Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-08

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of these countries are brought here. There
fore they have not only to meet CONNECT
ton among themselves but the COMPETE
tion from other countries and with the
object of doirg this they have adopted the
aIrarent sIicidal policy of working night
and day, so as 10 lessen the visible cast of
production, and do not appear to have
taken into col sideration the ultimate dam
age that. by so doing, they may be causing
TO their plant and machinery.
But, besides this. there is the great ac-
emulation of sSCck which is being made
by this night and day work-an accumu-
lation for which there is no apparent de-
mand at home and no likelihood of get
ting shipped to China and other markets
of the far cast in the near future. The
production of this requires money. If only
Tor labor fuel etc, and the majority
Of these mills have little or no reserve. al
though some of them have been paying
from thirty 10 fifty per cent. and even
more in d few cases, for Nv o or three years
past. the shares of all of them falling
very rapidly AID, in consequence OF the
scarcity of morey in the country and the
Withdrawing of assistance 10y the numerous
banks who have been over anxious to ad-
vance large sums to these hitherto very
paying concerns, the best of them viii not
fetch their face value today and many OF
them are being offered at from thirty
forty per cent discount, but cannot find
purchasers even at these very low rates.
May Prove beneficial.
Having visited a number OF these mills
during the last few weeks feel sure that
this approaching crisis will prove beneficial
t. the majority of them i'm the end if the
shareholders are left to themselves to tide
over it; hut if the government yields to
their pleadings as ii has done to so many
others who have apnrOarheb il the
ment any plausible excuse for help has
presented itself. then they Will bring upon
themselves difficulties far greater than
those with which they have now to con-
tend.
The japanese. like all other people, can
only become strong by dearly purchased
experience. and the sooner they have this
the better it Will be for them and for these
cotton-spinning mills i'm particular. The
older industries of the country, however.
have had much more extended career
and have had to contend with trials and
difficulties. In fact, many of them have
been built up brick By brick, il were,
in spite of opposition and competition at
lone and abroad. They have already stood
the hrunt of the battle ana have consider
ably benefited by the experiences of the
struggle. 1t will be seen from the figures
1 have given above that the greatest de-
velopnent has taken place i'm silk-produc-
ing and weaving; then comes grain pro-
duce and fish, followed closely by tea. The
figures for metals ana minerals, &C. al
though satisfactory, are not large
might be expected, considering how rich
the country must be I'm OF many kinds.
THIS, TO my mind. clearly shows that the
natural preference of the japanese is for
agricultural and open-air work. They
never seem to tire OF the fields. the woods
and the broad blue sea on which they
Will live for days together in their open
boats, with nothing but little rice and
water and what they catch in their nets.
Some of them go into mills, mines and
manufactures, because they get better pay
by doing SC. But there are few of the Jap
anese who do not think of the country
| home life without longing desire to re-
turn to it.
Prefer Country Life.
To foreigner the hardships which the
people have to endure in their rural work.
the few comforts they seem to have and
the hard and rough work they do often
| make life appear not worth living; but to
the majority of the Japanese they are pre-
ferred to the comparative luNuries OF the
towns and cities. lit is for this reason that
hands for mines. mills and manufactures
are SO difficult to obtain, even at the high
rate of wages which is now being paid,
and even when sufficient hands can be got
the majority of them will not work more
than half time unless they are compelled
to do almost by force. The people do
not seem to take willingly to this new kind
of work. They will try it for time, and
the better class of them will make a little
money out of it, but the majority of them
go back to their homes and their fields to
breathe the pure and open air of that coun-
try life they love much.
1t WILL therefore, be seen that although
many new industries have been started by
the Japanese, in many of which steam
power and machinery are largely used,
and have so far proved satisfactory, they
stand in a very different position to the old
industries of the people, which are carried
nn on q nv "a N lah
alone. AS i have said before, the former
industries are yet far too young to enable
any one to form even a vague idea to
their future, therefore it seems unwise for
the japanese government to continue to
disburse funds in order to foster such
undertakings, especially when funds are SO
very scarce. In my opinion 1T would be far
better to leave them to fight their own way
and use any money they may have at the
disposal of the government in assisting the
further development of those industries
which have proved themselves worthy OF
support.