The Japanese had the second largest navy in the world and it consumed a lot of coal, he explains, and gold was needed to import war supplies in an age when international trade was still conducted in gold.
他分析原因，當時日本的海軍艦隊全世界第二，必須消耗大量的煤；此外，日本缺乏戰略物資，必須大量進口，而當時國際貿易還是金本位，也就是要用黃金向外國買東西，因此，也要鼓勵台灣人多多開採金子。