渋沢栄一声明書 1909年11月29日 （ジェームス・ディー・ローマン氏所蔵） (COPY)
Visit of Honorary Commercial Commissioners of Japan
to the United States of America
Sept. 3, to Nov. 23, 1909.
STATEMENT OF BARON SHIBUSAWA
Nov. 29. 1909.
In the course of this memorable trip, we have visited fifty odd cities, great and small, everywhere inspecting industrial plants and financial establishments, educational institutions and charity organizations. We have met and talked with thousands of people, including the President, and many other men prominent in every walk of life.
We have thus had a unique opportunity of getting an insight into not only America's industrial, commercial and educational progress, but also of the great personal factors shaping the destiny of this Republic. We know America better than when we came, and I trust many an American knows the Japanese better because of this visit.
To mention a few of my impressions of America, I have been struck in the first place by the enormous extent and diversity of natural resources. America possesses in boundless abundance everything required to make it a great and prosperous nation.
Secondly, I have been struck by the wide distribution of your industrial activities throughout the country. Every one of the fifty odd cities we have visited, not excluding the smallest, has some industries of a unique character to show.
Thirdly, we were deeply impressed with the immense capacity and possibilities of America's domestic market. At every great factory we were told that not more than ten per cent of its output is exported. This explains why America pays so little attention to the cultivation of foreign markets, and why she is so hopelessly outdistanced by her European competitors in the import market of Japan.
Fourthly, even more surprising than her industrial progress, is the progress made by her in education. And what is most remarkable is the intimate connection maintained between the class room and the world of practical affairs, the greatest pains being taken to make instructions as practical as possible.
Fifthly, our profound admiration has been excited by what the Americans are doing in the cause of charity. The great charity institutions adorning every city are the evidence of America's civilization, even more than her great industrial plants. Rich as America is in material wealth, she is no less rich in the wealth that is stored in the heart of man.
If candid criticism may be allowed to a friendly observer, I may mention that the way in which your timber is felled and worked and the way in which you till the soil, seem to me rather wasteful. You possess abundance, and you can, for the present, afford to be wasteful. But your resources are not inexhaustible and it will be wise for you to provide for the future while you still possess abundance.
In conclusion, I wish to emphasize that we leave American shores with the most pleasant memories of our trip of three months. We leave with our hearts indelibly impressed by the hearty friendliness and warm hospitality everywhere shown us. Above all we leave with the happy consciousness that the warm feeling of friendship is thoroughly reciprocal between the two nations.
（Signed）
Baron Shibusawa
（『渋沢栄一伝記資料』第32巻p.370-372掲載）
参考リンク
- 都市詳細 サンフランシスコ - 渡米実業団
〔渋沢栄一記念財団 渋沢栄一〕
http://www.shibusawa.or.jp/eiichi/1909/city/c61_sanfrancisco.html
