New-York tribune., 1921-03-01
By Nathaniel PETER

,-opvr.ght 1871 New York Tribune Inc
TOXIC, Japan. Jan. 26.--Several years
$40 there was formed in Toxic an
Laborers' Friendly Society. 1t was
formed under the patronage of Baron
shibusswa and other financial magnates
for the encouragement Of the feeling
among working1nen that their interests
we're in common with their employers
snd that they must work harder for the
common good and thus get more for
themselves. And when the patrons
came TO the meetings, driven up in big
limousines. the workers glowed with
pride, gave them the seats Of honor
and made Of it subjec. of boast
among their friends.
This year Of 1921 sat in the Office
Of the Yuaikai in an old-fashioned for
eign building in the Shiba factory dis
ir;ct beside the desk of Bunji Suzuki.
the Yuaikais president. A large, low
room with old-fashioned high desks and
big cabinets and papers Uttered about,
it might have been the Office Of hard
ware merchant in small American
town except for the tiny cups of tea on
the desks.
Men were bustling in and out, for a
strike was in progress at Mitsukoshi
the biggest department store in the Far
East, where fifty tailors had struck the
previous cay and simultaneously asked
for q charter in the Yuaikai. A demon
stration was being arranged to take
place in the store that afternoon. But
tons, banners and leaflets were being
taken cut in arnfuls. I learned later
the tailors. with sympathetic supporters
from ether unions, had paraded among
the shoppers singing the Internationale.
known as Japanese Gompers
The Yuaikai is now national in scope
and the biggest labor body IN the coun-
try. nun 5ering about ,0G0 mem bers.
But there is detection from it's ranks
because it is regarded by the new
unions as TOO conservative. and some
of the bigger ones have withdrawn. To
the radicals the Yuaikai has become
known as the A F. Of L, of Japan, and
Suzuki is derisively called the Japanese
Gompers. he is q man rot OF a dissimi-
lar type; slow, cautious, trained in
labor organization technique more than
economics and more interested in i'm
mediate concrete gains than IN ideas
"a typical labor inside man. There is
about MIN also the look OF 6 labor
leader
was talking to him about the his
tory ard methods of his organization.
What do you want" l was saying.
"What are your demands: what is your
program What sort OF wage scale and
working hours >"
hours he said "We ere thinking less
about those than bigger things. We are
against the capital.s' system, and be
lieve it must &c. We consider the
whole basis of modern society unfair.
We want & society organized for the
workers.
AS q matter Of fact, Suzuki doesn't
know himself. He has been forced to
the left by the drive within his or
ganization, which is itself significant.
He could not sranG out against 1t and
maintain his position.
But while he spoke I couldn't help
thinking Of The American Federation
Of Labor and Gompers This, I remem-
bered, was the right wing of labor and
TINS man the advocate of caution.
And how do you expect to get all
that I went on. IT'S q pretty big
program. By sufrage7'
Lacks Confidence in Politics
mo, We nave no confidence in par
hamentarism and politics. We do not
care about getting the vote unless it
is just as 3 symbol Of the yielding OF
the upper classes. We have not thought
cut methods We are too busy organiz-
ing suppose the majority Of our
members are for direct action"
Direct action' That Ia force. You
actually mean violence?"
"Yes, We think only revolution can
accomplish our ends"
he conceded that it was a hazy, far
on prospect and also that not many
advocates of that program had thought
much of concrete difficulties.
went 10 Kobe, which. with Osaka,
eomposes the great industrial district