CHINESE WORKERS.

Grey River Argus, 9 April 1927, Page 8

CHINESE WORKERS.

WHAT THEY PUT UP WITH. There are 51 large match companies with plants in China ufcing this lifedestroying form, of phosphorus. They have a capitalisation of over six million dollars, and an annual turnover J of more than 12 million dollars. The! factories are in general dirty, ill ven-1 tilated, and dark. Besides the dread-! ed. “phossy jaw,” many of the workers (of whom in some of the fac ) tories a large number are women andi children) suffer from lung diseases’ through the constant inhalation of the poisonous chemical fumes. In one case that was investigated it was found that a dormitory near the factory housed 300 indentured children —little “slaves,” whose toil commenced at 3.30 in the morning and lasted till 7.30 at night every day in the week. In the match factory business at Shanghai much of the box making is done at home. “A. mother and one child being able to finish between 2.000 and 3,000 parts of a box per day, they receive for this, nine copper .■ents a thousand, or about 12 cents a day in the American currency. No precautions are taken against fire though this is . a special haphazard in the industry. In one large factory children not more than five years of sure were seen to be working wit 7 ' almost incredible rapidity. The&. conditions could all be avoided fit more expensive equipment were used. But it would cut down the profits. y —From the Report of Child Labour Commission at Shanghai. The beautiful silk knowi as “Pongee, ’ ’ so much admired by women, is manufactured at Chefoo. The 40 factories there employ 26,000 boys and young men at an average wage of 12 cents a day on a 13-hour-day basis. Labourers in the steel mills usually work a 12-hour day. But every 10 days, when shift is changed, they 4 put in 18 hours at a stretch. Labourers in the cotton mills at Shanghai put in from 11 to 20 hours, depending on business conditions. According .to a Chinese authority, M. 1. Tchou. the average monthly wages in the cotton industry are nine dollars for unskilled, 19 dollars for skilled male workers, and seven and a half and 12 dollars respectively for female workers.

Here are some of the things seen by Sherwood Eddy, international secretary of the YM.C.A. (America), in a Chinese rug factory (where “Persian’’’ rugs are manufactured fo. millionaire homes In. Europe and Amorica!): “Twelve hundred boys and young men are employed, their ages ranging from nine to 25. Pay is monthly—foremen receiving eight dollars, others average four dollars 50 cents and their food. Men and boys work on an average 16 hours a day, from 5.30 a.ni. to 10 p.m. Th? majority of the boys serve as apprentices .for a period of three years and receive, no pay whatever, but get their food. This apprenticeship is omy a ‘blind alley.’ After they have served for three years there is no 'uture for them. They can become ricksha coolies and earn on an aver, age 15 cents a day. The 50,000 ricksha pullers in Peking average less than this amount. After five fears of this work they are usually broken in health and are then useless. ”

Of a visit paid to one of the larger silk mills in the north, Eddy writes: “We next visited a silk filature where 1,000 employees toil from 5.30 a.m. till after 6 p.m. Here 1 found little girls seven years of age earning 20 cents a day. Here are mothers working with nursing babies lying on the floor beside them or strapped to their backs. “The children learn to work as soon as they are able to walk. Here they toil in the hot steam with their Vauds deftly manipulating tho cocoons in the boiling hot water. The employers say the agile hands of little children are best adapted to this rapid work. The eyesight of many of the children had been affected from the hot water and steam in their eyes.” Here are the conditions in a large match factory in North China—and the factory described is said to be “the best of its kind in the city.’ “We found there 1,100 employees, for the most part boys from nine to la years of age, working from 4 a.m. to 8.30 p.m., with a few minutes of intermission at noon. They work oh an average 15 hours a day, seven days a week with no Sunday of rest. The boys receive from six to 10 cents, and the men about 2.5 cents a day. The poisonous fumes of phosphorus and sulphur and the dust from the other cheTnicaTs burned our lungs -even in the short half hour we were in the factory. “Eighty men and boys of this plant have to visit the hospital each day for treatment. Many suffelr from ‘phossy jaw,’ when the bones of the face decay on account of the cheap grade of phosphorus used. This could be avoided if somewhat more expenses were used, but it would cut down the profits which are said to very large. ’ ’