New-York tribune., 1922-11-19

which bshavsd entirely differently.
These oaxs stopped all along not oniy
on street corners, bus often IN che
middle OF block and more than once.
These moved at che rate Of somo two
miles an hour. The streets becams
5choksd with crippled cara. The num-
bor Of hot boxes which developed, the
number Of broken brakea, Tenders, ms
chinery parts seemod che work of
demons. at
Here thar was a xeAnsmens II, paa-
Awe insurrecsion worthy Of a great
cause-of much noblsr cause even
than the mare improvement In The iifo
conditions Of working class. It was
an insurrsction infinitely harded TO
meet than mutiny in ma arnp camp.
After three days Of II, some six hum
dred men, thought to be- the ringlcad-
ers Of this natehless form Of cabotaga,
were discharged. Did 1t improve traf-
flc conditions? It did not. 1t made
then, worse by the absence Of six hun
dred pairs Of hands. For Tho men who
remained on the3ob stood by their wax
tactics with the sasna constancy as the
snow which hugs tho sop Of Mount
Fuji.
Conditions like thas cannot continue
forevor--not even with ths long suffer-
Ing patience OF Japanese crowd. The
solution came. came In The shorten
ing OF working hours, in the rise of
wage scale, and In the grant of many
other demands Of tho tram car men.
That gave the mon sense OF power
that was new.
This took place at the time when the
whole country was standing Face to
Face with the realization that the only
salvation for Japan was to change from
an agricultural into an Industrial state.
And that made the coming OF che work-
ingmen into their own still more sig
nifcant. This new found sense Of
power mounted TO their heads like
young wine. But then something else
came along and saved them in spite Of
themselves.
Depression Curtis Victory
Gained By Labor in Japan
Within brief month or two after
che tram car men won their fight came
the first hint Of the postwar depres-
sion. Within less than half year from
that tina the prosperity bubble was
pricked. Soon the great industrial
plants, moro especially the iron works
and shipbuilding yards, which had
prospered ON the impatient wartime
needs, were at their wits end 20 keep
their doors open. Strikes among their
! men2 It would have been heavenly
music In their ears. For in Japan, the
ancient industrial tradition makes the
matter Of discharge allowances very
serious consideration. All this meant
that Japanese labor had lost its one
effective weapon almost as quickly as
it had found 1t. All through the lat
ter half Of 1920, 1921 and up until che
present time ths Japanese lahog unions
have been treading through the valley
Of the shadow OF despair. One i'm
portant thing about this Journey Is
that they did not 40 backward. Quits
the contrary. They made tremendous
headway through the dark days.
On April 2 tho Kensai General
League Of Labor Unions (by far the
most important labor body Of Central
Japan, including such important indus
trial cities as Kobe. Osaka and Kioto)
held q mass meeting at Osaka; and at
that meeting the movement for the es-
tablishment Of one big national labor
| union was launched. The Kansai body
was so strong It went 40 FAR 40 to de-
clare that II was quite willing to dis
band in order TO make the proposed
national labor union reality. At the
May Day gatherings Of the labor or
ganizations Of northeastern Japan at
Toxic, which followed The Osaka meet
ing of the Kansai body, the working
snen Of the northeast district ex-
pressed the same desire. The ways and