The number of the pest patients in Formosa has been decreasing year after year, as the following returns for the period January 1 to June 17 of the respective years show:—
| Cases. | Mortality. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 3,481 | 2,619 |
| 1902 | 1,795 | 1,352 |
| 1903 | 750 | 606 |
The government is making strenuous efforts to increase the export trade. It has subsidized a modern sugar-mill which has commenced operations in South Formosa, manufacturing brown sugar for refining purposes; it has likewise given assistance to a white-sugar factory; it has started an experimental paper-factory; in fact, it has devoted all its energies toward increasing the island’s productions. Independent Japanese firms have likewise done a good deal, though not as much as we had reason to anticipate. Two gold-quartz mills, one being of considerable size, are successfully at work in the Formosan gold fields; two wealthy companies are engaged in plantation work on a large scale in Southeast and in North Formosa; and there is a glass-factory in the north, several Japanese-owned coal-mines, a paper-factory at Kagi, several modern salt farms, and other small industries, to Japanese credit. In improving transportation, the Japanese have done much, and are planning to do much more. The Chinese railway line was handed over to the Japanese in such a condition that it had to be all reconstructed. We thus have practically a new line to Kelung and another to Shinchiku (formerly Teckoham). In addition to these, new lines were constructed from Taihoku to Tamsui, and from Takow to Shinyeisho via Tainan-fu, which gives a total of 93 miles of rail. The trunk line connecting the north and south is now in course of construction.[233] The Japanese have also built over 200 miles of narrow gauge for the temporary transport of military supplies, general freight, and passengers. Nearly a thousand miles of ordinary road have been constructed.[234]
Rev. W. Campbell, a Scotch missionary in Formosa, testifies concerning what Japan has accomplished in the island:—
At the outset it should be remembered that, when they [Japanese] arrived in 1895, instead of being allowed to take quiet possession, they found the people everywhere up in arms against them, and had literally to fight their way from north to south before anything like settled government could be established.... Immediately after some measure of peace had been restored, the executive sent out qualified experts to engage in survey work and to report on the resources of their newly ceded territory.
A complete census of the population was taken in 1897, 800 miles of roads were made, and a tramway line laid down from Takow to Sin-tek. This was followed by construction of the main line of railway from Kelung to Takow, about one-half of which has already been opened for goods and passenger traffic. Three cables were also laid down, connecting Formosa with Japan, Foochow, and the Pescadores, and over the existing 1,500 miles of telegraph and telephone wires immediate communication has been made possible with every important inland centre. The post offices recently opened in Formosa number over a hundred, and letters can now be sent to any part of the empire for two cents each. Up till the close of 1899, 122 government educational institutions had been established, only 9 of those being for Japanese, and 113 for natives. There are at present 10 principal Government hospitals in the island, at which about 60,000 patients are treated gratuitously every year, while sanitary precautions and free vaccination have become so general that the danger from visitations like small-pox and plague has been very much reduced.[235]