Evening star., 1925-09-05
JAPAN PESS|M|SM
DUE TO ADVERSELY
Citation of Causes Which
Promote Depressed Political
and Economic Conditions.
BY j. RUSSELL KENNEDY.

Daily News.
TOXIC, August lit is very hard
to be an optimist in Japan. All the
straws indicate adverse economic
winds, increased and continued de.
preston, except for the fact that the
cabinet will not change within the
next six months. But on that point
the pessimist says "the worst is yet
to come, for seven or eight months
hence we will see a general election
with eight million newly enfranchized
men to be taught how to cast their
votes"
The political outlook does not prom
Use less depressed condition. This
fact, however, may keep Viscount
Kato in power because. possibly. a
majority of the new voters would like
to give him a sporting chance to prove
his policies. That is all the premier
asks. How can the country Settle
down to work." he asks, IF the gov
ernment continues TO change an
nually?'
Pass From Bad to Worse.
For the last five years conditions
have gone from bad 10 worse until
at the moment the optimist is silent
and his tail is down. 1t is the day
of gloom in the Japan Advertiser,
usually a booster, as follows:
Dark pictures Of the effect of the
business depression on the unskilled
laborers, particularly the people living
in the slum districts. are still painted
by the authorities on the verge of
what trade conditions indicate as a
slight alienation in the hard times.
Perhaps it is the darkest hour before
l . L.
dawn of business prosperity will find
many unable TO weather the present
dark hours.
With the high price of rice and
other commodities and the declining
rate of wages the people in these dis
tricts are reported to be actually fac
ing starvation. Some 450 workers
visit the municipal employment bu-
reau only to have more than half their
number turned away without work of
any kind to give them a few sen to
stretch out their existence a few more
days.
Workers Being Dismissed.
Meanwhile small factories are dis
missing workers daily and others are
cutting the wages of those who are
retained on the pay roll. The plight
of the unskilled laborer is perhaps the
worst They are fortunate to get as
| many as 20 days of work in a month.
The department of communications
pays coolies about 80 sen (40 cents) a
day. Workers employed by the re-
construction bureau get more, from
/ yen 60 sen to . yen 80 sen about
rs cents to S1.30) a day. Wages. gen
orally. however. are from 20 to 80
per cent lower than last year The
average laborer has to pay As sen a
day for meals, 15 sen for lodging
and 3 sen for bath
Public restaurants operated by the
city in the labor market. dispensing
food at cost, are now regarded almost
as a luxury by the laborer Patrons
of these places are reported to have
decreased by half. Many buy large
bags of waste bread. which is their
sole means of sustenance
Many Reduced to Pawning.
MANY. have been reduced to pawn
ing their last valuable possession, but
here again they are confronted with
an effect of the business depression.
Pawn shops have deceased since the
earthquake of 1923. Besides the pawn
shop operators are more particular in
the objects they buy. claiming that
very few articles are brought to them
any more which are acceptable for
loans"
Copyright, 1925. by Chicago Daily News Co. }