The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-09-04
ASIA MINOR.
The Condition of the Working People Of
Aslatic Countries.

The Condition of the working People Of
Asiatic Countries.
The condition Of the working people
in Asia Minor is not one of hardship or
restitution. There are no public insti-
tutions in that country for the support
of the poor or unfortunate, and no pub
lie schools. There are no warehouses,
no asylums for the insane, the blind. the
deaf and dumb, or the idiotic. There
are hospitals in the larger places, and
also schools, but they are wholly sup
ported by private subscriptions. The
result Of this state of affairs is swarms
Of hideOus mien upon the streets and
thOrOughfares, and universal illiteracy
among the poorer classes of the labOring
people. Consul Stevens says the highest
wages paid in Asia Minor in the general
trades are Sc per week to coopers and
blacksmiths. Bakers get but S1.46 aad
millers but S293.
In Syria the condition of the labOring
classes is neither satisfactory nor pros
porous. Most of the native weavers of
silk and cotton goods receive from
twenty to forty cents per dav, a sum
which hardly suffices to secure for them
the daily necessaries of life. Not over
five per cent. are able to save anything
from their wages, and in many cases
weavers work for wages received in adj
vance. The condition of agricultural
labOrers is not any better throughout
the country. The wages paid for an
adult plOwman with team of oxen are
from forty to fifty cents per day. The
plowman, rs rule, feeds himself and
team. The average wages paid to spin
ners of both sexes is 81 per week.
Consul Merrill reports from Jerusalem
that in Palestine. instead of happy and
prosperous people. one sees on every
hand oppression and suffering, igno-
rance and degradation. Nearly all the
Jews of Jerusalem receive charity, while
two-thirds of them depend mainly upon
those funds which come mostly from
Europe for their support. Were this aid
to be cut off suddenly, the Consul says.
these people would perish from starva-
ton.
Consul-General Benjamin writes from
Persia:
II know of no laboring classes in
other countries who appear more cheer
full and satisfied with their lot. The eli
mate also in most parts of Persia is of
such a nature as to reduce the actual
wants of the people. One hears occa-
sionally of riots or attacks on tax col
lectors guilty of more than ordinary
rapacity, but cannot learn that these
are more frequent than formerly"
Wages in all of the general trades are
less than 80 cents Il day, except an en-
graver. who gets Sl.6l, and chandler
of loaves ut the oven," who gets S1.21.
Most of the laborers in Persia endeavOr
to save money no matter what their
wages may be.
Coolies in Ceylon were paid sixty
cents week, so Consul Morey reports.
This class of help underbids the natives,
who will earn in the general trades
from sixty-eight cents to $3.50 per week.
the latter sum being given to gas-fitters.
The average weekly wages will amount
to less than 50.
Wages in China are from $3.50 to SO
per month. and are paid to labOrers fol-
lowing the general trades. Employees
in shops and stores in cities receive from
$3.50 to $50 per month. Men get
twenty cents day in the mines. House
hold wages are $50 per month. the
cost of nOurishment for the laboring
and industrial classes Of China is from
81 to $50 per month. ''In fact.' says
Consul Seymour. of Canton, 1.-THE cost
of living has been reduced to the
minimum standard. and all seem to be
healthy and cOntented; and as for in.
dustry, every ounce of muscle in men,
women and children above three years
of age, is utilized until Incidence is
scarcely visible"
Consul Seymour says. further: IF
the working people OF the United States
were compelled to subsist on the dirt
and conform to the economies of Asia,
which holds half the population of the
globe, and realized the miserable scale
or standard of human existence preva-
lent in these cheap-labor countries, be-
tween which and the well-regulated in
dustry of the United States, the adOp-
ton of international agrarianism would
establish an average, there would be
less clamor in favor of a pernicious
policy which contemplates competition
between two systems of labor, with the
certainty of leveling American labor -
the point at which it is proposed to ele-
vate the value of Asiatic labor, which
is satisfied with from twenty to fifty
cents per day and garbage for food
Consular Reports to the State Department.