The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-04-04
LABOR UNIONS IN JAPAN.

Labor unions have been introduced
| into Japan with considerable success.
The ideas they represent seem to APP
peal to the Japanses working people
and the movement is spreading
| throughout the empire with such ra-
| pidity that it has already attracted the
I attention of parliament and is likely to
create disturbance. The strength
of the movement, although it is still in
its infancy, was demonstrated recently
when the union of ironworkers in the
city of Toxic held public meeting.
| The entire membership of the union,
twelve hundred in number, and repre-
sentatives of other organized labor
We're present. Speeches were made by
Messrs. Shimada Saburo, yice-presi-
dent of the lower house of parliament;
Miyoshi Taizo chief justice of the SUI
preme court; Professors Takano and
Suzuki of the University of Toxic and
Professor Katayama, of the University
OF Wisconsin. The ironworkers' union
is the largest and the most prosperous
In the empire, which Is probably due to
the fact that the representatives of
this trade are more intelligent and bet
ter paid than other wage earners.
There are, however, thirteen other or
CARNATIONS in Japan, of which ten are
| located in the city of Toxic. The I'M
ion of the railway men, all of whom
are employed by the government, is
second in strength to the ironworkers.
The organizers and promoters of the
movement are endeavoring to steer
r ole nf
they have met with great difficulty in
doing so, chiefly because the working
people of Japan demand the extension
of the right of suffrage, which is now
limited to people who pay taxes to the
amount of fifteen yen, or silver dollars,
a year. The ostensible objects of the
organization are to maintain wages to
promote education, to elevate the con-
dition of the Wage-e learners and furnish
system of insurance which gives
twenty sen (ten cents) day for sick
members, funeral benefit of ten dol
lars and a death benefit of thirty dol
lars to the families Of members. The
dues are twenty cents a month.
There have been no less than thirty
eight strikes in Japan within the last
year, in which several classes of labor
ers were represented-silk and cotton
operatives, carpenters, cargo coolies,
dock laborers, miners, railway en-
ployes and others. These disturbances
have created distrust and apprehen-
sion among capitalists that has been
communicated to parliament, and sew
eral bills have been introduced for the
regulation and protection of labor on
| - al
on the other. They are largely based
upon British statutes. The depart
ment of agriculture and commerce has
taken the matter in hand and has pre-
pared a general bill covering the whole
subject, which is intended for the ben
eft Of both the employers and the en-
ployed. 1t provides for the sanitary
inspection of factories, the liability of
employers in cases of accident, safety
provisions for the protection of opera
tives against dangerous machinery and
fire; it prohibits child labor under ten
years and limits working hours for
children under fifteen; prohibits the
employment Of women when they are
in a condition that makes them sensi-
tive to injury, limits the working
hours for adults to twelve, requires
payment for overtime, and to prevent
strikes and the coaxing of labor away
from one factory to another. There is
provision requiring every person en-
ployed in the factories to obtain from
!. the municipal authorities a certificate
or license, which Is to be deposited
with his or her employer. Employees
: are forbidden to hire persons who do
| nd No
! can leave a factory against the will of
his or her employer without surrender
ing his certificate. All disputes are re-
ferred to the police authorities for de-
cision. Thus, if this law is passed
strikers can never obtain employment
so long as their employers refuse to re-
turn their certificates, and at the same
time one employer will not be able to
entice away the operatives of another
which is frequent practice in Japan
The employer class, particularly the
Cotton Manufacturing association OPP
pose the bill because 1t limits the hours
of labor, requires the introduction OF
sanitary improvements and payment
for overtime, while the working classes
object because 1t disarms organized Ia
Dor of it's strongest weapon by intro
J ducing the certificate system.
With the exception Of farm laborers
, wages have advanced from twenty tc
forty per cent, through all lines of in
dustry in Japan during the last two
years. The result has been unhealthy
competition for employment and the
Generalization of the agricultural in
terests. People are leaving the farms
and crowding into the cities to seek
, work for which they have no expert
, ence or qualifications. And, on the
other hand, it is represented that the
manufacturers are making serious
mistake by neglecting their machinery
by employing inexperienced operatives
\ to tend their looms and spindles, an6
by using cheap lubricants, which not
only has resulted in the rapid depreci-
, alton of the value of their plants, but
is injuring the reputation of their pro-
ducts.-W. e. Curtis in the Chicago
, Record.
, SPOTTED TAILS LITTLE DAUGH-
.