Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-28
HeaffEeSg Labor System
i'm Vogue i'm Japan

| can make only a shilling GA cents) a
day, and over most of tine country he has
| to be content with less. Thousands OIL
| female factory operatives get not much
more than 6 pence az conts) day. This
was hardly a living wage a year ago.
but 1t is less now. The highest wages a
carpenter can command are shillings
4S cents) "a day, tilers get 1 shilling
pence (4O cents), plasterers ! smiling u
pence (46 cents). bootmakers l shilling GA
cents), laborers 10 pence go cents). When
we turn from the highest to the lowest
rate of wages conditions may better pc
imagined than described. In the last year
rice, which Is one of the most essential
articles of food to Japanese, went up in
price to double the rate of the twelve
months before. There are other aspects
of the system still more menacing.'
The hours of labor In Japan are uncon-
trolled by law, and the condition OF the
toilers is pitiable In the extreme. On this
point we quote the following:
There are no laws regulating the nours
OF labor In some cases, as on railways,
twenty-four consecutive hours are the
rule. This excessive strain upon the
workman is doubtless responsible for the
increasing frequency of accidents on jap
anese railways. Often, as one passes a
station at night, the whole staff appears
to be asleep, and probably is. Factory
operatives usually work from q. m. to
6 D. m., with few minutes at noon for a
bit of rice to eat. Many of the Factory
workers are women, for the most part
Young girls, and these suffer much from
tt constant strain of time and activity.
They are drawn chiefly from the poorer
classes, and are usually ignorant and
wholly at the mercy of the foreman or
employer. 1t is said that the lot of the
Japanese factory girl Is the hardest
known to woman. She is engaged In
toll that is physically exhausting; her
mere pittance keeps her unoerteo' anu
she Is without either protection or SYM
pathy. The old personal feeling OF IN
terest and responsibility that existed be-
tween employer and employe In pre-
restoration days has disappeared before
thes ceaseless grind Of modern INDUS
trialism."
Nor are there any extra precautions
taken to protect the lives of those opera
tiyes who are engaged In dangerous occu-
nations. The employers, like all Jap
anese, says this representative OF the
Guardian, attribute no value to human
life, and are utterly regardless of their
epmloyes' safety. His words are thus
explicit:
ITO a foreigner the most shocking
aspect of the Japanese Industrial system
is the absolute indifference of managers
to the unnecessary TlSh diiu CAPo'@AS ~
which the operatives are constantly sub
iected. The alarming loss of life that
results from accidents from week 10
week could beyond doubt be reduced by a
little attention to the ordinary dictates
of humanity in the way of protecting
workmen. In the Mitsu Bishi naval yards
at Nagasak have often wondered now
the thousands there employed could all
crowd into few lighters to be ferried
other dav I was not surprised to see one
upset and plunge hundreds Of struggling
men and women into the sea, resulting In
considerable loss of life. In an Osaka
arsenal hundreds of women were en-
pioyed in taking the powder from old
cartridges left from the late war; a
match was dropped, causing an explosion
that killed forty-nine women at once
and the consequent fire and explosions
killed a great many more. There was no
supervision adequate to warn the women
of the danger of using matches in such
place. Such accidents are too common
in Japan to be justly considered unpre-
,,antohle Ut dterarv Digest