The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-04-30

j short supply of labor. On one bad day
recently, 300 of the 100 men failed tc
show up, notwithstanding the iney,r-
able fact that the worse the day. the
/ greater the traffic.
One of the highest authorities on
Japanese economic questions Is Mr.. f
Schroeder, editor of The Eastern World
Iof Yokohama Mr.. SCHROEDER has lived
/ in Japan for more than a Quarter OF
a century, and is happily married to
a Japanese woman. He has been a
close student of labor conditions in this
country. He says:
Suppose one is a head of a house.
/ hold, and has to refurnish his home
| He goes to a furniture makers shop
| agrees upon the terms and makes a
| contract. He asks when the Job viii
| be finished In ten days. That is toe
| long. as he is in hurry. 1t will have
! to be done in three or four days or not
at ali. The little shopkeeper cannot
understand why he should be in a rush
| simply because his customer is in a
hurry There are no near prospects
of the collapse of the universe, and
there is an endless succession of to-
morrows to draw upon. Therefore
why should anyone be in a hurry? He
decides that it probably is some foreign
within that must be humored and re-
plies that the work will be finished IN
four days at 10 o'clock in the morning.
THE four days pass and the work
is not yet delivered A messenger
brings word that it will be sent that
afternoon at three o'clock. An hour
later a boy comes to say that it will
fail And thus two or three more days
go by. Finally the householder finds
that his contractor knows nothing
about the work he processes to carry
on, and that he is not only unable u
deliver the goods, but has not even
started the work. In explanation, a
catalogue of distressing family afflic-
lions is given, one or the other Of
which has befallen him or his Work
Nrnen so that nothing whatever can be
done at the moment. But in two or
three days more the job will be finish-
ed. There is no use to hunt up sons
other philosopher in the same trade, as
it would be but to go through the
same experience again. The trade has
it's laws to which those who want 10
get things done must bow.
1T is a fallacy that Japan has an
abundance of skilled and cheap labor.
The employer here is always more or
less at the mercy of his employees and
must consult their convenience, not
his References of character from
former employers are unknown. If a
man says he is a carpenter, black
smith, a painter or a printer, that he
understands everything in his trade,
and that he wants SO much per month,
the employer must take him at his
own valuation and later find out what
he can or cannot do.
1.-THE virtues of the japanese WORK,
man are that he is sober, polite and
clearly. A way to carry on work with
him in a more or less satisfac-
tory manner can be found. He
cannot understand why his ems
ployer should work himself into
a passion merely because a workman
spoils material or ruins a whole JOB.
Neither can he account for impotence
when a task is not finished on time.
To him tomorrow has little or no sig
nificance; tomorrow or any succession
of tomorrows is just as good as today.
If he does a job wrong, or spells it, he
Is Win the ulHlOSI SOOQ temper ready
and willing to do it all over again,
three or four times if necessary, pro-
Vided his pay goes on. To him, for
eigners are strange beings who have
rare ideas and unaccountable whiIns
which are very difficult to understand
Neither does he understand how any
loss or annoyance his employer may
suffer can concern him. He regards
any show of temper or Impotence on
the part of his master as a piece of
vulgarity and i'll breeding of which
no gentleman should be guilty.
In word, the Japanese laborer can
be neither driven nor led. Considerable
treatment and an active interest in his
welfare never evoke a show of graft
tude or cause more pleasant relations.
There is a permanent state of passive
resistance and resentment of the fact
that the master earns more than his
man. Therefore, the japanese artisan,
whether he works on the premises for
fixed wages or is employed outside,
always looks upon his employer as a
hostile force to which an unkInd Prov
idence has delivered him. He looks
upon it as a duty to do as little as
possible, and to do that little in a
way most convenient to himself.
There is no competition in the sup
ply of skilled labor in any branch of