The Washington herald., 1908-04-10

Tokyo. Feb. st does not take long
fer the visitor in Japan TO understand
why the people Of the lsboring classes
are so anxious 20 emigrate 10 some other
country. Wages are so low as to afford
only the bare necessities of existence
While the rate Of compensation is made
quate in AL lines OF endeavor. the lowest
level is struck IN the pay given TO
women workers For the manufacture OF
toothpicks the wages are cents for
ten-hour day; for making paper bags and
cardboard boxes, cents for eight hours;
for folding paper in book binderies. 8
cents for eight hours; for sewing shirts
and underwear, 6 cents. and for pasuhg
paper lanterns, cents day. There are
thousands Of women in Japan working
for less than enough to keep the Amer
ican factory girl in chewing gum
The japanese government has Issued
table Of average wages FOR laborers. and
out of a list Of fifty different occupations
the bricklayer leads with a wage Of 81
cents a day. Sh0emalyers and blacksmiths
get 90 cents. while leather workers and
painters average g cents a day The
wages for skilled labor in the manufae-
tures does not vary from the cheapness
prevailing IN other branches Of industry.
a china decorator is paid but 30 cents
for ten hours work. during which time
he sits on his legs in tailor fashion and
uses his eyes and hands upon his deli
cate work He IS an artist capable OF
executing the most intricate patterns, yet
an American street urchin with nimole
! pair Of legs and good lung power can
ear more in an hour selling papers.
The low scale Of wages in japan is by
no means confined to common workmen.
The foreman Of the electric light plant
/ in Yokohama, a city Of s50.oo0 inhabitants.
| receives only a cents a day for his skilled
services. He Is an educated electrician.
but his salary IS lower than that Of an
ordinary American Office boy. The sta
/ ton master in Yokohama, who has sew
| eral hundred people under him, receives
but $50 a month. OF course, he has a
family, and must pay rent and employ
servants out Of this small salary. The
engineers. conductors, train men, station
/ employees and others who are under him,
average about s15 month.
There are over 100.o0c men and women
! school teachers IN the elementary schools
| Of Japan. whose average pay is only S
/ a month. and il is said that the average
salary Of the 5000 government clerks in
/ Tokyo is 50 cents day. This is quite a
| contrast to the fat Job American poll
J ticians hand around among their friends.
| Policemen are furnished with uniforms
and are paid 90 cents day II is need
/ less 20 say that the clothes they wear
while on duty are the most expensive and
comfortable they have ever worn. Book
keepers and accountants for native firms
are paid about 10 cents a day, with room
rent and board thrown In. Some gener-
Gus employers also furnish smoking to-
/ baceo.
Things are done in Japan in way
quite different from that which Ameri-
cans consider economically necessary
Take, for example. the course Of con
/ struction Of a new house in Tokyo. The
excavation Is accomplished by lab0rers
who receive 15 cents for ten hours work
They carry the dirt TO the street in bas.
kets then dump it into carts. which an.
other crowd of men pull away with mucf
noise and labor. This process is so sion
that the work proves expensive In tht
/ end. Before the excavation is completed
the dirt taken from it will be worth al
most its weight IN gold. when compared
to what 1t would cost to remove It in ar
American city.
The. various kinds OF workmen arrive
before Z o'clock In the morning. but they
! - - -. A., ,,-ort. ,,rr.,,,rfl,- 7-rar- t,4,fff
a little fire and then gather around it tc
| talk end thaw out BY O'Clock the most
OF them are at work They ali wear blue
cotton suits with characters upon the
coats to indicate their guild. as well al
the firm or individual for whom they are
working. This Is their winter garb. In
summer they wear nothing but cl0tf
around their loins, and band about thelI
foreheads to keep the sweat from run
ming down their faces.
The carpenters wages average 40 centl
a dav They use the cgudest of tools, no
| even having the claw-hammer which ou
workmen consider so indispensable. The
fsllow the usual topsy-turvy rule Of thi
strange land. pulling the pane and saV
which en- American pushes All the work
men waste much time In the conteEpla
ton OF unimportant detail. fhey con
stantly waste their strength IN misdi
rected effort. loiter to talk and smoke
and when two or more are working to
| Ksther at any task they keep time b.
chanting q droning song. One OF the rea
sons that this labor is cheap is becsus
its productive power is so small.
one popularity Of Japanese house /
that It's dimensions are governed by IN
size OF the mats which are to go upol
| its noors. These mats are always mad
in multiples Of three. and the floors ar
I made TO correspond to their size. Japa
nese lumber is cut to conform to thi
arrangement, and there is no waste 10 |
at all The native carpenters are com
pleteIy bafiied when they get hola 0
American lumber with Its odd sizes, espe