The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-08-12


| comprehend that they have the best.
the cheapest, and the most skilful la
bor, for the money, in the world. There
are no labor unions in Japan. nor are
there likely to be, in view of the multi
tude of people struggling for living.
| which consists of a mat to sleep upon
and a few handfuls Of rice for food.
The advance in the cost of labor caused
by the war, though it was felt, was very
small, when considered In the light of
| wages paid in other countries. One or
two cents a day does not seem very
| much to men who are accustome. to
| receive $50 and SIS a month, but in
Japan, where the average income of the
workingman does not exceed S45 year.
1t Is a matter of importance on both
sides.
From the United States consul gener-
al at Yokohama. the author obtained
the average wages paid in that city,
| which is the principal shipping port in
| the country, and where the foreign
population is largest. We proceed to
quote some figures, but We caution the
| reader that the wages named are paid
to japanese artisans in the local money,
which is worth only about one-half as
much as American gold. The average
| pay of carpenters in Yokohama Is 80
cents a day; of stone cutters, 36 cents;
of bricklayers. SO cents: of dyers. %
| cents; of tailors for japanese clothing,
rs cents, and for foreign clothing, 49
| cents; of porcelain makers and lacquer
makers, % cents; of compositors, 80
| cents. and of printing press men. &c
l .Ne-f So,
| weavers, Is cents. Wages paid by the
month range from $5.74 to bakers and
s4.S2 to weavers to 81 for farm hands
and 81 for women house servants. 1t
| should be noted that the average work.
| ing hour is ten hours. Factory labor
| receives even a smaller remuneration.
| Embroidery women, who produce the
| work that Is SO much priced by Ameri
cans and Europeans for decorative pur-
poses, seldom receive more than 15 or 20
cents day in our money. One of the
| most prominent tea shipping houses in
| japan. that of Middleton 4 Co., em-
ploys large number of persons. men
and women, who work from o'clock in
| the morning to at night. with three
short intervals, when they eat their rice
or what other refreshments they bring
with them. The highest wages paid by
this firm are IL sen day. which is
equivalent to 81 cents in United States
currency. This is received by men who
are experts in handling tea. The low
est wages are paid to young boys and
girls. who pick over the tea leaves to
remove the stems and other foreign sub
stances. They receive Is sen, or So
cents, a day for about twelve hours
work, not including their resting spells.
1t should, of course, be borne in mind
that the wages current in Yokohama
are the highest paid in the empire.
In the chapter on Japanese methods
of farming we are told that Japan is
one vast garden, and that as one looks
over the fields. he might imagine them
to be covered with toy farms. where
children We're playing with the laws
of nature and raising samples of diff
| ferent kinds of vegetables and grain.
Everything Is on a dminutive scale.
and the work Is as fine and accurate
as that applied to cloisonne vase,
What, asks Mr.. Curtis, would an Him
ois or Iowa farmer think of planting
his corn, wheat. cats, and barley in
punches, and then. when 1t is three
or four inches high. transplantinG
every spear if 1t in rows, about as far
apart as one can stretch ones finger.
The truth is that n japanese farmer
weeds his wheat field as carefully as "A
Connecticut farmer weeds his onion
bed, and cultivates his barley and pc
tatoes with as much assiduity as n
Long Island farmer bestows upon MS
| asparagus or his flowers. Not only
| every kernel of grain, but every par
ticle of straw Is saved. and the latter
| Is put to thousand uses. They
make of it hats, shoes, ropes. roofs
mating, the partitions and floors of
houses, waterproof coats, baskets,
boxes and thousand and one other
useful articles. They braid it for
fences also, and the finer. softer quail
| tiles are cut up for fodder. There is
very little hay raised in Japan. The
grass is very wiry and indigestibe 1t
cuts the intestines of animals. Some
| alfalfa is grown, but it does not pros
per. In the neighborhood of Kobe. on
| the southern shore, the soil seems bet
ter adapted than elsewhere for hay,
| and the best beef comes from that To-
cality. The ordinary Japanese horse.
which originated in China and is called
| a griffin seems to like straw and to
thrive upon it, but he is small and
| ugly and not capable Of much endur-
| ance. A journey of fifteen miles will
| use him up. The straw is chopped
very fine for feeding purposes. Is mixed
with oats, barley, millet, and other
grain. and, by adding water. is made
into kind of nusl. To oxen is given
the same food as to horses. and in
| some parts of the country one sees n
| good many of them. They draw their
| loads by ropes stretched from a COL
lar to the axle of two-wheeled cart.
One man leads them by cords attached
to rings In their noses, while another
| steers the vehicle with a tongue that
| sticks out behind. On rare occasions
you find man ploughing with a cow
| or an OK, but more frequently such
work is done with man or woman pow
| er. The Japanese plough Is the section
| of the trunk or a branch of young
| tree with the proper curve to it. and
| IT is all wood eXcXept narrow-pointcd
blade. which is fitted into the frame
work. 1t has only one handle.
In Japan couple Of acres is consid-
cred large tract Of land for farming
purposes. Most of the farms are of
smaller area. and the crops are greatly
diversified. Upon such little piece of
land will be grown almost everything
known to the vegetable kingdom; few
square feet of wheat, barley. corn. and
millet, plat of beans perhaps ten feet
wide by twenty feet long, an equal area
of potatoes and peas. then a patch of
onions about as big as a grave, while
beets. lettuce. satisfy. turnips, sweet po-
tatoes, vegetable oysters. and other va
rieties of cereals and roots occupy the
rest of the area. The farmer scans mis-
growing crop every morning. just as an
engineer would inspect the movements