The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1904-07-13


starved subjects of the Son of Heaven,
who cover outside his palace walls.
the submerged tenth of London are
bon wants, and the groveling Rus
slams OF Gorky's night refugees the
spoiled children OF fortune.
What l have seen | doubt II any
Occidental has seen before me, for
the existence of such absolute wretch
edness is not revealed to the tourist,
and the ordinary resident suspects 1t
not at all. II he has heard some wills.
per OF the dolorous regions near at
hand, 1t is not regarded as polite to be
too inquiring. Not by any possible
chance will the guide or friend conduct
the visitor to the quarters where Joy
Is life's unknown quantity.
Summing In Toxic is for the regu-
lation traveller the same as IL I'm Lon
don he went to Soho without exploring
the East. None but regions of COM
parative prosperity are shown, because
the Japanese are proud of their uni
versal reputation for cleanliness, for
artistic surroundings, and for a pow.
erty that is always smiling. WELL
washed and safely removed from nc
tual want.
Nevertheless. Toxic and other cities
have their social purgatorles, their
Sargasso seas of living, breathing
wreck and drift. In Toxic not fewer
than 100000 people seldom, II ever.
know of a certainty where the neces-
stiles Of the next day will come from,
and throughout the land the great ma
5ority are too poor to eat rice. The
high grade rice grown on the islands
Is exported almost to the last sack,
ana inferior rice imported for those
who can afford 1t. Rice is not in every
bowl, as the tourist fondly imagines.
1 have spent days and nights in the
midst of this inexpressible residue of
Japan in company with a brilliant ma
tive soclologist. who, like scores OF his
fellow students of men and things, be-
lieves that Japan has left its gocG
days of general happiness and general
comfort forever behind, and is enter
ing upon a sordid and merciless age
Of industrialism, in which its people
are not fitted by temperament to COM
pete, and whose proletariat is, more
over, far too intelligent and too proud
to be exploited by capital. He is cry
ia out warning to Japan that her
seat at the council table of the powers
Is being paid for in the blood of her
citizens, not expended as they would
pour 1t forth cheerfully in war, but I'm
factory and on farm, in shop and in
office.
''Think for n moment" he cried, re-
Gently. as we looked at Japanese bat
tleship in the offing, what multi
tude of our tiny rice fields It takes to
support such monster and then re-
member that our people can't afford
to eat ricen'
But whether or not the last state of
Japan be worse than her first. let us
proceed to Darkest Toxic. We will visit
the Shitaya quarter, which is close
by the beautiful Uyeno Park.
Toxic is so vast; 1t Is such an i'm
mense sea of sheds, that from the
highest point on the clearest day one
can see but a fraction of its area-but
here are fifteen districts OF mean
streets. The crazy structures called
houses. which are in reality sheds. are
strung along in series of dilapidated
and filthy compartments. To folk as
poor as those who live here, cleanl-
ness. SO dear to the average Japanese
that 1t is above godliness, is out of the
question.
The walls are decayed and full of
crevices and cracks, the roof leaks,
and there is moss and broken tiles.
the shoji are full of holes or patched
with newspapers, the mats are ragged,
dirty and mouldy. There is foul water
in the streets and still fouler stencil
in the air, whose source is often visible
to the eye. Frequently one sees dead
rats in the roadway. but for fear of
the plague, they are quickly made
away with. After coming from the
daintiness and delightful artistry OF
well.to-do Toxic. Shitaya is the abom.
lnation Of desolation.
The most tumble down OF these
abodes may be rented for from twenty
to twenty-five pence per month, but
there are houses so fine that they cost
as high as penny, or even three half
pence. a day. To afford one of these
expensive residences several families
club together, not alone for economy,
but also for warmth. in winter all
hands crowding together on the mats.
Charcoal is not always TO be afforded,
and heat Is great luxury these cold
days. A whole block will sometimes
take turns in warming hands at
hibachi. wherein a few chunks Of
charcoal shoulder in bed of ashes.
Suppose a plpe-cleaner has had
good day, and returns to his home
with, say, slXpence. He will expend
this In farthing purchases of misc,
kind OF soup stock, oil, fuel, tobacco
and perhaps a little fish, which, If he
feels reckless, he will eat raw with
horseradish. He buys in drlblets, and
like the very poor in all the cities OF