Evening star., 1897-05-18
WHY JAPANESE LABOR IS CHEAP
An international Comparison of Per-
sOnal Wants.

An international COmpa risOn of Per.
sOnal Wants.
From the st. Louis Globe Democrat.
An American traveller. who went to ia
pan to study japanese commercial methods
ana conditions. and especially the uuestton
OF cheap labor says that the last issue WAS
made very plain to him in a few words in
casual conversation with a Japanese gen.
t!eman who had spent ten years of his life
IN Europe and America. He said: iYou
people are inconvenient. You REQUIRE 40
much more than we Japanese to keep YOU
comfortable. Here. for example. you are
paying % (silver) day at your hotel and
l am paying % sen, or 40 cents of your
money l am just as comfortable and han
py as you are. You certainly have tables
ana @ cnalrs and washstands and pitchers
ara bedstead and sofa, and goodness
KNOWS what. in your rooms. l have moth
lfg or the sort. A nice, clean, tatami ma t
and quilt Is a good enough bed for me.
Then you have SO much more trouble at
your meals with your tables and chairs
ard crockery and glass ware and knives
ana FORKS and spoons and mustard and
pepper pots. Then you are crowded to-
eether IN one room My meals are served
on tray IN my room by pretty maid
VINO kneels before me while I eat and
chats and makes herself interesting. look
Ing ing a1ter my every want at the same time
Then you cart lot Of unnecessary h.e
gage around. The hotel furnishes me- u,ith
nne SILK dressing gown and a nice clean
niSht robe, and l can buy a toothbrush
Ior sen or SO. Say what you like Won
europeans are inconvenient people. You
1o not go along the line Of least resistance.
lou make TOO much effort to live 1t costs
you too much in worry and anxiety in
n@sh n and blood and gray matter as well. !"
close proximity with this happy-eo-h1ckv "
Asiatlc life enables the striking contrast
between 1t and the amount of enerrv eY-
Penoed on the daily necessities of Ameri-
cans to be fully realized. The simnIa die
terence between the S2.75 American money
paid Dy the traveller and the 10 cents of Tho
Japanese. by which each man Allied his
Saly wants, represents. actually, the dif-
ference between Asiatic and American Ia
Dor. Our laborer must have 81 51 IN &c, 10
SOUND money to supply his bare wants,
Japanese iaborer can get along very veil
win ~ cents silver. or, say, 2T1 cents Of
our money. The rooms occupied by the
noo,, ,.oos. pIosperous working families-one
room pefng sufficient for a family of a
man and wife and two or three cbj,dra,
are sometimes five mats in width hut .s
ruie' the breadth does not exceed three
Hats, with occasionally space of mati.ss
s%aouhu % ot ABOUT two feet square. In the
pied by the poorer classes, the d1mension.
OF the rooms do not exceed six feet. or two
ihats: Oiten these houses or rooms constst
merely OF a poorly constructed roof. rnder
Wnlcn tne occupants sit and sleep on woysn
straw spread on the bare ground The ford
supply Of the poorer classes is often SnI
riveo from the table refuse of barracks
ana other large establishments. Where
this refuse is utilized, family Of five man
oers can i've on IA or Is cents (silyer) a
food. Where the supplies ara pnrchs sed
iresh. the cost reaches 30 cents. The "a
muneratton for nearly all kinds Of labor Z.
correspondingiy low. %