The Opelousas courier., 1904-06-11

starved SUBJECTS OF the Son Of Heaven.
who " outside his palace walls,
the submerged tenth of London are
bon WANTS, and tM+8Eeling Rus
slams Of Gorky's night qffuges the
spoiled children of fortune.O
What I have seen I doubt If 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 it
not at all. If he has heard some whis-
per of the dolorous regions neal at
hand, it is not regarded as polite to be
too inquiring. Not by any possible
chance will the guide Or friend conlnct
the visitor to the quarters where joy
is life'S unknown quantity.
Summing in Toxic is for the regu-
lation traveller the same as if in Lon
don he went to Soho without exploring
the East. None but regions of COM
paratiye prosperity are shown, because
the Japanese are proud of their uni
versal reputation for cleanliness, for
artistic surroundings, and for a poy-
erty that is always smiling, we'll
washed and safely removed from ac-
tual want.
Nevertheless, Toxic and other cities
have their social purgatories, their
Sargasso e Of living, breathing
wreck and drift. In Toxic not fewer
than 100000 people seldom, if ever,
know Of a certainty where the neces-
sites of the next day will come from,
jority are too poor to eat rice. The
high grade rice grown on the islands
is exported almost to the last sack,
and inferior rice imported for those
who can afford it. Rice is not in every
bowl, as the tourist fondly imagines.
l n.cEe spent days and nights in the
midst Of this inexpressible residue of
Japan0in company with a brilliant ma
tive sociologist, who, like scores of his
fellow students of men and things, be-
lieves that Japan has left its good
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
ing out a 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 it forth cheerfully in war, but in
factory and on farm, in shop and in
office.
"Think for a moment" he cried, re-
Gently, as we looked at a japanese bat
tleship in the ofing, what a multi
tude Of our tiny rice fields it takes to
support such a monster, and then re-
member that our people can't afford
to eat rice!.'
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; it 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-bui
here are fifteen districts OF NEAR
streets. The crazy structures called
houses. which are in reality sheds, are
strung along in a series of dilapidate6
and filthy compartments. TO folk al
DOOR as those who live here, cleanli
ness. SO dear to the average japanese
that it is above godliness, is out OF tn
question.
The walls are decayed and full OF
~crevices and cracks, the roof leaks
and there is moss and broken tiles
the shoii are full of holes or patched
with newspapers. the mats are ragged
dirty and mouldy. There is foul waite.
in the streets and a still fouler stencil
in the air, whose source is often y1slbi
to the eye. Frequently one sees dea'
rats in the roadway, but for fear Q
the plague, they are quickly mad
away with. After coming from tn
daintiness and delightful artistry o
well-to-do Toxic, Shitaya is the abom
nation Of desolation.
The most tumble-down of thes
abodes may be rented for from twent,
to twenty-five pence per month, bu
there are houses so fine that they cos
as high as a penny, or even three half
pence. a day. To afford n Of tines
expensive residences several famille
club together, not alone for economy
hut also for warmth, in winter a
hands crowding together on the mats
Charcoal is not always to be AFFORDED
and heat is a great luxury these col
DAYS. A whole block will sometime
take turns in warming hands at
hibachi, wherein q few chunks Q
charcoal shoulder in a bed of ashes.
Suppose a pipe-cleaner has had
good day, and returns to his non
with. say, sixpence. He will expen
this in farthing purchases OF misc,
kind of soup stock, oil, fuel, tobacc
and perhaps a little fish, which, il d
feels reckless, he will eat raw VIII
: horseradish. He buys in driblets, an
like the very poor. in all the cities 6
/ the world, pays enormous prices. In
has been a very good day, and perhap
he will peer in at n Of the temptln
cake shops, which smell so fragrai
to the weary and hopeless. Howeye
he will be. in all likelihood, "broke" b
!. this time. and will content himse.
2 with listening to a story-telier reiatln
the ancient glories of Dai Nippon.
g - -. So aTao =, - ytnf11rnn1 pmnFy