THE NEW JAPAN. OPPRESSION OF HER LABOUR SYSTEM.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 41, 18 February 1908, Page 3

THE NEW JAPAN. OPPRESSION OF HER LABOUR SYSTEM.

SOME ILLUMINATING FACTS. No phase of Japan's recent progress is more marked than her development along industrial lines. From a people of simple arts and crafts, 'the Japanese, have in the short space of thirty years become a nation of great industrial importance (writes the Tokio correspondent of the Manchester Guardian). But the- improvement in labour conditions has not at all kept pace- With the country's advance in the introduction of Occidental methods and 'capacity for production. The employment of foreign machinery, and tho consequent introruction of new branches of industry naturally created a revolution in labour conditions. The sudden and drastic effect of the new system was extremely oppressive to the old artisan, class, who, together with their ancient patrons, went down with the fall of feudalism, and the process of the upheaval hr society then begun has not vet run its course. In Japan the handicraftsman and the local artist succumbed to tho era of machinery with a suddenness unknown to the West. Consequently her-indus-trial ' advance has been marked by a growing element of disaffection that now, like a smouldering fire, is at any moment ready to bo fanned mto flames. Thero is probably no country in the world where industrial disquietude is more general and menacing than 'in Japan to-day. A' SOULLESS MACHINE. Nor is all this disaffection due to the agitation of those deprived of an accustomed competence by the increase of tho factory system ; the root of the trouble lies in the inhumanity of the system itself. Japanese industrialism is a soulless machine in which the worker is ground to a dpgree that would not be tolerated in any country where those that bear' the burden of industry were intelligently and sufficiently organised to protect themselves.' And women, being the cheaper vessel, surfers the nethermost weight of it pll. During the last twelve months there has hardly been a week that' has not witnessed sojne exhibition of united protest against the injustice of the pr«sant •. labour conditions. Strikes and other manifestations of discontent have broken out in all lines of industry, and .among all classes of workers. In some instances, as in the ' cass of the • miners', the outbreak was so furious as to result -in murderous rioting, and wanton . destruction of extensiyc • property." • *%n cotton factories, where one would expect conditions of labour to ■ have Tfeacned the most modern development, strikes were no less frequent than among the operatives in still more oppressive spheres, and even the Government navy yards were not exempt. What, then, are the actual conditions of the system? ' Examine the labour conditions in Tokio, where the highest (wages' in the Empire are paid. There a cotton ginner at best can make only a shilling a day, and over • oypst of the country hfe has to.be content with less. Thousands, of female, factory, operatives get not- much more 'than 6d a day. r This was hardly, a living wage a < year, ago, but it.is .less now. The highest wages % carpenter can command ,2s a day, 'tilers- g£t Is Bd, plasterers 1c lid, - boptmakets Is, labourers 1 .10 d. When ' wo ' turn from the highest > to,, the lowest ratoof wages, conditions may better' bo imagined than described- 1 In the last year rice, which is. one of , the most epsential articles of food .to a Japanese, went up in. price to double ths.rate.of the twelve months before. There are othor aspects of. the system 'Still ' more menacing. Thero are no laws regulatirjg the hours of labour. ' In some cases, as on railways, 24 'consecutive hours are the rule. This oxcessive strain ,upon $he> workman is /doubtless responsible for the increasing frequency o'f: 'accidents on Japanese railways. Often, as one .passes a station at night, the whole staff appears to be asleop, and. probably is. Factory,, operatives usually work from 7 a.m. to .6 p.m., with a few minutes' at noon for. a bit' of rice to eat. Many ot ■ tho factory, workers arp women, for the most part young girls, and these' suffer much from the constant strain of tim^ and activity. They* are drawn" chiefly from the poorer classes, and are usually ignorant and wholly at the mercy of thfi foreman or employer. ', It is said' that the lot of the Japanese .factory, girl ,ie the hardest known to woman! She ,is engaged in a toil that is physically 'exhausting ; her. mere pittance lu-eps her underfed, and she is without either pro- : tection or sympathy. The old personal feeling of interest and responsibility that existed between employer and employee in pre-Restoration days has disappeared before the ceaseless grind of modern industrialism. IS IT A SUBTERFUGE? Owing to tho increasing amount' of hostile" criticism Vhich the' Japanese fdctory system is receiving from missionaries and ether foreigners, especially in regard to the matter of female and child labour, ' some of the managers are advertising the establishment of opportunities for education and recreation among their employees, but those who 1 have kept 1 a close eye on the course of events declare that this is a mere subterfuge to deceive tho outside world! *The system is seldom put into operation except for the interest of visitors, the regular time that the gMa are permitied for f^olf -improve- : mont or recreation being, in^ practice, al* ■uost nothing. I know of but one factory where benevolent, considerations may be said to govern the attitude ' of tQac capitalists to the operatives. In the Sakura Gumi bather 'factory at Senjn, near Tokio, there appears to~ be a bright j and encouraging, exception to the prevailing system. ; This enterprise began operations on a small scale some 36 years ago, and lias gone steadily on till it now employs over 800 'hands, < most -of whom I are women. They a,re said to have always received a fair wage, and have always deserved congratulation on the happy relations that obtain between them and their employers. The directors have also organised an insurance system, to which the workers contribute a. small percentage of their ' salary a month, and a "pro rata" amount is returned to those temporarily incapacitated through sickness, accident, or other unavoidable cause. ' To a foreigner the most shocking aspect of the Japanese industrial system is the absolute indifference of managers to the unnecessary risk and exposure to which the operatives hvc constantly subjected. The alarming loss of life that results from 1 . accidents . from 1 week ' to week could beyond doubt be much .reduced by a little attention to the ordinary dictates of humanity, in tho way of protecting .workmen. In the Mitsu Bishi naval yards at Nagasaki 1 have often .wondered how the thousands there employed 'could all crowd into' a few lighters to be ferried across the harbour o\ory evening. The other, day I was not surprised to seo x one upset and plunge hundreds of struggling man and women into the sea, :resulting iv considerable loss of lite. In an Osaka arsenal hundreds of women were employed in taking the powder from old cartridges left from the late war ; a match was dropped, causing an explosion that killed 49 women at once, and the consequent fire and explosions killed a great many more, (Therjß( TherjB was no super. vision adequate to

warn ihe womer of the danger of using matches in such a place. Such accidents are too common in Japan to be justly considered unpreventable. At tl\e present time the Japanese Government registers, inspects, and controls many private enterprises and industries ; every sort of trade, profession, or industry must be registered. The Government has many factories of its own, as well as its monopolies in railways, tobacco, salt, and camphor, and it executes various functions that in other countries are left to private enterprise. As this oversight is not merely nominal, but subjects registered industries and business operations to a ' strict inspection, there ought to be no difficulty in controlling the conditions of labour and keeping them tolerable ; but the great difficulty is that the inspectors have no laws either to guido them or to subject the oppressor 'to punishment. The legislative authorities have shamefully neglected the interests of the nation's industrial classes, and this because the latter have almost been without representation in Parliament. Consequently there is in Japan no factory law, no Employers' Liability Act, no working man's insurance law ; there exists no regulation as to the age of the workers, the hours of work, the cubic space, air, and light to which the worker is entitled for health, and no requirement as to sanitary arrangements. Holidays 'and meals are loft to -the mercy of the employers ; thess also decide when, where, and how wages shall be paid. There is no laiw to protect employees against dangerous staircases and_ liftholes, to guard ' them against accidents in mines ?nd quarries, or to settle when plant shall be cleaned, repaired, or worked. But those who know Japan will bo aware how .little impression an accident killing dozens of people makes on the community; indeed, in a country where suicide is'so common and approved a method of mental or physical relief, death is not sufficiently an evil to be urgently avoided.