Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-09-11

the situation becomes Crlbicdi VI oAoI'
ing he stimulates the interest OF the
audince by clapping them together.
When the murderer is creeping upon
his victim, when the suicide is about
to fall upon his sword or when the
villain runs away with the helress he
makes terrible racket that often
browns the Dialogue.
The entertainments of the yose are
usually mixed. There may be poem
from japanese Tennyson, an extract
from the plays of japanese SNAKES
peare, a chapter from Japanese Ban
croft or Froude, together with few
comic selections and a story OF love
and war. The recent war with China
has caused great boom in the yose
businesses, for they kept the public in
formed of the progress OF events ana
the policy of the government, and are
now reciting the incidents OF the cam
paign in China. The lesser yose are
itinerant and give their recitatlons
upon the streets or in the tea houses,
where no fee is charged but COLLECTION
is taken ND at intervals. The street
yose are usually accompanied by sam
isen player and singer, perhaps two
or three, and you find them surrounded
by crowds of coolies wherever you may
go.
Students of the Japanese language
often utilize these entertainments Tor
the purpose of improving their pronun-
citation. There is young Englishman
named Black who is member OF the
guild in Tokyo. l believe he is the
only foreigner who was ever admitted.
He speaks japanese perfectly, and his
knowledge of European literature gives
him more than ordinary popularity.
The guild system includes all trades
and occupations. The silk.growers
and silk-bpyers, the men who raise tea
and those who sell it, the manufactur-
ers of lacquer and cloisonne and por-
oelain, the weavers and spinners, the
artists who decorate kakemonas or
scrolls, the carpenters, screenmakers,
confectioners, paper dealers. doctors,
LAWYERS. merchants of oil kinds, teach
ers, and even preachers, have their
guilds and meet at regular periods to
discuss subjects of general interest and
mutual Importance. Among the me-
chanics and tradesmen these guilds are
often extended to include life insurance
OF aid to those who are ill and infirm,
like our mutual benefit societies OF the
United States. Assessments are made
upon the living to pay the doctors
IaI kIxn n
undertakers who have buried them.
Thus far the guide has not been used
to any extent for the advancement OF
wages OF the regulation of working
hours, for the reason that 30 per
cent. of the skilled labor in Japan is
occupied in the homes of the people
and in a measure is independent of the
conditions that governs working people
in other lands. Up till five years ago
factories were almost unknown. The
weaver bad his loom in his own house
and his wife and sons and daughters
took their turns at it during the day.
1t had always been the custom for the
children to follow the trade of the par
ents. The best porcelain and cloisonne
and lacquer work is done under the
roofs of humble cottages, and the COM
pensation has been governed usually
by the quality of the piece produced.
There are middlemen who buy for
the export trade and merchants for the
local trade, and the workingman
usually sells his wares to the same
person. This has gone on for centur-
les. Asana. the weaver, sells his bro
cades to the grandson of the merchant
who bought his grandfather products.
When there is large order. say for
1000 lacquer trays or 10000 embroid-
cred shawls. the middleman is resorted
to. When Mr.. Moore, the silk buyer
for Marshall Field. comes over here to
purchase his annual stock of Japanese
goods he goes to middleman, who
places the order in small lots among
the people who have by long experience
learned to depend upon him, and as
fast as they finish an order they send it
in. Sometimes the middleman ad-
vances them money. They usually
run an account with him, as the plan
tiers in the southern states do with
their factors in the commercial cities.
He furnishes them materials and
sometimes little luxuries in the way
of clothing or food. which are charged
to their account.
1t will be seen that under this sys-
tenn organizations for the purpose of
effacting wages and the hours of work
are not practicable in Japan, but the
guilds have had strong influence in
advancing the prices of articles which
enter into the export trade. This is
the natural result of the demand. Until
Japan was modernized there was no
such thing as steady demand for any
thing but food. and that was exchanged
between producers from day to day
almost entirely without the use of
money. Every artisan worked for his
prince. or the feudal lord to whose
balliwick he belonged. and when he
produced a sword or vase or piece
of lacquer he took it to headquarters,
where the Durchasinp agent of th,,