The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1889-03-22
WAYSOF THE JAPS.
QUEER METHODS OF A PRO
GRESsIVE ORIENTAL RACE.
How They Saw Lumber and Build
Houses, Beginning with the
Roof and Working Down
Bookkeepers and Clerks.

hoof and Working Down
Bookkeepers and Clerks.
The japanese artisan, says Frank G..
Carpenter, in letter from Toxic. to the
Chicago Herald, has four hands and
twelve fingers. He uses his feet as a pair
OF hand5 as his two great toes can wrap
themselves around the articles with which
he works like an Americans thumb.
saw a cooper at work this morning mend
ing bucket. He held the bucket be-
tween his feet while he sat down to his
work and put on the hoops with a
hammer and wedge. His legs were bare
and his cue was tied in the old Japanese
fashion, while his almond-eyes closely
watched the work he had before him.
After ten minutes of pounding he laid
down ms tools and took a smoke, and
during the hour that | sat near him he
smoked four times. The japanese pipe
only holds pinch of tobacco and he
could do this cheaply, but the time con-
sumed was at least twenty minutes.
This perpetual siesta is one of the feat
ures Of japanese labor. l am told by
old American resident that Japanese
workman will not do one-third as much
3 day as an American workman, and in
every case they seem to do their work in
thei hardest OF ways.
The methods Of labor in Japan are the
direct opposite of those of America. The
carpenters, for instance, pull their planes
the other way, and when they use the
drawing knife they push it from them
instead OF pulling it toward them They
do most of their work sitting, and they
do all the work on the pull stroke instead
of the push stroke and they stand the
board, as a rule, at an angle of forty-five
degrees against something rather than
lay it on a saw-horse or bench as we do.
They do their marking not with chalk,
but with a reel and an linked string when
they wish to saw in a straight line and
the whole of the work of turning the
rough logs into the finest of cabinet
work is done by hand There are no
planning mills in Japan and the saw
mills can be counted on the fingers of
one hand. The usual method of saving
logs into boards is to stand the log at
an angle against support and to saw it
by hand. The saw used is not the
powerful cross-cu saw of America, but
a wide, short Japanese instrument, which
has a handle about two feet long and
which looks like butchers clever filed
into a saw. The human sawmill stands
on top of log or under it and pulls
away for ten hours day for about thirty
cents Skilled carpenters in cities get
about forty American cents a day, and
the best men in the business do not get
over forty-fve. Still, you will find no
better workmen in the world than here.
Their work is done with the use of very
few nails and they have to be cabinet
makers as well as carpenters. Every
japanese house has walls which must
move in grooves in and out every day,
the ordinary home is as nicely put To-
gether as bureau. The joining of every
thing is by doyetailing, and the japanese
could teach our American workmen much
In the polishing and joining of fine
woods.
Speaking of house-building, the
Japanese begin their work at the
top. The roof goes on first and then
they begin to build the walls and to con
struct the interior. One of the greatest
curiosities to me in Toxic is a new hotel
which IS being built 1t is 10 be on the
foreign style and is to have four stories.
1t will be the greatest hotel in Japan. 1t
covers about an acre of ground. AS vet not
a stone of the foundation has been made,
but the roof is already up, and this stands
on a great four story skeleton of scaifold-,
ing awaiting the building of the rest d
the structure. This scaffolding is mad
of long poles from the size and thickn5
of campaign flagstaff down to the 81
of bamboo fishing rod, aud the wholdS
is tied together with ropes Imagine an
acre of scaffolding of this nature uphold
ing a heavy roof and the whole made
of sticks and ordinary rope. There are.
was told at the Office, 1000 poles in
the skeleton and 1000 men had been at
work for months in making it.
The japanese are content with little
and 1t is from this attribute of their
nature that Americans need not expect
to compete with them in business in their
own country. They do business on
margin that would ruin American trades
man, and if they make five cents on the
sale Of watch or ten cents in selling a
clock they are satisfied. Where a
thrifty tradesman can live and bring up
a family on SO a month there is
little hope for the luxurious Ameri
can. The whole nation seems
to be engaged in what a Con
necticut Yankee would call a whiting
business. The stocks of many of the
stores would not bring 50 at auction,
and the merchant sits like the Turk in
his bazar surrounded by his goods and
with his legs crossed serves his custom
ers. His floor is his coulter and his
goods hang on the walls or are piled
within easy reach of his hands. He has
a space altogether about as large as q
small bedroom, and the whole of the
front of this is open. The floor is raised
about two feet from the ground and
customers sit on the edge as they haggle
over the prices. The japanese merchant
always asks three times as much as he
expects to get. You offer him about
one-tifth and gradually reach the third.
He gives You tiny cup of tea and places
beside you bowl of charcoal for your
pipe while you are looking at his goods,
and as a rule it seems to be Indifferent
to him whether you buy or not. If YOU
go away without buying he BOWS politely
and say "SayoDara" (farewelD with as
kind a smile as though you make pur-
chase, and if you 5ffer hi
out of the usual order he
on a Chinese &C
chine; consisting of be
buttons strung on wires
these up and down he