The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-11-30
Mill Operatives in Japan.

The people Of Japan are learning
that they must take the bitter with
tie eweet. In the few decades of the
new life OF their islands the japanese
have gone through great deal. At
the very first they adopted indiscrimi-
nately everything European, from
hats to tactios, good, bad or indiffer-
ent. Little by little they eliminated
some OF the most undesirable OF their
Improvements and retained what
seemed to them good. At time
when certain high.rindcd and disin-
tcrested philanthropists were striving
to convince the American people Of
the blessings Of free and unlimited
coinage Of silver. he japanese gov
crnment adopted the gold standard
They discovered that uniform tariff
Of five per cent was not quite all that
might be wished. aud they found that
,hr benefits Of extra -tcrritorialitv
were not rccirrocrat They conducted
- pretty littlc war with hardly hitch.
and almost satisfied the ncw spapcr
cnrrc~ roiilcntS They have learned
10 run ,hcir own iocnmotiv,. and ma
rinc engines. - grcntcr triumph than
j, ~"unds They have TROLLEY cars.
and their cavalry officers wear corscts.
Yrt he Japanese hpvc troubles.
The trouble =. rrc>cn, is that the
operatives in ihc factories are dissat
i>ird and Inc worst part Of it is that
he workers seem to have Just cause,
for their complaints.
Factories for various purposes have
been hnilt in Earan very much Oh the
plan of our own cotton mills Great
barrack like brick buildings they are.
but without the improvements for
light, ventilation and sanitation that
are a matter Of course in America.
Percy Alden in the Outlook, 50 such
mills, chiefly spinning factories. en-
ploying in all $4,000 men and 45 900
women. The women arc chiefly young
girls brought by agents from the coun-
try. where they have lived almost en-
tirely in the open air. When they
reach the factories they are hound by
contract to work IL hours a day, Sun
days included, with hnt two holidays
a month. For n day 8 work they are
paid an amount that is equivalents to
FIVE cents Of our money, and from this
amount four cents a day are kept by
the employers to pay for the board
and lodging of the operative This
leaves the girl one cent in cash each
day as thc remuneration for her labor
The girls are lodged in dormitories
within the factory gates, and have to
obtain permission before they can go
ont on any excuse whatever. The
change of the free and healthy life of
the farm. where the Japanese women
work with the men, to the close and
noisomc atmosphere Of an i'll vcntila-
ted factory induces lung diseases.
Many Of the most liberal and en-
lightened statesmen Of Japan are for
tun ately interesting themselves in the
labor question. 1t 10 proposed to
limit the aye Of child wokers aud to
shorten the working hours of Che wo-
men. Yhe evils of the contract sys-
TEN, as it is at present carried on, has
| as vet received no attention.
In many branches OF labor in Japan
there are already trades unions. The
iron workers, locomotive engineers
and railroad employees are particularly
powerful. But the mill operatives
are practlcally neIplesS. and must rely
upon legislation for relief There is
now in Europe japanese commits
sioncr, studying Germany factory sys-
tenn.
Doubtless before long the condition
of the women in factories will be ame-
liorated. But that it has existed so
long. unrebuked and even encouraged.
is 4 bad blot upon Japan's record of
| enlightened progress. Hartford Con-
rant.
R~