The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-03
Autos Have Failed to
Displace Little Man.
Power Cars, of Which
There Are $4,000 in
Toxic Alone
~ JOSEPH I. G. CLARKE.

afoot. 1t still remains the
hest way to see what 10 going on
around one. Thus only may the visi-
tor from a foreign shore learn closely
the ways Of the Japanese In their liv-
ing and moving relations.
II you are ignorant Of the language,
as YOU well may be, and make use of
a dragoman or interpreter and guide,
why. take him along: he won't mind
and your profit will be great II you
do not you will acquire the j%inrickisha
habit and your pleasure be cut In half
and your chances Of information wo.
fully curtai!ed.
Once mounted in the cute little two
wheeled carriages you find yourself
all alone, your guide In another rick
isha either ahead OF you or behind
YOU. You Isl a single question now
and then under great and often an.
moving difficulty. You soon end by
making only the absolutely necessary
inquiries with a touching resignation.
The kuruma, as the jinticklsha Ia
o~f,enest called by the Japanese them.
selves, is nevertheless a handy little
vehicle and to most people very agree
able TO ride In II you discount its soli-
fairness. The word jinrickisha means
literally man-power wagon. which has
heen ingeniously rendered a pull man
car. 1t has its hood for sun, wind or
rain; its apron. also, fer the latter; has
body springs and often runs in Toxic
on rubber tires.
In its present shape 1t does not 20
hack Of 1861. The Japanese attribute
Il 10 a p~aralytic old gentleman OF
Kioto who was tired OF his pala
and took to a little two wheeled cart.
The more generally received story In
tina; an American missionary with a
sick wife suggested to n Japanese me-
chanic the idea Of a two wheel peram-
tulator and so started the fashion.
That may all be so. but In that superb
book The History of japanese Art"
you will find a reproduction OF a pic
ture by Kano Morinubu. best known
~ Tanyu, which that artist limned in
1852. and which Is now In the lkeda
collection. In n corner OF a balcony
Il shows a j!arickisha Of the period
as sure as eggs Is eggs"-w.th the
kurumaya squatted waiting for his
master.
The little cara have, anyway. spread
oil over the Far East. Recently there
were $4,000 Of them In TOXIC alone
and over $1,000 kurumaya. but the
number tends TO decrease and the
rates for using them to rise. The
falling on is due to the rise OF the
electric trolley ears. a who.e network
OF which serves the city in an ever
increasing t~rackage. As a tonse
auence the temptation to lively young
men to enter the business is less and
less and the sturdy little chap who
takes o at a jog trot through the
city is generally a man between 50
and IS.
confess that this trotting by proxy
troubled me for months. II seemed
hard TO me that another human being
should spend his vitality for me so
v!sib.y. No doubt We accept without
a thought similar service from the
butcher, the baker. the cook. the
farmer, the hunter. the fishers on the
stormy seas-all in fact who earn
their bread in the sweat OF their
hrow"-but with che kurumaya It is
different.
We accept TIE horse. the ass. the
elephant as draught animals cheerfully,
nut here il a man. like onesels-a hus-
band, a father, an Intelligent being
doing ones very W duty OF locomo-
ton, Just as n of the lower animals
might and on the long stretches Of
the road suffering vis.b!y that you
NAV no n, aagn To ln,I N, ,hn ha.,