The daily Nome industrial worker., 1918-04-02
"ON 10 VICTORY
WHAT A JAPANESE SOCIALIST
 HAS TO SAY.

DOWn at AllnndItSln beIlCH dHcAlS temporarily Sen Katayama of Japan. He is or was one of the aggressive Socialist leaders of his country. Be- fore leaving there he had the exper- fence of working ten hours a day in Tokio printing shop for the munifcent sum of 71A cents a day, so he is speaking from experience when he tells of the Japanese workingman. He is a graduate of Grinnell College, Iowa, and spent two years at Andover and Yale studying sociology. That was before he returned to Japan to devote his life to socialism.
 Japan is the Prussia of the Orient" said Mir. Katayama, contradicting the assertion made in Washington by a member of the Japanese War Mission.
 This is true, especially in d mili- tary and in a imperialistic sense.
 The Japanese Government also imi- tateG Prussia's educational and army systems. We have three kinds of elections. just as in Prussia. T.sre are taxing and educational renuire- ments for voting Mems suffrage is very limited-1, ,5O0,000 out of a 70,- 100000 population are emfranchised. In fact the voting right has a com mercial value. In order to be d can didate man must be worth between $l5,000 and $30,000. Women are not allowed to attend political meetings. Education in Japan is quite advanced. We have compulsory education in the grammar schools, and we have high schools and universities, though not enough of the latter"
 Our universities are copied from the German universities, but that is the only good thing we have learned from them. We have copied all the bureaucratic policies, such as the po- lice system, but we adopted none of their admirable labor protection laws, Last September factory law was passed allowing a thirteen or fourteen hour day. Girls over twelve years of age can be worked twelve hours in a night. Women and children are more exploited than men in JapUl. X tac- tory belonging to the spinning indus try employs 500 to 1000 hands. Each year it must employ an entire quota of new laborers. The old workers are worn out and they do not recuperate. A half year wears them out. In other words we have legallized ex- ploitation in Japan. Since the war there have been many strikes for higher wages. We have no labor or Ganization, nor do we need one. It is easy for us to get together. We understand each other; we speak the same language. Food prices are high CT. and the capitalists will not raise wages without strikes"
 Mr. Katayama was asked how the war had affected conditions in Japan.
 The rich have become richer and the poor have become poorer" he said.
 Two years ago two thousand mil lionaires sprang up on account of the war. But farmers family of five must live on S5 month while prices soar Japan had $150,000,000 in gold before the war. Now it has $425, ,0O0,- coo and this is increasing every mo. ment Not until 1915 did we ever ex- port more than we imported. Now we have d large excess of export, The government is a big protitmaker now It has earned money selling munitions while taxes, income. and custom dut. les add to it's wealth.
 Every move toward socialism i! suppressed in Japan. The governmen is very reactionary. But the people are thinking toward socialism. 1 Japanese past history tells anything a revolution is not improbable. Int present rulers came into power thr, a revolution. Japanese history sane tions revolutions but hitherto thos who have overturned the feudal lay have become as reactionary as thei
 predecessors.
 "Tbere is as much ,3iSsa tiSfaction |,