Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-07-18
JAPANESE PEASANTS POVERTY
Farm Labor Drained Away by
Growth of Manufacture.

From the Literary Digest.
A startling revelation Of the frightful
poverty prevailing in the rural districts
Of Japan appears in the Toxic Asahi
Debt, hunger and restitution seem to pre-
vail almost universally. and this is ag-
.gravated, we are told, by the taxes i'm
posed by an ambitious government. 1t is
easy to understand why the Japanese
emigrate to any shore where they can OBJ
tain footing. At the present moment
the Japanese economists are seriously en-
gagged in considering the farm problems
of the country. Agriculture has hitherto
been the staple industry Of Japan, but
farm labor has been 80 largely drained
away by the growth Of manufactures. not
to speak of the demand for men for the
army and navy, as seriously to cripple
agricultural enterprise. The consequence
Is the decay Of rural life. and many a
deserted village" is to be met with In
the central sections of Nippon. The at
fractions Of town life, the regular earn
ings of the factory, contrasted with the
hardships met with on many of the farms
make condition Of things which is
rapidly breaking up rural society.
The Asahi gives a statement Of the in
come of the tenant farmer, the backbone
Of agriculture in Japan. showing that in
unfavorable seasons the paddy fields
yield only loss To quote:
tains per half acre only about five bushels
of rice, worth about $12, while the cost
of production is SIS. Thus the loss is Sc.
When the crop is good he loses only $50
Sometimes in an exceptionally good year
he may clear the small margin Of Is cents
profit per half acre. While 1t Is hard to
see how the farmer can continue to live
on what appears to be q continual loss,
1t is probable that hem axes it up by
other manual work. We have tried to
conduct personally our investigations
among the farmers and though obliged to
restrict our inquiries to one district. We
have consulted the customary reports of
the government and found little differ
ence between our conclusions respecting
one locality and the government returns
for the whole country"
Raising truck pays better than raising
grain, we read:
'The various truck crops, such as
beans, buckwheat. millet, potatoes. car
rots, ETC., are raised with an annual prof
it of about $3.50 per acre. Thus the fact
is revealed that rice and wheat. the staple
crops. yield little or no profit, while the
less important pay better"
But the man living in the country has,
of course, other resources In a nation
which weaves so much silk. Nevertheless
the Japanese peasant farmer lives In a
says:
LAS Japan abounds in mulberry planta-
tons. a good profit is made on these, the
expense being $24 per acre, and the profit
about $3.50 per acre. Yet as the average
family of the tenant farmer amounts to
seven persons-the man and his wife, four
children and one parent-in-law-his f1nan-
cial position must needs be desperate. In
Guiding the average profit from his rice
field, his dry farm and the woodland
where he obtains his fuel. the income
from a years hard labor amounts to only
1923 When compared with that Of the
rest of the people 1t shows the lowest
return being 20 per cent lower than what
the artisan receives. Farm life Is the
cheapest to maintain and yet our readers
will be amazed to see the farmer SUBJ
sisting on such a pittance OF course, he
can not, in many instances. meet his ex-
penses; he is consequently heavily laden
with debt and in due course. unless he
pays his debts. his mortgaged lands are
confiscated. Handicapped by the physical
disabilities produced by the harassing
cares of Insolvency. he flies to the town,
and thus the class upon which the village
depends for it's prosperity Is dying out"
The farmers. declares the Asahi, suf-
fered more severely than any other class
from the Russo-Japanese war. Eighty
Ave per cent are in debt, their liabilities
ranging from 500 to $50 each. Other
men Of business, we are told. contract
debts, but the money Is used for pro-
ductive purposes. while the farmer II Gem
PEELED to borrow In order to live