The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-09-26
STARVATION WAGES
IN FlOWERY KINGDOM
Especial Correspondence,

~~~osusiS 10 btAti5tlcn 90
tanned for use u the nationwide
ca rnpaign Of tbs Episcopal church OF
iAY.erica-
The matter OF a living was. is q
changeabIe quantity; 1t variss with
nations and localities. In ArnertcA,
tie country OF tho comparatively high
$i67 . naonth-not a day, or week,
hut a monthAis most unfortunate AMI
surely to be pitied.
She ID just as much to be pitied
here in Japan.
While the high cost OF living IN
japan is very low compared with
American experiences in that line.
sAs67 a month, together with bad
working conditions. strikes an aver
age thai thu este.ls alike the ecoac;ric.
lhys.ca,. moral n s3iritua' life Ct
lie worker.
While the Christian missionaries
have helped to better the li2iny en-
ditions OF many vomen IN Japar. they
have az yet been able to do very little
fer the 100000 women and girls who
rake their living in the big modern
factories. There is little opportunity
u reach them. They labo- twelve
hours a day-in some 81 sixteen
and eighteen, with an hour or two
i thrown in to clean up after their
work is done. Unless the IA 81 ary
owner or employer is 4 chris4..r ana
makes provision for the moral and
Physical welfare of his workers. little
can be done for them. Yet an enter
missionaries. r the nation wide
campaign of the Episcopal church to
expand all its activities is designed
II, part, to take advantage of this
opening
Out OF her s467-the average
monthly earnings of a woman fac
tory wo,ker-th, grf must pay $40
A month for God AS that Is less
than the cost of her food the factory
a the balapce. $3.50 a month. Yet
out OF this measre pay the average
fSctory girl enu home Atty cents a
month. for she earns more money
than almost any other class OF woman
worker in Japan
The majority Of Japanese factories
still u day nj night shifts of twelve
hours each, witt. thirty minutes of
for dinner and fifteen minutes. for
rest In the forenoon and afternoon.
Holidays are rare and uncertain
two or three In the month at the most.
The majority OF the factory girls are
from fifteen TO. twenty years old
though often girls from even to
twelve may be found working there.
Measures proposed by the Japanese
government to ameiiorate the condi-
tons of factory employment. accord
ing to the Rev. Sidney l. Quick, ions
q missionary in Japan. have been
brought TO naught through tho re-
fusal of the legislative branch Of the
government to Eiss such measures
Some OF the factories have dormi-
tories in which the girls live. They
are carefully kept inside the dormi-
tories in many cases. for fear they
y III desert. The period for which the
girls "sign up" TOR factory work is
three years. Gu, of every 1000 girls
satisfies show that 7Te work less
taan six months in the same place;
zoo less than one year; l79 less than
two years; 141 less than Ave years.
Only eig%hty-nine pass the aye year
!.eriod. The reason for this il that
the health OF the girls break down
Under the long. hard work and the
tad hygienic conditions under which
she works and lives.
Statistics gathered by the Japanese
government declare that twenty-three
out OF every 100 girls who engage In
factory labor, die the first year OF
their return 10 their homos Half 81
trese deaths are due to tuberculosis
induced by factory work. !.
Sixty per cent OF the girls who leave
home. for. the factories peve return
Or the criminal girls arrested in Osaka
ever a certain period 10 per cent mad
been n oloyed in factories
Most of h factories, Instead OF
supplying dornii. ories for their -irl
workers, send them 10 spec Al hoard,
lngs houses in the town which are run
Tor money and MOTOR the. physical
moral or spiritual welfare OF thu
workers.. MANY OF these BOARDING
houses. according. to those fanni,ia,
with Industrial conditions in Japan
are run by keepers OF brotheis.
As a general thing personal extra.
vagance is stimulated among the girl.
az he boarding houses In ordsr I.
keep them In debt to the landlord.
e hat they will be obliged 10 .,a,
|, and work. on then debts. ca -v.,stna
and fragrant immortality are said OF.
ten TO be encouraged. Depriv..toy
y. Of wages was, until recently no un.
: usual penalty for alleged violation oil
rules. Accidents are many because
the g!rls-the younger ones especial.
ly-hare had no tanning In tn. opera
= ton of modern machinery.
The Kanegafuchi company, ,ns
eiunze Scishi Kwaisha, Of Ayabe. and
the Fuji Cotton Spinning company
are said TO be entirely opposite In the
treatment Of their employees. to thu
foregoing. The terms OF employment
wages paid, provisions for III health
Tor accidents, for long service and Ole
aSe: rooms for eating. sleeping and
recreation; bathing establishments
! education for those who need II and
rhbl!c lectures on ethical and religi.
ors subjects compare favorably witt
the BEST to be found in the United
States.
The Christian valuation Of woman
mood, emphasized by Episcopal church
|. workers, permeating Japan, has help.
ed greatly toward making the factor,
living and working conditions much
letter than they were ten and iftcer
|, years ago. Also it. has been found
. that Entertainment Of employees doc.
. rot pay and for business rcasons mo
!, Humanitarian methods have beer
adopted.
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