「学制」(明治五年)公布の財政的背景 : 文部省定額金問題を中心に(松永俊男教授退任記念号)

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This paper mainly discusses the following four points. 1. It is said in earlier studies on the history of Japanese education that the Ministry of Finance, especially Kaoru Inoue (the temporary head of the Ministry), assessed particularly severely the budget of the Ministry of Education at the enforcement of Gakusei, but this is not quite right. From the viewpoint of the Ministry of Finance, the most important challenge of the Ministry at that time was the establishment of a national financial basis mainly by the disposal of the feudal benefits for the old nobility and samurai, which was the main cause of the very unsound condition of the national finance. Gakusei was an unnecessary burden for the Ministry of Finance, precisely because it was in conflict with the contract which was made with Ambassador, which restricted new projects by the remaining cabinet members. Therefore the budget of the Ministry of Education did not increase even after Inoue who insisted on the reduction of the budget for Gakusei left his position. 2. The first estimate of the Ministry of Education, 3,000,000 yen, included items without specified uses, so it amounted to a rather negative demand, like "It is enough for 2,500,000 yen for the first few years". Besides, although the budget was reduced by about 50 percent, 2,241 yen (2,694 yen by another historical document) was left over at account settlement, and the Ministry of Education was ordered to pay it back to the Ministry of Finance. 3. The Ministry of Engineering and the Ministry of Justice protested against and resisted the reduced budgets. Especially the protest of the Ministry of Justice was intensive, and not only the Minister but also subordinate officers and other high officials offered their resignations to the government en masse. But in the case of the Ministry of Education we can not confirm such official and solid protest or resistance. On the contrary, the subordinate officer Fukuoka insisted on the delay of enforcement of Gakusei just before its issue. 4. The national financial condition at that time suggests that the first budget-demand (3,000,000 yen) by the Ministry of Education was very excessive and impractical. We can not praise Dajokan-sain (the legislative part of the government) as "generous" or "insightful" (Takashi Kurasawa), in agreeing to the full amount (3,000,000 yen), and in addition approving the provisions of Gakusei including many contradictions and incoherencies. According to Hiroyasu Ogata, "the poor budget of the Ministry of Education" caused "the collapse" of Gakusei. But if we suppose the reason for the "collapse" of Gakusei was that the Ministry of Finance did not approve the budget demand of the Ministry of Education of 3,000,000 yen (5.2% of national annual expenditures), we must say also that education in Japan was in "collapse" until 1923, when the ratio of educational expenditures to national annual expenditures passed 5.2% and became 6.6%. Education in Japan was not in "collapse" even before 1923, because the education of modern Japan was, following the financial philosophy of Gakusei, maintained not by the national treasury, but by "minpi" (the term in Gakusei) = private expenditure (tuition fees, money collected in school districts, endowments, etc).
2009-03-10

「学制」(明治五年)公布の財政的背景 : 文部省定額金問題を中心に(松永俊男教授退任記念号)

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