Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1904-01-23
PovERTrs LOWEST Ees.
Folks in Tokyo So Poor They Hire
Bedclothes from Night to Night.

Deeper than ever plummet sounded in
the ocean of poverty and human woe
have descended here in the metropolis
of the far east. and found the worlds
poorest poor. Besides these starved
subjects of the Son of Heaven, who
COVER outside his palace walls, the sub
merged tenth of London are bons vi
wants, and the grovelling Russians of
Gorkey's night refugees the spelled child
rem of fortune.
Summing in Tokyo is for the regula-
ton traveller the same as if in London
he went to Soho without exploring the
east. None but regions of comparative
prosperity arc shown, because the Jap
anese are proud of their universal rep
utation for cleanliness, for artistic sur
roundings and for a poverty that is
always smiling. well washed and safely
removed from actual want.
In Tokyo not fewer than 200, 600 peo-
pie seldom, if ever, know of certainty
where the necessities of the next day
will come from, and throughout the
land the great majority are too poor to
eat rice. The high grade rice grown In
the islands is exported, almost to the
last sack, and inferior rice imported for
those who can afford 1t. Rice is not in
every bowl, as the tourist fondly i'm
agines.
Tokyo is so vast Ii is such an i'm
mense area 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 a series of dilapidated
and filthy compartments. To folk as
poor as those who live here, cleanliness
so dear to the average japanese that it
is above godliness. is out of the ques-
ton,
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 a 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 a great luxury these cold
days A whole block will sometimes
take turns in warming hands at hi
bachl, wherein a few chunks of char
coal shoulder in bed of ashes.
Suppose a pipe cleaner has had good
day and return to his home with, say.
slxpence. He will expend this in far
thing purchases of misc, kind of soup
stock, oil. fuel, tobacco. and perhaps
little fish, which. if he feels reckless,
he will eat raw with horseradish. He
buys all in driblets, and like all the
very poor in all the cities of the world,
paws enormous prices.
Had our pipe cleaner returned empty
handed he would have hurried to the
always near at hand, and
raised a few farthings on his precious
brass pipe. his habichi. or his few poor
garments not in actual use.
The pawnbrokers batten off these
wretches as in no other land. 1t is i'm
possible to escape them and they never
relent. Anything worth above five
hence can be pawned.
Until this time Of the year. or even
until midwinter, one can exist without
but when the nights are
cold with the fearful frosts of Japan
csc winter. some covering must be had.
Now appears another plunderer of the
poor in the guise of a capitalist, who
rents quilts by the night. He charges
and invariably collects from one far
thing for a shred of dirty. patched old
rag to a penny or even two-pence fof
a foul but heavy covering. Then. too
there are frayed silk quilts for bridal
couples. but these are to costly to be
rentd by many bridegrooms. Rent
must be paid in advance, and before
the family go to sleep the collector
comes and gets either the money or
the quilt. With the refinement of cruel
ty he does not appear until the lessee
has turned in. and the loss of his COW
ering will be doubly felt. There are
heart rending scenes when penniless
mothers strive to hold the quilt to pro-
Lect their babes from the chill AMI
damp. Like the pawnbroker and the
the quilt-lender is flint
hearted.
Few of the inhabitants ever get
enough money ahead to buy bed CLOTH
ng and the CHASTITY tragedy of rent
ng is reenacted again and again, for
winter after winter. Where there are
SO many children having but a few
cotton rags, the winter means acute
Correspondence of the Lon
Ion Daily Mail.