The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-06-25

move about the streets with their
stocks on their backs. The fish market
halts regularly at the kitchen door
and the green goods grocer knows no
such item of expense as rent and clerk
hire. Dealers in lamps, flowers, bask-
cts, brooms, porcelain dishes, etc, go
about looking for trade rather than
, wait for customers to come to them.
Doubtless the most persistent cam
Vasser for business is the tailor-gen-
orally a Chinaman. These tradesmen
are thicker than mosquitoes. They
are after the tourist at the hotel before
he has his trunk unpacked. They al
ways have their samples with them
and viii deliver garments almost be-
fore the American tailor would have
/ the cloth cut. A guest IN the hotel
where l am stopping received an in
vitatiOn to attend an afternoon party
and his card stated that gentlemen
would be expected to wear frock suits
and high hats. He did not have sl.ch
hours in which to get one, but a tailor
took his order, gave him one "try-on"
and had the clothes ready for him sew
eral hours before it was time to dress
for the function. Nor was it a Shoddy
job. The same thing would have cost
$4,000 in New York but the charge
here was only seventy yen-about
thirty-five dollars in American money.
When asked how it was possible for
him to turn out work so rapidly the
foreman smiled and said tailors were
cheap and plentiful. The coat took
the most time so he put five men to
work on it. They sat on the floor in a
circle with he garment between them.
each tail and one, on the collar ard
body. The tailors union here has no
rule about overtime and the fact that
they had to work all night was not
taken into account at all.
WHY THE JAPS ARE POOR.
The explanation of Japan's low wage
scale. as well as the poor standard Of
it's labor. lies in the temperament Of
its people. They still reflect the effect
of centuries of serfdom. Ambition is
the motive power that moves man TO
accomplishment and the average Jap
of the lower classes can hardly hore
to better the condition in which he was
born. His life means a mere struggle
for existence. The customs of the
country are such that it is difficult for
a man to save any of his income no
matter how much it may. be. Heads
of families retire early and throw the
burden of support on their elder sons
who in turn soon shift the responsible
ity if they can. 1t is an unwritten law
that a man of means must support his
poor kin, and when a young man begins
to succeed the majority of his relatives
make it a point to get poor in order to |
secure part of his salary.
An example of this was afforded re- |
Gently at the American Consulate in |
Yokohama. A bright yourg Jap who |
had been educated in the United States |
was earning a hundred dollars per |
month as an assistant to Consul-'Ien- |
aral Bellows. Such a salary IN Japan |
s something enormous. 1t is actually
more than is paid to the governor Ct
the province. yet this young fellow
couldn't save a cent. As fast as ms
wages increased his poor relations null
ipIied 1t really is enough to take the
ringer out of fellow when he stops TO
-ealize that no matter how hard he
works and no matter how much he
arms. that he will not be permitted to
,rofit by it He might just as we'll be !
, coolie singing at his work TO get his
mind off the fact that he is holding
Town a horses job. The Indifference of
he lower Jap to his pinched condition,
md the complacency with which he ac-
apts his poor portion. is the reason
yhv his fortunes remain at such low
nh. When the fire of personal ambl-
ion begins to burn within him, 10 keep
acc with the military zeal he is mani
estine. then will the darkness Of his
OF begin to be Illuminated by faIrer
PROSPECTS.
FREDERIC ]. HASkIN.