One of the marvels of the industry is the high prices obtained in Japan.  The best winter serge was selling in England before the War at 8s. a yard.  The Japanese price for winter serge was from 5 to 6 yen.  Before the War it was possible to import cloth at 50 per cent. less than the local rates.  Nevertheless there seemed to be a market for everything.  Japanese cloth lacks finish but it is made out of good materials and will wear.  The factories are compelled to use a better quality of material in order to get anywhere near the appearance of imported goods.  A foreign manufacturer, “owing to his skill in manufacture,” as it was once explained to me, may produce a cloth of a certain quality containing only 10 per cent. new wool:  the Japanese manufacturer, in order to produce a comparable article must use 30 per cent. new wool.  Obviously this means that the Japanese factory must charge higher prices.

In considering the position of the industry it is natural to ask how it would be affected if the Japanese factories were able 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