The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-20
TEE FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC
CONDITION OF JAPAN.
m.-Her Mechanical Industries.

Prior TO 1858 manufacturing In Japan was
carried on almost entirely as a house in
dustry. That In. articles were made by
individuals In their own homes or by small
groups OF individuals in some modest build
ing suited to their special occupation. The
factory was an unusual institution. The
system then prevailing was the primitive
system Of the craftsmen Of our own early
days. the time OF the bench shoemaker. the
spinning wheel and the house loom. The
factory came gradually and in no small
degree as a result OF the establishment of
model workshops and factories by the Gov
eminent. practically as object lessons.
Japanese statistics for 1905 show ASS
factories in which are employed engines
driven either by steam, gas. oil. electricity
or water. and 5.44l not worked By power
motors. The number OF hands in these
factories is reported as 5s7.s5l. It is OF
interest to note that only 240, 2ss OF these
we're men or boys. while SAT, 5sa were women
or girls. The list Of industries covers a
fairly wide range OF products, with textile
mills a long way ahead OF any other line.
These gave employment to 81. 544 males and
200. I7s females. Nearly four-ffths Of these
people we're makers Of silk. The larger
part of the remainder were operatives in
the cotton mills. The n.rcentaae OF males
in the cotton factories ia larger than IL ia
in the silk factories. hut even In them the
females outnumber the males NV mora than
10 1. In the silk mills mora than 40 per
cant. of the workers. are females.
Female labor ia one of the notable feat
ures of Japan's mechanical industries.
Even in machine and iron factories 2 per
cent. of the workers are women. In the
so-called chemical factories there are 40 per
cent. Two-thirds Of the 81. 400 people en-
gagged in making explosives are females.
T~hree-ouarters of the 81. 600 EMPLOYED in the
tobacco factories are women. Women work
In shipvards and in iron fonndries and In
metal refner1es. Thew make leather goods
as well AZ feather roods. and work on the
farm a. well as in the kitchen. In this re-
spect. at least. the Japapese standard of
civilization differs widely from that Of the
Western world, Notwithstanding our more
than 5000, 900 females reported by the census
az engaged in gainful occupations"
The statement of the number OF factory
operatives gives only a vague and limited
idea OF Japan's industrial army. There are
s02, 72s workers reported as EMPLOYED in
textile mills, but there are 7e7, as others
whose work in the same line Ia done prac-
tically under the old conditions OF house
industry. Theae operated in 1908 no less
than us, 1855 hand looms and IL, 40 machine
looms in as 900 weaving houses or homes
Of veavers. More than al 600 Families"
are reported as engaged in making Jana
nese paper; 254 families make matches;
more than 10. 600 families" are engaged in
the manufacture of earthenware. porcelain
and lacouered ware, and 1894 families"
handle crude camphor and camphor oil.
Figures showing classified occupations
are not available, but an important per-
centage of the Japanese people are now
dependent for their livelihood on wages in
lines OF mechanical industry. From a table
given in the Seventh Financial and Eco
nomic Annual OF Japan il appears that there
has been a steady increase in wage rates
until In 1905 wages were practically twice
what thew were in 1894. A carpenter in
zoos not 20 cents n day. and a plasterer the
same. The highest rate quoted ia for stone
cutters. whose wage was 30 cents. Com
p~ositors got Fl cents and printers 10 cents.
B~lacksmiths got 2l.5 cents and jewellers
2i cents. The rate for a long list of indus
tries ranges between 20 cents and 30 cents
a day. The American workman gets as
much for an hour as the Japanese gets for
a day and works a smaller number Of hours.
Such rates place a heavy handicap on for
ei9n commercial competition even when the
maximum allowance is made for individual
efficiency.
There u ample ground for the now nrev-
alent belief that Japan's policy is one OF
DEVELOPMENT along manufacturing lines.
She aspires to become the England of he
East in that respect. She has coal. but very
HAL s-0->- a~- Oh 49, -oluu
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