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MATSUKATA, MARQUIS (1835- )
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See also:MATSUKATA, See also:MARQUIS (1835- ) , See also:Japanese statesman, was See also:born at Kagoshima in 1835, being a son of a samurai of the Satsuma See also:clan. On the completion of the feudal revolution of 1868 he was appointed See also:governor of the See also:province of Tosa, and having served six years in ,this See also:office, was transferred to See also:Tokyo as assistant See also:minister of See also:finance. As representative of See also:Japan at the See also:Paris See also:Exhibition of 1878, he took the opportunity afforded by his See also:mission to study the See also:financial systems of the See also:great See also:European See also:powers. On his return See also:home, he held for a See also:short See also:time in 188o the See also:portfolio of home affairs, and was in 1881 appointed minister of finance. The See also:condition of the currency of Japan was at that time deplorable, and See also:national See also:bankruptcy threatened. The coinage had not only been seriously debased during the closing years of the See also:Tokugawa regime, but large quantities of See also:paper currency had been issued and circulated, both by many of the feudal lords, and by the central See also:government itself, as a temporary expedient for filling an impoverished See also:exchequer. In 1878 depreciation had set in, and the inconvertible paper had by the See also:close of 1881 grown to such an extent that it was then at a See also:discount of 8o% as compared with See also:silver. Matsukata showed the government the danger of the situation, and urged that the issue of further paper currency should be stopped at once, the expenses of See also:administration curtailed, and the resulting surplus of See also:revenue used in the redemption of the paper currency and in the creation of a specie reserve. These proposals were acted upon: the See also:Bank of Japan was established, and the right of issuing convertible notes given to it; and within three years of the See also:initiation of these financial reforms, the paper currency, largely reduced in quantity, was restored to its full See also:par value with silver, and the currency as a whole placed on a solvent basis. From this time forward Japan's commercial and military See also:advancement continued to make uninterrupted progress. But pari passu with the extraordinary impetus given to its See also:trade by the successful conclusion of the See also:war with See also:China, the national See also:expenditure enormously increased, rising within a few years from 8o to 250 million yen. The task of providing for this expenditure See also:fell entirely on Matsukata, who had to See also:face strong opposition on the See also:part of the See also:diet. But he distributed the increased See also:taxation so equally, and See also:chose its subjects so wisely, that the See also:ordinary administrative expenditure and the See also:interest on the national See also:debt were fully provided for, while the extraordinary expenditure for military purposes was met from the See also:Chinese See also:indemnity. As far back as 1878 Matsukata perceived the advantages of a See also:gold See also:standard, but it was not until 1897 that his See also:scheme could be realized. In this See also:year the See also:bill authorizing it was under his auspices submitted to the saw the fulfilment of his ideas of financial reform, which were conceived during his first visit to See also:Europe. Matsukata, who in 1884 was created See also:Count, twice held the office of See also:prime minister (1891-1892, 1896-1898), and during both his administrations he combined the portfolio of finance with the premiership; from See also:October 1898 to October 1900 he was minister of finance only. His name in Japanese See also:history is indissolubly connected with the financial progress of his See also:country at the end of the 19th See also:century. In 1902 he visited See also:England and See also:America, and he was created G.C.M.G., and given the See also:Oxford degree of D.C.L. In See also:September 1907 he was advanced to the See also:rank of Marquis. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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