Evening star., 1940-04-01
70 Per Cent Labor
Shortage Presents
Problem 10 Japan
Nation Usually Abundant
With Workers Faces
lronicuI Situation
BY FRANK H. HEDGES.

TOXIC, March Is (NAN.AD -
One million laborers, including wom-
en-, will be modified during the COM
ing fiscal year in an attempt to meet
the serious labor shortage that has
developed in Japan owing to the
warfare in China
There is deficiency of 20 per cent
at present. the president of the ma
tlonal planning board told The Diet
These new labor recruits will not be
confined to japanese alone, but the
man-power resources of Korea also
will be drawn upon.
1t is almost ironical that Japa q,
which has always relied on its cheap
and abundant labor supply in order
to meet American and othe, COM
petition in the world market. should
now find itself short of this ex-
tremely valuable asset.
Not only that, but the potential
labor supply Of overcrowded China
looms-as menace or as an asset to
Japan? If the -that-be in
Toxic have their way, it will be the
latter, but 1t is far from certain
that Chinese labor will comply with
Tokios desires and ambitions.
Peasant Feels Drain.
The labor shortage began to de-
Velop in Japan shortly after this
country began calling thousands
upon thousands of men to the colors
and pouring them into China. The
Of
front remains military secret, but
the mere fact that only four men
have been available for work where
five were needed during the fiscal
year just closing gives at least an
approximate idea.
1t was the patient japanese
peasant, bearer of most of the en-
pire's burdens, who first felt this
drain on manpower. The average
farmer depends on his own and
his family's labor to produce the
rice or other crops picked by hand
from the soil and water of the
microscopic farms of the japanese
Islands. When. as happened IN
many families, one son was taken,
the farm suffered in consequence.
When two or three sons were called
to serve in the army, farm work
came almost to standstill Still
more serious was the situation when
the father, head of the family and
manager" of the farm, was the
man chosen to fight on the plains
or IN the mountains of China.
The labor shortage on the farm
is telt most at the time of spring
planting and again when the rice
Is harvested in the autumn. Last
fall, as the grain ripened in the
sheaves, the threat arose that much
of 1t might be lost because of lack
OF hands to pick it-and Japan
was already facing rice shortage.
The army acted then. Soldiers in
barracks and army posts in the
homeland and Korea were given
temporary leave to return home
ana help with the harvesting.
Spreads to Industry.
The lack of sufficient workers soon
spread to industry. Technical ex-
perts who had been called up could
not easily be replaced, but before
long industry found itself con-
fronted with an almost equally
difficult task of replacing the day
worker. Unless Japan manufac-
lures and exports at a profit, the
foreign exchange so sorely needed
for the prosecution of the war can
not be obtained.
To add to the plight of the peace
time manufacturer. the mushroom
munitions and other war boom in
dustries began offering higher and
higher wages, attracting all avail
abe labor to themselves. This had
led to development which other
wise might have been years in work.
ing itself out, for thousands of fac
tory Jobs were thrown open to
women.
Formerly housework. employment
In the silk fllatures. limited num-
ber of Office jobs and teaching in
the primary schools were virtually
the only earning positions open. to
women. Now they are to be found
in the factories and mills and par
tlcularly in the munitions and allied
Industries. This, of course, has led
In turn to an acute shortage of do
mestic help.
1he government, as is ever the
case in Japan, turned its paternal-