The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-18
LOW JAPANESE WAGES
By FRANK e. cARpENTFR-

1 ANh the Japanese bitten orr more
 than they can chew? 4 Can they support the western civilization with It's luxuries and it's ex- travagances2
 Have they the natural resources to hold their own as a great world power?
 These are some Of the questions which are staring the statesmen of this country in the face.
 Japan has. all told, good farm lands of about half the size of Kentucky. It has some coal and a little iron It is discov- ering petroleum but this Is of poor quail ity, and it has a considerable amount of copper and plenty of fish. All these re- sources, however, are not enough to war rant the support of the increasing popu- 1ation, and the country must have outside lands or develop itself along the lines of industry and commerce. Suppose you should crowd more than half of all the people of the United States into the southern half of Virginia, could we live as well as we do now? Would we have meat three times a day, carpets on our floors, and pianos to burn. As to cultiva- ble territory, that is the state of Japan She has now fifty million inhabitants and she Is adding five hundred thousand new stomachs to her consumers every year. She has added ten millions within the past two decades, and the avalanche of new babies rolls on.
 Where Ere they to go, and how are they to be fed?
 As to outside lands. Formosa, which came as result of the Chinese war is the only property absolutely in hand It Is Just about twice big as New Jersey and 1t is already supporting twice as many people It has three or four millions, most 1y Chinese who have gobbed up the good land and cannot be moved. In addition there in Corea, which is controlled by Japan and which many think is to be 4ad for poa nf the home lation Corea is twice as large a Kansas but it also is mountainous and Is popula- tion Is about fourteen millions There may be some chance for expansion in southern Manchuria, but altogether the chances for emigration are few.
 Simple Life Vs. New Japan.
 This being theecase as to the territory, the only thing left is expansion along the lines of industry and commerce. Japan is pushing both of these possibilities with all her might and 1t may be that the natural skill and slndefatigable work of her people will make her win out. If she does so, 1t will be by retrenclsment and economy, rather than personal ex- penditures. Today the country Is a thous- and million dollars in debt. It owes on the average S200 per head or a thousand dollars per family. 1t is taxed enormous ly and there would seem to be but little room for either the people or the govern ment to increase their expenses. The officials realize this and have cut down their estimates for this year The people are already so burdened that they dare not branch out, and the outlook is that the simple life of the old Japan will have to continue with the masses for some time to come. This letter Is to be devoted to the Japanese laboring classes. l want to tell you how they work and the wages they get, and also the prices they pay for their daily necessities. You can then judge of their ability to support civil ization like ours.
 In the Japanese Factories.
 Only a short time ago everything in Japan was made by hand in the houses. There were no large establishments and practically no factories. Today there is still an enormous house industry but there are, all told, over 10000 factories and they employ altogether about 600000 workmen. There are thousands of men who labor in the mines and millions in little industries of every kind which go on in the homes of the people.
 As to the factories, have already written of the shipyards and cotton mills. In the spinning factories the women are now receiving about 22 cents day and children low as 6 cents, while men get, on the average, about 34 cents Cotton weayers re- ceive about the same and silk weavers cent or two more.
 The seat of the silk industry is here in Kyoto but there is an immense deal of silk made in Osaka and that place has more textile workers than anywhere else in Japan. Coming to it Is like approaching Pittsburg or Chicago. You see the smoke polluting the air; there are hundreds of stacks rising above the low black hauses and the surroundings are those of the new Japan. The city now has more than a million people and its popu- lation Is largely composed of those who work in the factories of various kinds There are long lines of low houses, the homes of the workmen and life seems hard.
 In Osaka some of the factories work their hands six days of the week. Others work seven and in the textile trades the hours are ten every day. There is considerable child labor, but not so much as Is generally supposed. In all Japan only eight hands out of hundred under fourteen and of these four-fifths are girls. In the house industry the proportion of children Is much larger. Fully 65 per cent of the factory employees are women and only 35 per cent men. An increase goes on from year to year in the num- Der of women laborers, and the fe- males are doing more than their share of the work of the country. This is so notwithstanding their wages are often only one-half those of the men end the work quite as hard.
 High Wages for Japanese.
 I have before me a table of wages which has just been made. It has been gotten at first hand from the child em- ployers of Osaka and Kyoto and it may be relied upon correct. It shows the increase in wages in the past three years, and the present wages, which are consid- cred exceptionally high. Take the clothing factories, where women are now getting % cents day, working seven days of the week of nine hours each. They re- ceived only 13 cents 10 years ago and 19 cents in 1906 Sewing machine operatives are now getting 27 cents per day for their work They were paid 20 cents three years ago, and only 15 cents in 1895. As to tailors, they now receive from 95 to 45 cents a day and are getting about three times as much as they did 10 years ago.
 They have some glass factories here. The blowers, who are especially high priced men, are getting 51 cents, and they have only two rest days during the month. Some of the wages are as low as 8 cents and a few are paid as much S1, but this is only for extra time or night work. Ci- garette makers, working nine hours get from 121a to 65 cents per day, and the girls in the trade receive from to 20 cents per day. They have 20 per cent ex- tra for night work and double wages on national holidays. They have one hour <1fF 6f1r-r1 laxr but