The Hawaiian gazette., 1896-11-27
JAPANESE BIKES
Not TO be Compared With
Other Makes.
Japan VIII Not Compete With
United States-Has no
Resources.

describing the extraordinary cheap
ness OF Japanese limitations of Euro
pean goods-such as felt hats for a
few cents and bicycles costing as many
dollars as English machines cost in
pounds merchants in Japan have been
deluged with inquiries, and have had
TO explain that the goods are altogeth-
er unsuited TO the European or Ameri-
can market; that the hats would be
unstable; that the woven stuffs, when
durability was taken into considera-
ton, were no cheaper than home pro-
auctions, and that no self-respecting
Teuton or Anglo-Saxon would ride a
bicycle made in Japan Such a BIZ
cycle is constructed in a blacksmith's
shop, made by hand, and is more close
ly related to the antique 'bone-shak-
er' than to the modern safety There
are only four bicycle workshops of any
Importance, the total output not ex-
ceeding 500 machines per annum. So
called pneumatic tire bicycles cost
from FL TO Ell, while the English
manufacturer can place bicycles on the
market at from E12 to EGO, with which
those Of primitive Japanese workman
ship are not to be compared.
las regards the manufacture of
,-.rr +ta o;rc,,,,, ctanoae ora diAaranf
Imports of yarn, both from England
and from India, have fallen of very
considerably. But Japan has pur-
chased large quantities of machinery
from England, so that the volume Of
imports has actually increased. Jap
anese spinning mills undersell Lanca-
shire and Bombay in the home markets
simply because of contiguity to the field
of distribution. 1t does not by any
means follow that Japan will become
a powerful competitor in foreign trade.
So long as she does not make her own
machinery or grow her own cotton she
viii not secure control even of con-
tiguous China markets.
The question then arises, Is Japan
likely, in the course of time, to make
her own machinery? So far as ma
chimes of delicate and complicated con-
struction-such as those used in spin
ning-are concerned, | should reply,
certainly, not in the immediate future,
and il is very doubtful if her competi-
tion in this field need be feared at any
time In the first place, Japan is not
a country rich in minerals, and appre-
hension is already expressed that at
the present rate of consumption her
easily accessible coal, which even now
is no cheaper than coal at the pit mouth
in England, will quickly be exhausted,
and that it will be necessary to sink
deeper shafts with consequent increase
in cost of production. Almost all the
iron used in japanese manufactures
comes from Europe. 1t is worth re-
peating that no nation which has to
depend on others, both for its machin-
cry and for its raw material, is likely
10 be a successful competitor in the
field of industrial production. Japan
is not newly discovered country with
immense virgin resources. Wood is the
fuel mainly used, and timber has been
almost the sole material in the con-
81 4NAAoA VI AEAuDlCSs pdldCCS, CASTLES
or huts, with the result that the forests
have almost disappeared. Imported
Oregon pine is now cheaper than jap
anese woods of similar quality, and
an important trade in timber is grow
ing up between Japan and America
The steady rise in timber means cor
responding increase in the cost of liv-
ing. And this brings us to the ques-
ton of cheap labor. There are those
having experience who deny that labor
in Japan is cheap, as it requires at
least three persons to do the work done
by one in England. But wages are
very low. The wages Of mill hands,
mostly women, range from 6 to rs sen
(say from I'd to Sd peri day. Since the
war, however, labor has become in
creasingly difficult to obtain, and in
some trades wages have more than
doubled. The workers position is IN
many cases miserable enough Many
mills are run night and day with only
two shifts A japanese magazine re-
Gently warned manufacturers that if
the position of workers were not quick
IL improved socialism would take root
among the people, and as a matter
Of fact. the spinning mills in Osaka
have already had to face several
strikes. AS the laborers insist on a
higher standard of comfort, wages must
rise in proportion.
AS a matter of fact, instead of ex-
ports from Japan tending to exceed the
imports into the country the reverse is
the case For the first few months of
the current year, indeed, the imports
show a vast excess, amounting to 26,-
zSS.S $50 ven. The imports have been
swelled by the payment of the Chinese
indemnity on installments, while the
exports are lower than usual, owing
to a temporary diminution in the ex-
port of rice and silk Exclusive of the
movements Of specie and bullion, the
excess of imports over exports proba-
bly, does not exceed 100000 yen. But
the general tendency of trade may be
taken as showing that Japan is likely
10 be g good customer for many a year
to come, and that there need be no i'm
mediate scare as regards her entrance
into foreign markets. The imports
from Great Britain for the first six
months of this year were valued at
4,971. 1874 yen, and from British India
at 200, sos yen, while imports from
Germany amounted TO only 1.096. 062
ven from the United States IN 600 q26