The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-25

Japan is TO recognize the right ot the
people to govern themselves.
In the cities, sanitation furnishes a
most difficult problem. At present
there is little sewage, although there
is a pressing need for IT.
In the Industrial development of ia
pan the people must meet the problem
Of child labor and the length of the
working day. Women now work
twelve hours in the factory and one
cannot see them and the children at
toll without asking whether Japan can
afford to impair the strength of the
next generation for any advantage
hours and such youthful labor. This
subject is likely to be brought before
the next session of the diet
In some reforms Japan has moved
more rapidly than the United States.
Wherever she has waterwOrks in her
cities they are owned and operated by
the municipalities. She also has a
telegraph system and a telephone sys-
tenn operated by the national gov
eminent kilograms are sent at the
same rates to all parts Of the empire
and the service is satisfactory
The telephone service is not so good,
for while it is all right as far as it
goes, the system is not extended as
rapidly as, the demand requires. In
Toxic. for instance, those who want
/ to install telephones have to wait until
someone discOntinues his phone or is
willing to sell it, and a bonus is often
demanded. If the local telephones
were owned by the city and only the
| interurban lines managed by the i'm
/ periaI government, the service would
respond more quickly to the needs of
! the community.
/ The Japanese government also owns
| lov-f nT fFn r411 E--rDsa 4
| system. and in doing so employs moth
| ing but native help I Travelled on both
| the government and private lines and
could not see that they differed ma
teriaIIy so far as efficiency was con-
| cerned.
The first-class fare is about cents
per mile Gn our money!, the second
class about cents, and the third-class
| nearIy all the travel is thiTd-class)
| about 1 cent. A reduction of 20 per
cent is made on return tickets, a re-
| duction of from 20 to 80 per cent on
/ communication tickets, and a reduction
of from 40 to so per cent on season
tickets for students. This reduction to
students might be initiated to advan-
tage in our country. The government
road is all. or nearly ALL double track
and has the latest safeguards for the
protection of passengers at depots. The
Japanese are much given to meeting
friends when they arrive and escort
ing them to the train when they leave
and this custom has led TO the sale OF
platform tickets for 1 cent Gn OuI
money!.
japan has two educational prob
lens: First. the increase in the per-
centage of those going from the pri-
mary to the middle schools, and sec
lond. the cultivation of an ideal which
/ viii connect a respect for manual la
Dor with intellectual advancement. To-
day a large majority of her people
work with their hands and at labor
which forbids the wearing of good
clothes. 1t is probable that the educa-
ton of the masses viii show itself tC
some extent in improved methods and
in the more extensive use of animals
and machinery. but there must remain
\. large amount of work which requires
daily contact with the soil. The rice
crop grows in the mud and cannot b'