line started on a State guarantee of eight per cent. It hasn't called
for the guarantee yet. It's making twelve per cent on its own hook.
There'