The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-02-01
LABORERS or JAPAN.
Great Poverty Among the Lower Glasses
Houses and neutrality-suspicious.

Houses and furEltarc-fnpftm'
Consul Jernigan. Of Osaka reports as
follows 10 the department Of state.
II may be said, emphatically, that there
Is great poverty among the lower classes
i'm .Tonan the inheritance Of long centuries
of superstition and despotism. with
nopulation of 81, 000, O0O living on an are,
Of $50 900 square miles, two-thirds OF
which are mountains and hills, unsulted
for agricultural purposes, labor VIII CON
tipuc. for long time, 10 be cheap anu
abundant. A good laborer can be h'rad
for ID 10 % cents per day. ana he Will
work from a. IN. 10 . p. IN. ana Doard
himself The laborer don't wear many
clothes. and often appears i'll n suit that
would excite the envy OF the stanchest
dude.
A laborer's house is mostly one story
and contains not more than two or three
rooms. in addition 10 small room each
for cooking and bathing purposes. The
floor of the rooms is about one loot from
the ground and covered with soft, thick
straw mats. which are kept very clean, Tor
the .Japanese always take of their san
dals or clogs when entering the house
Furniture is not used at all IN a real
| Japanese house, except small table
about foot high and fifteen inches
square. which is only called into requlsi-
tion at meal time, the family sitting on
the mats like talors on their benches.
The bedding consists Of soft, thick cotton
ouilts spread on the mats. laOorer s
house including everything connected
with it, will not cost more tnan SlOO lh
gold. ~.
In such houses ventilation and warmth
seem never to be considered, Tor the
proper partitions and slides are only pro
tected in cold and stormy weather ~
strong wooden shutters, fitting badly, ana
through which the wind and rain ind III
tie difficulty in entering And there are
neither stoves nor gates in such houses
for the materials employed in building are
so infammable that IL would be danger
Gus to use them In the place oil stove
and crates there are braZiers filled witt
heated charcoal. and at night the brazler
when the weather is cold, is covered with
n kind Of earthenware and placed undel
the quilt. the latter being protected IRON
the fire and heat by wooden grazing
Though labor is cheap i'll Japan, ara III
reward dscOuraging. though the lanorel
is unfamiliar with the comforts Whlcl
surround the home Of the wOrkingman II
my own country, | believe that TN
japanese laborer is the happiest and hes
contented being | ever saw. II his pal
and cup ere filed with rice and tea he ap
pears the very embodiment OF happiness
and over all the ills of life victorious. W
The agricultural implements, as well a
machinery Of almost every description II
use by the japanese, are OF the mos
primitive origin, but attention IS now De
ginning to be directed TO the advantage
Of modern inventions, though labor IS stu
so cheap and abundant in Japan that sue
inventions have not yet been received Will
remuneration in the markets, and there
not any sufficient demand to stimulat
shipments Of machinery and agriculture
implements to this country, except To III
special contracts Scientific American