New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-26
Birth Of New Japan
Brings Fresh Evils
With Factory System
Mission Report Describes Disease and
Vice Flowing from City Life
and Industries

The old Japan of tradition is no more A
ra,,, Janan has arisen in its place during u.
last generation. Enormous cities, with tur
foc,ores. have appeared where but few
wears ago primitive nature ruled. Commerce
has replaced rural economy And with this
Transformation there have come to Japan all
tho evils confronting the Western world
tuberculosis, vice and poverty are rampant
in the Oriental empire.
These are the conclusions reached By the
Social Welfare Committee OF the conference
Of Federated Missions in Japan embodied in
n renort on industrial and social conditions in
modern Japan, which appeared IN the Kobe
Herald" The report ascrloes these eond-
tions TO the transition of the nation from the
agricultural to the industrial and commercial
stage. illustrating this contention with the
following figures:
ain 1883 there were about 1875 modern FAC.
tories in Japan; to-day there are fully 10000.
Thirty-three years ago these factories EN-.
ployed some $4,000 hands; to-day over 1000
900 men. women and children arc working in
modern mills and factories.
Cities Grow Rapidly
ain 1880 Tokio's population was s5l,IsO;
to-day it is 2,225OOO, and II the closely ad'
iacent suburbs are included reaches over
2 600 900. In 1850 Osaka's population was
500. 900; to-day it is 100000. In 1850 Ma
goya's population was 100000; to-day it IS
$50 900. In 1880 Yokohama's population was
100 900: to-day il is 100000. In 1850 Robes
population was 100000; to-day it is $4,000
"These figures" says the report repre-
sent more than a tendency Of population.
They stand for new order Of society, which,
from the nature of Japan's rise IN the eeo'
nomic. commercial and political world must
be permanent. The nation cannot 20 back 10
the conditions Of the past. She has entered
race for supremacy from which withdrawal
would mean national extinction as modern
power
The report then draws attention TO the evil
effects that the new order has caused.
reads:
"A steady process Of deterioration is gong
on. Nine .tenths of the factory workers come
from country homes. The annual shifting OF
ronulation. which is estimated at third OF A.
million. from the freedom, good air and
healthful conditions Of rural life 70 the con
pested working quarters of the cities IS sap
ming the vitality of the nation. The indus
trial workers occupy the poorest sections Of
the city. in low, damp. cheaply built houses
situated on fats subject to floods and WITH
out drainage.
Bad Living Conditions
Crowded sleeping quarters. bad an uh'
summed bedding used by different WORKERS
twentv-four hours in the day, food poorly
cooked and of low nourishing power eNee',
sively long working hours, twelve being usual
and fourteen and even sixteen not uhcOn'
mon: dust and chemicals poisoning factory
air. an almost entire absence of safety ce'
vices these are the accepted lot Of the e'y
worker.
"Tuberculosis is extremely prevalent. espe.
cially among the girls Of the spinning ana
weaving mills. Statistics OF 1919 show tns'
of 10000 female workers recruited annually
only 10000 ultimately return to their country
homes and out OF these 1876 per cent are
broken in health, one-fourth having con.
tracted tuberculosis When 20 this Is addeu
the relatively large percentage OF child LABOR
mostly girls, which in certain factories
reaches as high per cent OF all the VOTE
ers. we see what inroads the present factory
system is making upon the potential mothers
OF the nation. -,
THE great cities are now crowded WIN
masses Of working men and women VINO Oh
leaving their country and ancestral home'
have cut practically every social tie and PRIV
ilegc. They have entered q new world DOM
mated by vast capital and political power ~
which the individual is mere unit confirm
uting his puny vitality toward the eompn-
Gated whole. The industrial worker has no
place. as n man or as a member OF socleN
under these modern conditions"
Moral Plane Is Low
The report then draws picture oil hous'"'
conditions in the labor districts:
"Thirty-three per cent OF 1,lOO famihes "
the very poor in HOMO Ward, Iosio' 81
living in houses whose area IS between w..
and three mats eighteen TO ifty-four squs''
feet. while over so per cent occupy nO''''
of AZ mats or less. In addition to the S'.'
age family of five persons. IN very man en'
cases one or more laborers are housed "n",
two families often occupy the same mar.
quarters Indiscriminate relations neg
mate children, disease and moral ana pny'
cal degradation are here the rule rS'"..
than the exception. II is significant 70 NV.
that as the houses increase in size there
corresponding rise in morality and neS'N
among the workingmen. =,
"The bad moral conditions Of the iae'0l.s'
in which women and girl workers are =
ployed are too well known 10 require mOsI
comment. In certain factories foremeh s"'
overseers hold the girls in virtual slsvep, ,a
"All religious restraints are lett oe".s
with the country home. In the vast cry Va
worker. whether man or woman' hHuS
props to his self-respect and loses me se" SCI
of moral responsibility and desire Tor 80
name which held him while IN the m'us'
family and village relationships.
No Labor Unions
There are no labor unions m japan 4,
Yuai Kwai, Laborer's Friendly SoeieH, -,
the only adequate japanese orgsnisA,'0n W.
is trying to improve the welfare OF .ns . 'nei.
Ia Founded four wears ago, thls Wv