The government, which has been busy responding to the rebellion of farmers, the rebellion of the samurai, and the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, which has been occurring frequently since the beginning of the Meiji era, faces financial problems as early as possible.
1873 Land Tax Reform promulgated in As a result, we have seized the right to collect taxes nationwide and secured stable land tax income. In addition, we will establish a new monetary system, build national banks in various places, and issue exchange tickets . And funding for the breeding industry Was going.
But 1876 National Bank Ordinance Amendment Since the obligation to convert to specie was abolished, the issuance of a large amount of fiat money put the economy into turmoil.
Matsukata Finance Aiming to Eliminate Inflation
It was 1877 that spurred this turmoil. Satsuma Rebellion was.
The government has increased fiat money to quell the biggest civil war in the history of the Shizoku rebellion. To do. This caused severe inflation and reduced the value of banknotes for silver coins used in trade transactions.
In addition, due to the excess of imports that has continued since the beginning of the Meiji era, the holdings of gold and silver have bottomed out, and the financial foundation of the government has been loosened. This inflation will cause the value of money to fall and prices to rise, and the lives of the people will be severely damaged.
So the government 1880 , Surplus government-owned factory We decided on a policy and organized our finances. We decided to sort out fiat money, establish a stable currency and credit system, and lay the foundation for fostering capitalism.
The following year, Matsukata Masayoshi Is Lord of the Treasury Upon taking office, he embarks on reforms that will significantly change the structure of national finance. This is Matsukata Finance Is called.
First, drastically reduce non-military spending To do. Next, sales increase due to consumption tax and local tax I will try. Next, eliminate inflation To do so, collect fiat money with thorough austerity and stockpile gold and silver I proceeded.
In addition, 1882 Central Bank Bank of Japan established To do.
Bank of Japan Expands the financial strength of national banks and businesses And lower interest rates It was established with the purpose of issuing convertible banknotes * and functioning as a financial institution of the government.
Convertible banknotes You can read more about it here.
↓ ↓ ↓
The Bank of Japan issued silver-converted banknotes in 1885, when the difference between silver coins and banknote values almost disappeared, and the silver-standard monetary system was established.
Also, 1884 With the full-scale sale of government-owned factories, shipyards, spinning mills and mines excluding military factories Is Mitsui / Mitsubishi / Furukawa It was sold to political entrepreneurs such as. These political entrepreneurs were later based on the mining industry and became the catalyst for the development of the chaebol.
Establishment of a parasitic landowner system due to the poverty of farmers
The government's strict measures against deflation will bring about a serious recession nationwide.
In addition to the tax increase, rice / cocoon Rural areas suffer considerable damage due to the significant drop in prices of crops such as. Poor self-made farming They let go of their ancestral lands and fell into peasants On the other hand, the concentration of land on landowners will increase significantly.
The landowner lent the land to the peasants to collect a high rate of in-kind copyholds, and ran a money lending business and a liquor store beside them, and bought the land with the funds obtained from them.
In this way, landowners have withdrawn from agriculture, commerce and industry, and have become parasite landowners who collect tenant fees and live their lives.
On the other hand, there is also a phenomenon in which farmers who have lost their land flow into the year as poor people.
This will increase wage workers in urban areas. Such a serious situation in rural areas will cause upset of society as a whole and will intensify the Freedom and People's Rights Movement.
Matsukata Deflation Create a modern banking system , Promote the growth of private capital by surplusing government-owned factories Forming capitalism And started the Industrial Revolution in Japan I was allowed to. However, on the other hand, a serious recession nationwide Fallen farmers become copyholds Parasitic landowner system established It became a factor to do.