The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-06-25
A DREADFUL WASTE OF HUMAN ENERGY
Some of the Things
Done by fiand
J in Japan.


the least return. This labor is as poor
" paid as it is unproductfve in results.
The earning capacity Of the masses of
any country is what regulates it's pur-
chasing power, and gives it commercial
rank among the nations In the outset
it may be well to state, by way of
comparison, that the annual exports of
the United States. when divided be-
tween the population amounts to about
twenty dollars for each man, woman
and child: while the purchases of ia
same way, is trife less than three
dollars per capita. This would seem
to indicate that the earning capacity of
one American is equal to that of seven
Japanese. After following my investi-
cation on this subject the reader may
form his own conclusions.
Across the street from where I am
living new house is in course of con-
5tructfon. The excavation was accom-
E,lished by laborers who received fifteen
Sents a day-ten hours. They carried
the dirt to the street in baskets, then
dumped it into carts, which another
noise and labor. This process was so
slow that the work proved expensive in
the end. Before that excavation was
completed the dirt taken from it was
2I, ire 10Th in a G
compared to what it would have cost in
an American city.
THE ORIENTAL CARPENTER
The various kinds of workmen on the
new structure arrive before seven
o'clock, but they do not go, to work
promptly. They build a little fire and
BY eight o'clock the most of them are
at work. They all wear blue cotton
suits with characters upon them to in
dictate their guild. as well as the firm
or individual for whom they are work
ing This is their winter garb-in sum-
mer they wear nothing but a cloth
around their loins, and a band about
their foreheads to keep the sweat from
running down their faces.
The carpenters wages range from
thirty to forty-five cents per day Gall
quotations in this article are in Amer
lean money!, according to their grade.
They use the crudest kind of tools, not
even having the claw hammer which
our workmen consider so Indispensable.
I saw one of them starting an Amer
b lean wire nail in board. He put it in
the wrong place but did not discover
his mistake until he had taken one
whack at it with his awkward hammer.
The nail was half way in and he had no
means of getting it out. He stood re-
garding il with a puzzled look on his
face, and 1 felt like suggesting that he
pull il out with his teeth. 1t was fl
naIy removed with laborious effort by
using a pair of tongs. All the work
men waste much time in the cOntem-
pIation of unimportant detail. They
constantly misapply their strength, loi-
ter to talk and smoke, and when two
or more are working together at any
task they insist on chanting a droning
song at every stroke. 1t requires little
investigation to conclude that this Ia |
Dor is cheap mainly because its pro-
ductive power is So small. |
HOUSES MUST FIT MATS.
One popularity of japanese house |
is the fact that its dimensions are
governed by the size Of the mats when |
are to go upon the floors when it is
completed These mats are always /
made in multfpIes of three and the |
floors are constructed to correspond
with them. japanese lumber is made
TO conform to this arrangement, and
there is no waste to it at all. The ma
tive carpenters are completely bafled
when they get hold OF American lum-
her with its odd sizes, especially II they
are REQUIRED to construct something
with dimensions other than multiples
of three
NV neighbor is having the grass cut
from his lawn. Four men are crawl
ing around on their knees using shears-
de paws a small sum for the labor OF
ach individual, but they have already
fken on the job three days. and in the
end it will prove expensive At the
wharf I noticed the manner OF driving
Milling. A dozen brawny fellows were
1ugging away at the job. making the
hardest kind of work of II. n crude
D1Illey arrangement was suspended on
poles and a rope extended from the
driver to each man. AS they peSth
to lift they all joined in song. AT
given POINT in the chant all hands let go
and the weight dropped onto the pie
This was repeated until the job was
finished. 1t looked like the contractor
was getting a lot of crude music Tor
his money but little labor To be
Ia boring man in Japan fellow has TO
know a lot of tunes He also has to be
we'll posted in his cues or he is liable 20
let go at the wrong time and mix
things up generally.
THE COST OF LIVING.
Doubtless YOU would like to know
how these people live. earning as they
do only a few cents a day. The aver
age family among the laboring classes
will probably consist of five persons
In most cases both the man and the
woman work and their combined in