ABSTRACT
As time went on the Cabinet quarrelled with and purged itself of the members not belonging to the Kenseikai, and its position became less stable, but it held its ground successfully. It drafted new legislation actively, especially such as was designed to prevent manhood suffrage from having a too disturbing effect. Besides the Peace Preservation Bill, it produced bills for governing the formation of trade unions, for the regulation of religions (with the intent that the propagation of religious dogma should be free only when it had the approval of the Home Office), for arbitration in labour disputes, for the control of organised gangs of roughs and bullies, for the control of the Press, and various other purposes. The navy put forward a big scheme for the “auxiliary vessels” which the Washington Conference had failed to limit-a project which added a certain absurdity to the Government propaganda for thrift, one of the manifestations of which was the appearance on countless doorposts of a little printed slip with four Chinese characters “Kinken Rik-ko,” meaning “Frugality and Effort.” It also emphasised the inadequacy of the provision made for the care of lepers, now an annually recurring demand. The Government gave the official estimate as 16,261, of whom the majority begged their bread in public places. By an extension of the existing homes, it said, accommodation for five thousand in all could be provided. The apparent exactness of the Government figures for the total number of lepers was delusive; more reliable estimates put the
number at thirty thousand, and this figure was borne out by the number of conscripts annually rejected on the discovery of the disease at their enrolment examination.
