The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-09-28

with the American hog. The rick
shaw coolies are the best paid class
of laborers In China Those employed
by the hotels receive 5 cents an hour
for carrying passengers here and
there throughout the city. That was
the price paid by the American tour
lists, and one may be sure that it was
twice that paid by the native riders.
When our steamer landed at Maya
saki, in Japan, we put aboard four
thousand tons of coal in ten hours.
Every pound of that coal was put on
by Japanese girls and women, who
received for their ten hours work
the sum of IA cents. These are not
pipe Dreams" or the products of a
lively imagination,-they are facts and
statistics collected on the spot. An
when I was in Calcutta that 300 mil
lion people in India live on less than
cents day-they live somehow
and when we consider the wage of
the head of a family we can see how
close to the truth this statement is.
There are 315 million people, all told,
in India, and Is million Of these would
represent what we call the better
class. In Osaka, Japan, one of our
missionaries brought me through the
mills and factories. An intelligent
superintendent of factory who spoke
English fluently, told me that the high
est daily wage paid anywhere in
To
I brought back with me to this coun-
try three pairs of shoes, purchased
in Yokohama, at the rate of $1.25 a
pair. They are American" shoes,
manufactured on an American last,
and are, think, a better grade than
are to be purchased in any American
shop today for three times that price.
They represent thirty cents a day
wages as against thirty cents an hour
here, and this item alone will help
my readers to understand what will
take place when goods manufactured
in Japan come into competition with
goods manufactured in America. In
Yokohama l met the representative of
an American house, which sells sport
ing goods of every kind. Among
other things, he was bringing back
with him 100000 gross of American
baseballs, which cost him, when
aboard ship, about one cent each. He
told me that he could easily pay the
high duty exacted at the port of en-
trance, retail them at ten cents a
piece, and make a handsome profit
At Shiminoseki, Japan, I spent quite
little time with the British consul
located at that place. During one of
my visits he was sending home a re-
port, dealing with the cost of living
in his locality. Mutton that day was
retailing in Shiminoseki at 40 cents
pound, and the beef could not be
procured for love, or money, as a COW
in Japan is very unusual sight, and
the beef, used by American and Eng
fish tourists and residents, is shipped
from the central Chinese provinces,
and costs about twice what it does in
the United States. The poor people
of Japan live mostly on barley-bread
and vegetables. They are hard-work-
ing, Industrious, frugal and clean, and
I came away from Japan with the
deepest respect and sympathy for a
nation which has accomplished so
much with such limited resources. If
the time ever comes when American
manufactured goods has to enter into
competition with the goods manufac-
tured either in Japan or China-when
that hour arriyes-mil1iOns of Ameri-
can working men will have to walk
the streets, and discomfort and dis
satisfaction will rest upon something
real and tangible.