202 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.
In the post rate wars between competitors have been fairly frequent
 and sustained. Such conflicts have generally been composed
by all the competitors joining in fixing a schedule of rates which
will enable each to do a share of the business.
So far as conditions in Chosen are concerned there is no reason
why other independent American producers should not successfully
compete with the Standard Oil Co. Such competition would, however,
 involve the maintenance of a competent organization on the
field and a preparedness to meet strong competition in prices, a
condition which, as noted above, will tend to increase rather than
decrease in the near future.
Tobacco—The tobacco monopoly of the Japanese Government
operates in this field to a limited extent through the Toa (East Asiatic)
 Tobacco Co. (local) as sole agents. The monopoly enjoys no
known special advantages at present in Chosen, since the same import
 tariff and the same local regulations apply to its products as to
others. It has been supposed that the Toa Tobacco Co. received
some special rebates as agents of the monopoly, but this has not been
established. As a matter of fact, several independent Japanese tobacco
 companies are successfully competing with the monopoly.
[ts chief competitor up to a year ago was the British American
Tobacco Co., which maintained a considerable foreign staff in Chosen
and a factory. The factory was closed and the foreign staff withdrawn
 in July, 1914, but as a consequence of the enforcement of a
consumption tax law, with rigid inspection of accounts and manufacturing
 methods, rather than as a result of the monopoly’s competition.
 The British American Tobacco Co. continues operations
here only in a small way through local agents, having confined its
main activities to the Chinese field.
A few figures may serve to make clear the scope of the operations
of the tobacco monopoly in Chosen. The total value of the output
of the tobacco ie industries of the country for 1914 was
approximately $2,000,000. The amount of exports, principally to
China, was $188,842, of which $130,854 was cigarettes of cheap quality.
 The total imports for the year, including the monopoly products,
 was only $87.599 ($81,970 cigarettes). From these figures it
will be seen that the monopoly as yet does not dominate the market,
but that the competition of local and private industries is still keen
and effective.
The South Manchuria Railway Co—The South Manchuria Railway
 Co. (semigovernment) has recently appeared in Chosen at one
point, the supplying of locomotives for the Chosen railways. As
the activities of this company in this field will doubtless steadily
increase, the following description of the company is taken from the
Japan Yearbook (1914):
The capital is 200,000,000 yen, divided into 1,000,000 name shares of 200 yen
sach, one-half of the capital being represented by the Manchuria Railway and
pecessories and the coal mines at Fushun and Yentai belonging to the Japanese
Fovernment, which therefore owns 500,000 shares. The remaining shares were
sffered to Japanese and Chinese subjects, for which 60,000,000 yen have been
»alled in. The Government guarantees the profit of 6 per cent on the paid-up
capital for 15 years and refrains to claim dividend for its shares when it does
not come up to 6 per cent. The Government guarantees the payment of interest,
or, if deemed necessary, of principal, of the debentures within the limit of
100,000,000 yen, which the company may issue, subject to the approval af the