The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-04-20
W. a. SIMPkINS,


References: Any bank or business no
| thousand factories there is only one
| where the average wages OF the HleH
are over IS are over 50 VI tne
100000 men and women working II
these factories the average wage O.
the men is less than % cents and tina
of the women less than IL cents pei
day Of nine or ten hours.
Offices Big-Salaries Small.
The same policy of small wages pre-
walls throughout the government. Iht
emperor himself has a civil list o.
about a million and a half dollars {
| year. and he has refused to accep
more on account of the hard times
| although the people have requested
him to do SO. His cabinet minister:
are paid much less than ours. The
premier receives less than $1,000 {
wear and the minister of state $4,000
The chief Of the railways is paid $2,
500, the governor general Of Formoss
$4,000 and the resident general a
Seoul the same. The foreign
doris get $4,000 a year, with from $1l,
600 to $4,000 for entertaining. ant
the foreign ministers less. The ordl-
nary consul general has from $500 t.
| Y1,ZoU per dIl1u1lI dI1d ali AiO IN
The Judges get little, their salarie
ranging from $1,000 to $4,000, and tn
university professors are in the sam
category. The admiral Of the Japa
nese navy al dthe Seneral-1n-chlef o.
the army receive only $4,000 a year
and a rear admiral gets about 81,
700. A colonel in h army has les
than $1,000, a major a little over 500
and a captain $421. These are ia
hollow, {1o poo,,pfS mold in n11r conn
try, where a cabinet minister gets fou
times as much, or $4,000, and othe
] salaries are proportionately high. l
should be said, however. that many o
the high officers of the government
have official residences furnished b.
the emperor, with a special fund 70
entertaining.
Cheap Living.
Wages like those of the masses ar
only suited to life on the cheapes
scale. The average japanese WORKING
man lives on rice, fish, vegetables an
tea. If he is very poo the tea is o
the cheapest quality and the rice i
somewhat Of a luxury, mi1let n 9th
er coarse grains taking its place. In
deed, the finer qualities of Japanes'
rice are too costly for h poore
classes. They are exported to othe
countries and cheaper rice is import
ed for home consumption.
The table furniture of such a ma.
costs almost nothing. He uses woode
chop-sticks instead of knives an
forks, and a few bowls suffice Tor hi
dishes. His cooking stove is a ella
bowl, and his whole housekeeping out
fit would not cost more than $40. Hi
furniture consists Of little more tina
straw mats and n or two little table
about a foot high.
The mats cover the floor, and the
take the place of a bedstead at nigh
Many of the people sleep in the clothe
that they use in the daytime, rollin
themselves up in cotton comforter
and resting their heads on hard rectar
gular pillows, stuffed with straw, 0
upon woode blocks. h latter al
always used by the women, in Orde
that they may not disarrange thei
hair, the pillow resting under the necl
The house Of the poore workin
man eldom has more than three Ii
tie rooms, and it may have only on
or two. There are outside walls {
wood, which can be slid pack Turin
the daytime, and inner wallis of sasl
with panes, which slide bac
and forth. The roo is of thatch or {
tiles. There are no chimneys and II
stoves. The only means ofheatin
such a house is by a frebox filled wit
charcoal or by a square zinc or coy
per lined fireplace sun in the middI
of the floor, in which wood is burne,
the smoke making its way out throug
the room. Wood is sold in infinitest
NAL quantities. A small japanese cit
will not burn as much as an America
village, an dthe average America
family consumes more fuel in or
week than a half dozen Japanese
) houses do in a month.
1T costs h Japanese mechan
comparatively little for clothing. f
dresses in cOttonS winter and summe
and seldom has underwear. His sho,
are of wood or straw, and his wife
q ALWAYS goes bare. The cloth.