Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1907-12-11
POVERTY OF JAPANESE.
DESCRIBED BY DR.. EDW0RDS In AN
INTERESTING LETTER.
Men and Women Works for Small WAGES,
and Even Notable Characters Live
Humbly Compared to Well.to.do
Americans.

| that IL one desires to understand Just
how far behind modernity Japan real
ly is, the sight on the bay at this
point is an object lesson we'll worth
while to observe. They were coaling
big steamer as we came in, and I
spent nearly an hour watching the
peculiar manner in which the task
was accomplished. Those who have
formed a part of the old time bucket
line at a fire in a town where there is
no fire apparatus will remember how
the line is formed from the well to
the fire and the buckets are passed
along from hand to hand until they
reach the burning building That is
the way vessel is coaled in Japan,
only the coal is passed in baskets and
the passers are women, with just a
sprinkling of men in the line. The
baskets of coal are passed up the side
of the steamer and along the deck to
the hatch down which it is poured,
the baskets then being thrown over
the side the coal barge below to be
filled again. The women in the line
sway rythmically from side to side.
with arms outstretched to take the
| basket, they barely touching it in it's
passage on to the next woman.
The work is arduous in the extreme,
and many of the women break down
| under the strain Most of these wo-
men are comparatively young but
| among them can be seen faces drawn
and wrinkled with age. Woman in
Japan is the beast of burden, and one
may see them at all times struggling
along under heavy loads, tilling the
labor usually performed by men.
will say this much for the men, how
ever, they work. too. and are to be
seen working hard side by side with
the women. In this country the peo--
pie are extremely poor, and even.
noted army and navy officers live in
style that would be considered dis
creditable for a laboring man in
America. Japan, with her thirty odd
million people is so densely populated
that it is impossible for the country
to maintain any but the very wealthy
in style that Americans would con-
slider good living.
Cost OF living in Japan is marvel
ously cheap. AT least it appears so to
one who has been accustomed to pay
ing for high-priced things of civiliza-
tion. Here one may hire servants for
few cents day. and these servants
will provide for themselves All food
products, especially fish and vege-
tables. are very cheap, and American
flour costs no more here than in the
| United States, Notwithstanding the
fact that it is shipped clear across the
ocean to market. Yet with all the
| cheapness of living the people of
Japan are constantly threatened with
starvation. and with the slightest
shortage of crops they suffer. The
reason the women work on the docks
at such labor as coaling ships is be-
cause it is their only means of obtain
ing living. and if they did not do it
they would starve to death. The
population problem of Japan is a
vital one, and one of the reasons for
the present attitude of Japan toward
Corea is the necessity for finding an
outlet for the surplus people of the
empire.
Conditions in Japan as result of
the recent war with Russia are ex-
tremely bad so far as the agricultural
classes are concerned. Japan sent
nearly all of her available male popu-
lation to this war and consequently
her farms were neglected, except for
such cultivation as women. children
and Old men could give. As the
great bulk OF the people depend upon
the crops for sustenance there has
been much misery among the lower
classes, and thousands have emigrated
to Korea, China and America. While
the government of Japan has repre-
sented to the government of the
United States that it does not desire
its people to emigrate, it is fact
eHae ali WIN ucsiro 10 20 away are
helped by the government. even to
the extent OF violating immigration
laws of other countries
Nagasaki is one of the most inter-
esting cities in Japan. and presents
many sights that strike the foreigner
fo-cibly from the time he enters until
he leaves. 1t is also one of the most
difficult cities to get along in for the
authorities persist in asking for ones
passport on all occasions, and / have
been stopped several times by the
same official who demanded to ee my
papers. They are less civil than in
Yokohama, but they have just as
many bows. and pretend to be very
humble personages. while they are
putting you to all sorts of unnecessary
inconvenience.