The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-21
AWFUL POVERTY AMONG
THE POOR CLASS IN JAPAN
Thousands of Them in Toxic Com
PEELED to Subsist on Refuse
from Garbage.
OCEAN OF HUMAN WOES
London Mail.

bons vivants. and the grovelling Russian OF
Gorky's night refugees the spoiled children
of fortune.
What / have seen 1 doubt If any Occi-
dental has seen before me, for the existence
OF such absolute Indebtedness is not re-
vealed to the tourist, and the ordinary resi-
dent suspects il not at all. If he has heard
some whisper of the dolorous regions near
at hand, it is not regarded polite to be
too inquiring. Not by any possible chance
will the guide or friend conduct the visl-
tor TO the quarters where joy is lifes UNI
known quantity.
Summing in Toxic is for the regulation
traveller the same as~if in London he went
to Soho without exploring the East. None
but regions of comparative prosperity are
shown, because the Japanese are proud OF
their universal reputation 4or cleanliness,
for artistic surroundings. and for pow
erty that is always smiling, well washed,
and safely removed from actual want
SOCIAL PURGATORIEs.
Nevertheless, Toxic and other cities have
their social purgatories. their Saragasso
seas of living, breathing wreck and drift.
In Toxic not fewer than 100000 people sell
dom, if ever, know of a 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 al
most to the last sack, and inferior rice i'm
| ported for those who can afford It, Rice is
not in every bowl, as the tourists freely
imagine.
| have spent days and nights I'm the
midst of this inexpressible residue of Japan
in company with a brilliant native sociOl-
ogist, who, like scores of his fellow stu
dents OF men and things, believes that
Japan has left it's good days of general hap
piness and general comfort forever behind
and Is entering upon a sordid and mereiless
age of fndustrialism, in which its people are
not htted by temperament TO compete, and
whose proletariat is, moreover, far too in
telllgent and too proud to be exploited by
capital. He is crying 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 II forth cheerfully in war, but i'm fac
tory and on farm, in shop and in office
Ihlnk for moment" he cried last week
as we looked at japanese battleship in the
dining, what a multitude of our tiny rice
fields 1T takes to support such a monster,
and then remember that our people cant
afford to eat rice!
DESOLATION.
But whether or not the last state of
Japan be worse than her first, let us pro-
coed to darkest Toxic. We will visit the
Shitaya quarter, which is close by the beau
tiful Uyeno Park
Toxic is so vast; it is such an immense
sea of sheds, that from the highest point
on the clearest day one can see but a frac-
ton of its area-but here are fifteen dis
tricts of mean streets. The crazy struc-
lures called houses, which are in reality
sheds, are strung along in series of dilap-
ldated and filthy compartments. To folk as
| poor as those who live here, cleanliness so
| dear to the average japanese that ii is
above goodness. is out of the question.
The walls are decayed and full of crew
| Ices 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 moldy. There is
! foul water I'm 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 abomination of desolation.
Inc most tumble-dOwn of these abodes
may be rented for from 20 to % pence per
month, but there are houses so fine that
they cost as high as a penny, or even
three half-pence, day. To afford one of
these expensive residences several families
| club together, not alone for economy. but
| also for warmth, in winter all hands crowd
ing 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
| nlDdcn wherein rev chunks OF char
| coal smolder in bed of ashes.
HOW SIXPENCE GOES.
| Suppose a pipe-eleaner has had a good
day, and returns to his home with, say.
sixpense. He will expend this in farthering
purchases of misc. a kind of soup stock.
oil, fuel, tobacco and perhaps little fish,
which, If he feels reckless, he will eat raw
with horseradish. He buys in driblets. and
like the very poor in all the cities Of the
world pays enormous prices. This has been
a very good day, and perhaps he will peep
| in at one of the tempting cake shops, which
| smell so fragrantly to the weary and hope
| less. However, he will be, in all likelihood,
| broke" by this time, and will content him
| self with listening to a story-teller relating
| the ancient glories of Dai Nippon.
Had our pipe-cleaner returned empty
| handed he would have hurried to the pawn
| broker, always near at hand, and raised a
| few farthngs on his precious brass pipe, his
! hibachi or his few poor garments not in
| actual use. With the money he would have
| purchased fish entrails or the offal from
| horses used for food, and perhaps a hand
! full of scraps from garbage barrel With
these he would have Toasted with his fam
| lily, and with them prayed that providence
| would give him better day tomorrow, so
| that he might reclaim his goods.
| The pawnbrokers batten off these
wretches as in no other land 1t is impos-
1
lent Anything that cost above fivepence
| can be pawned
POyERTY'S LAST WORD.
! Until this time of the year, or even until
| midwinter, one can exist I'm Shitaya without
bedclothing, but when the nights get cold,
with the fearful piercing frosts of a ia
panese 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 farthing for
a shred of dirty, patched old rag, to a pen
ny or even twopence for a foul but heavy
| covering. Then, too, there are frayed silk
| quilts for bridal couples, but these are too
costly to be rented 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 a refinement OF cruelty, he does not
appear until the lessee has turned in, and
! the loss of his covering will be doublv felt.
| There are heartrending scenes when penni-
| less mothers strive TO hold the quilt to pro-
/ tect their babes from the chill and damp.
/ Like the pawnbroker and the money lender
| the Quilt lender is hinty hearted.
! Few OF the inhabitants Of Shitaya ever
get enough money ahead TO buy bedcloth-
/ ing and the CHASTITY tragedy OF renting is
| re-enacted again and again for winter after
/ winter Where there are so many children
| having but a few cotton rags, the winter
| means acute misery.
| Nothing that was ever edible can become
| too bad for the very poor 10 use. From this
| and similar quarters the scavengers go
4 eorth daily caarphtnQ for food onA fha.,