The Washington herald., 1908-04-27
By FREDERIC ]. HASKTN.

Special Corrsspondenoe The Washington Herald
Tokyo. March 14.-When Japan turned
from Oriental tradition to Occidental
progress. the greatest change in its in
dustrial life was wrought by the intro
duetion of machinery, That the transi-
ton Is not yet complete is shown by the
fact that the larger portion Of japanese
manufactured products even now are
handmade and come from factories
where the only motive power is elbow
grease" In the first instance. the new
method OF manufacturing came, like all
other japanese progress. from the gov
ernment The imperial government built
cotton and silk spinning mills, shipbuild-
ing yards, glass factories, weaving mills,
and the like. In 1850 these concerns were
in their infancy. but the government be-
San the work Of turning them over to
private companies BY 1888 the govern
ment was well out Of the manufacturing g
business, except for making its own nee
essary supplies. The imperial household
became a successor, II large part, by
becoming a shareholder IN the new COM
panies.
The manufacturing business was mod
eled along English and American lines.
and grew steadily. but slowly. Immedi-
ately after the Russo-Japanese war the
opening of the Korean and Manchurian
markets TO japanese products, with dis
tinct advantages over other countries,
gave a great impetus TO the japanese in
dustries. But the japanese stockholder
is a money speculator. and not a manu-
facturer. When the cotton mills sold
large quantities of goods in China at
good prices the stockholders saw there
was a profit, and they demanded instant
and complete division. That ls the reason
why the Osaka cotton mills, which have
been paying from y to 80 per cent divi-
dends each year for four years, are now
unable TO accept delivery Of the raw cot
ton shipped 10 them from America
There is no thought Of laying by sur
plus 10 guard against the very conditions
which now obtain; there is no fund 10
provide new machinery for that which is
worn out; there is no object or purpose
IN view but immediate dividends. Very
few. concerns give the proper care to
running the machinery, so that il is soon
worn out. Then the whole thing is junk
ed and new machinery bought, or the
mill closed. The majority of the larger
nils are so new that the machinery is
still in fairly good condition, but as
this is due to no care bestowed upon it,
1t is impossible to tell what will happen
in a few years.
Labor the Japanese manufacturers GER
tainly have in abundance. and at the
very cheapest prices. A cotton-spinning
mill does not pay fabulous wages even
in America, but in Japan the wages run
from ? to Is cents day for operatives
and from Is TO 40 cents a day for ma
Chinists. The cheapness does not mean
as great saving as might be indicated,
for the labor is unskilled and self-willed.
so that almost twice as many operatives
are required to turn out a given produc-
ton.
An American cotton mill superintendent
would go crazy If he were forced 20 stay
an hour in one Of the japanese mills.
The 'hands" ara laughing and talking.
visiting and gossiping, while broken
threads remain broken and fully 10 per
cent OF the machinery is nonproducing
because of lack of care. OF course, there
charge Of European superintendents and
foremen are we'll conducted. and the op-
eTatives are kept within reasonable
bounds Of industry.
Long hours are the rule. for the Japa-
nese generally Is industrious and does
not object 10 working eighteen hours
day But he does object TO being rushed
through that eighteen hours he takes
his time at his work and distributes his
laziness through a whole day Of industry
IN the cotton mills the days work is
twelve hours for adults, while the hours
for those under eighteen years old are
graduated from five hours up.
This sliding scale is the japanese meth
Cd Of taking care Of the child-labor prob
lem. That feature of humanitarian re-
form IL factories which Is called welfare
work" in America has made great head
way among the japanese manufacturers.
At one cotton-spinning mill near Tokyo,
a plant of 5000 spindfes, English
equipped, the sociological work seems al
most to overtop the cotton yarn business.
In this mill there are 5000 operatives.
OF these, 1000 live in the village near by,
which is owned by the mill company.
These are In families and live In much
the same fashion as the mill hands In an
American mill village, except that the
scale is much lower as everything in
Japan must be. The other 1000 opera
tiyes are from distant points in the coun-
try and most of them are young and
without any members Of their families
with them. These 1900 boys and girls,
for none OF them is more than twenty
one, live IN a great boarding house which
is conducted by the mill Mr. Fugi the
general manager Of the company is call
ed papa san" by all the boardeTs, and
If 'cheeTfulness OF demeanor counts for
anything. they are all happy.
This immense clearinghouse is a great
wooden building The hands are divided
into families" of thirty, and each family
is presided over by a matron, who exer-
cises discipline cares for those who are
slightly Ill, and mends clothes. The seri-
ously III all go to the hospital Forty
cooks prepare the rice and fish which
make up the bill of fare at the big board
ing-house. The water is all distilled the
plumbing is modern, and on the whole
these 2,0o0 young japanese may be said
10 live under conditions thousand times
better than they ever knew before they
came to the factory.
The younger operatives. those who are
exempted from the full twelve-hour day
at work, are compelled to go to school.
The mill maintains two large schools
within the factory inclosure, one for boys
and one for girls. From two to four
hours in school each day is compulsory
for all the younger hands. These schools
teach the commC elementary branches,
and, il addition. certain technical textile
instruction is given. If the sehool-teacher
who daily lectures these children on me-
chanIcs would walk across the yard and
s.1norlrtard his class rnhila thai nlaa.nad