Evening star., 1925-06-14
BY ELIZABETH MOVES
HENPSTONE.
/ /

ftankOW, emma, May l, 1S20.
~ HOUGH it has been affirmed
that the Chinese laborers can
not, as a rule, afford to strike
because they live on such a
very close margin, there have always
been guilds and secret societies, and in
recent years labor agitators and boil
ehevists have been active in promoting
strikes for higher wages, or of anti
foreign origin. In Shanghai, at the pres
ent moment, there are 80 900 strikers
in Japanese owned cotton mills. They
want 10 per cent increase in wages
and the assaults of Japanese fore
men to cease" though they do not
rite any specific instances of as
saults. The Japanese owners claim
that the demand for increase is un.
justified, as they already pay more
than the average wage; and, indeed
the mill in which the strike started
has been especially mentioned in the
China Year Book as "one of the most
advanced employers of labor 1t is
claimed that this strike is instigated
and fostered by students in the
Shanghai colleges, which have been
described as "hotbeds of bolshevism. -
In Hankow anti-foreign agitators are
attempting to call strike of ricsha
coolies on account of the death of
the coolie said to have been kicked
by native policeman in the British
set
revive the railways for passenger
and freight service (they have been
hn the hands of the military for the
past five months), chapters of labor
unions have again become active all
elonS the routes; so far, more active
Than the trains themselves. The
anoSt serious Chinese strike of po-
Pitical origin took place in Hong
kong several years ago, and the
whole city was tied up by the sea :
hen, ordered by Sun Yat-sen. A
Picking publication lists the number
of strikes in China in four months
(1922) as Al, involving 145,7S0 labor
erS; SO per cent won, 19 per cent
partly won, 25 per cent completely
lost.
Child-LabOr and Sweat Shops.
There is always the problem of
child labor and the labor of women
who bring their children and %eep
them lying at their feet while they
work. A foreign rug manufacturer
said his yard looked like a public
playground, so he had to have some
of the work done outside in the
homes themselves-what we decry as
'sweatshop." But as long as wages
are so low and rice so high the father
N1-i ha oh 70
himself to support a family. An
article is appearing this month in a
London publication, Child Slaves of
China But the need of the people
for food is so great that they not
only do not desire such reform, but
take any means to outwit it. The
cotton mill, in which the Shanghai
strike originated, had rule that no
employe should be under four feet
I. tall. They would accept and give a
' badge to one who measured up to
requirements, and a few days later
their inspectors would find a small
brother slipping in, hoping the sub
stitution would pass undetected The
Ewo Cotton Mills do not employ boys
under 10, or girls under II. The
Shanghai Silk Keeling Guild made this
provision 1T has been decided to for
bid the employment of children under
of the workers to bring their chill
Ilren or those of relatives to the fila
lures TO learn the trade. The guild
claims that they were admitted only
On the repeated request of their par
ents. AS the children often spoil the
raw material, it is expected that the
guild labor clause will be enforced" 4"
China's Floating Population.
Without doubt the most picturesque
tlaSS in China is the floating" pop
tIlation: which lives on anything that
will foat-waShtubs, sampans, junks
and RATS. At some river ports IL
family of beggars will paddle out and
hll around the ship in what looks like
R large-siZed washtub. Babies will
roll around in the bottom and women
will sing in nasal, minor notes, hold
Ing up TO the deck little open-mouthed
bags tied to long bamboo poles. This
is said to be a highly profitable form
bf Wage-earning, as many copperS are
put in their bags and dropped into
their tubs. And there are the sam
bans that surround ships at anchor
10 catch in their nets scraps of food
khroWn overheard. One Sampan on
which two old women live hovers
around our gunboat anchored at
4, Hankow, and they pounce on any
thing that is thrown overheard or is
brought downstream to them. A
sampan is a long, narrow boat, not
unlike a gondola, or large. wooden
canoe with covered shelter in the
center, propelled and guided by one
man with one or two oars in the
stern. 1t is flatbottomed and uncer-
tain, for the river currents are strong
and treacherous. 1t is said that one
who falls into the Yangtze never
comes to the surface, and if he did
no Chinaman would rescue him. This
may be a survival of the tradition
tl:xt If you save a mans life it be-
longs to you, and you have to sup.
port him and his family forever after.
LAT any rate, there have been cases
fof men dying for lack of an out
stretched hand, with any number of
Cinnamon looking on, intensely inter
ested. These sampans ply back and
forth from boats to shore-a jtney
Service-,-the rickshas Of the riveN The