Evening star., 1896-07-18
SALE OF PRETTY GIRLS.
Tho Japanese government Sanctions
This Kind Of Trade.

Tho Japanese Government Sanctions
This Kind Of Trade.
From the Gan Francisco Examiner.
The japanese government IL issuing
vholesale legal permits to destitute parents
to sell their daughters.
1t is the sorriest thing OF the century, a
thing which civilization well may blush for,
shadow which Japan can never live down.
Japan is in the grim clutch Of famine-a
famine SO bitter that the japanese govern
ment has encouraged this general vending
of maidens to provide means of sustenance
for the heads Of suffering families.
A correspondent Of the Sunday San Fran
cisco Examiner writes from Toxic, In vim
dication Of the strange system:
This phase OF the unhappy condition Of
this people may be misunderstood. because
OF the pee uliar social custom prevailing in
the country. and the different aspect borne
by this particular action to that given it in
other parts of the world may not be known
This is the first serious famine ever
known In Japan, and the horrors of it can
not be told In language lurid enough to fur
n1sh an ADEQUATE portrayal Entire house
holds are living on cents a day, and thou
sands of families are without even that.
The bodies Of those who have died of
hunger strew the roads and fields IN out
lying districts. Particularly in the Kwang
81 province has the famine been fierce.
The fields. where starving people have
stretches of plowed ground. All domestic
animals. as well as cats. dogs and rats,
nave been eaten. Cannibalism even has
been resorted to in distant provinces.
There has been little or nothing done In
the way Of charity. The government has
been incomprehensibly slow to act. Rice
(and the crop everywhere has failed) is but
sparsely raised here. and its price has been
raised by the shippers as the misery has
grown. Spectators in 1t are growing rich
This Is the state Of things which has led
IA q nfC CSrvu =
her earliest childhood the japanese girl is
trained in courteous ceremonials To be
amiable and gracious to those about her
she learns before she learns to speak and.
naturally. If this regard for the stranger is
lnstilled In the infant mind, how much
greater must be the regard she is taught to
snow Tor her parents! Filial affection and
devotion Is tradition of the country The
absence Of 1t Is the most heinous OF crimes
What sacrifice would not be made by a
japanese child to secure its parents sgalrst
prlvation?
This condition breeds In the minds Of the
poorer classes a feeling Of property in the
girl. in which she acQuiesces, that tempts
the parents at times like these. without any
evil thought. but solely under the stress of
circumstances. to offer the daughter in
open market. This open market embraces
two avenues Of disposal for the girl She
may De sold as a supplementary wife to
some japanese who Is already welded but
wishes to add to his menage. or she may be
sold for something infinitely worse
II Is q case OF starvation, suicide or
seiilng their daughters. The minimum eye
AZ which girl may be sold is twelve wears.
M Inc prices now have fallen as low IS g.
The price, under ordinary conditions is
about 500. Those figures show the awful
need that exists
The chief condition is that the girl shall
remain the purchasers property for the
space OF three years. When The agreement
IS completed the deeds are signed before a
police magistrate.
II everything is satisfactory the girls
name and minute description of her are
entered In book, and this book is soleiy
deVoted to the record of her life ther ,after
IN IL is kept an account of all the money
fhe purchaser expends on her account: also
1uii account of the obliga tons she takes
upon herself. the right she has in the mat
Ter and the rules that prevail in the house
nold into which she enters, all Of which is
signed by the parties interested At the
ehd OF three years the purchaser is bound
10 release the girl II the money he has ex-
pended upon her during that time is reraid
10 nim The law declares the girl free at
the end of six years, whether the mocey is
repaid or not. And by that time the pur-
chaser Is generally tired of his purchase
anyhow. Ordinarily such safes OF human
beings are made only among the lower
classes but since the famine began IT is NOT
rare Tor girls Of good family to take this
means OF relieving their parents
w hen a girl Is sold to ill the most Of
supplementary wife she is taken by the
pure haser to his own homo, where she re-
mains until for one reason or another he
pays her to go back 20 ner people,