The Hawke's Bay Herald. THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1809. A CURIOUS DOCUMENT.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11120, 12 January 1899, Page 2

The Hawke's Bay Herald. THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1809. A CURIOUS DOCUMENT.

One of tho most original reports officially issued emanates from Japan, It ia a summary prepared by Mr Neesima, the Japanese .Minister of Education, of "A Voluminous Keport on European Political Economy," forwarded, to the Japanese Government by Mr Ten- ■ teato Malsato and Mr Teremoto, two attaches of the Japanese Legation to the United States. These gentlemen seem to have studied all the works on- political economy ever published, and to have made extensive inqiries into the position of ■workers in Europe and the United | States. But their conclusions are just the opposite of those of most investigators, and remind us Btrongly of. the old arguments in favor of slavery as a beneficent institution

But Mr - Neesima endorses their ' findings from what he sees around him in Japan, Naturally the effect ( of labor-saving machinery occupied _ the greater part of the report. One ( of their specific instructions was to '" make inquiries in those places < where these wonderful machines are ] moat used; and learn what methods, if any, have been adopted to bring that comfort and leisure to the masses for which they were evidently devised." An old proverb says that there are two ways of looking at everything, And certainly in th 6 words we have italicised the Japanese Minister took what may he called a back view of modern inventions. Most people believe ' that laborsaving machinery is devised in the interests of the employer, not the workman. It does not follow that the workman . is not ultimately benefited. The use of machinery to do rapidly what was previously done slowly by hand no doubt for a time does displace a certain amount of labor. But in the end, owing to the cheapness of production, the article produced becomes in such common use that more workmen than before are employed. But M. Neesima comes to just the opposite conclusion. Having set out with the benevolent assumption that machinery was invented in the interests of the workers, he arrives at the conclusion j | that it has entirely failed in that object. He says of " wealth-produc-ing devices " in Japan : — The effect seems to have been the very reverse of what was expected, and the working man's life has become, not easier, but harder. Factories are filling up with children working 14 hours daily, and Hues of little boys and girls aged 10 to 14, at our seaports, are employed for a pittance to coal great ocean steamships. Coolies still go naked; women labor in the field with babes strapped, to their backs ; and now, in case or short crops, our laborers have no Daimioß to fall back upon. Facilities for mortgage have increased and the land seems to be passing to large holders. The machines unquestionably do our working classes harm, and it is really to be feared that the fierce competitive spirit that is engendering will eventually obliterate what we have of antique, picturesque, and lovely among the Japanese people. The connection between machinery and the employment of girls and boys to coal Bhips does not appear very clear. In fact a term used by Mr Neesima to describe the writings of European economists applies very well to his own report. He says that the doctrines of all these economists seem " equally opaque " It may be that the attraction of adult labor to factories has resulted in the employment of girls and boys to do what was for.nerly done by men in coaling ships. Or it may be that the use of Bteam winches and similar appliances enables boys and girls to do work which could formerly be done only by men. But as it stands "opaque" is just tbe word to describe his conclusion. Observation of the outer world only confirms him in the results of his investigation. In Europe, he says, the result has been similar : — The countries had grown rich, but the gains had not been general ; and as to happiness, I could only think that there had been no gain at all ; for, in- America especially, the great body of the people are becoming intelligent enough to chafe at their inability to secure what they feel to be their due. An excessive nervous tension results, recognisable in their neglect of tea (alone used in Japan) for the maddening stimulants, whisky and beer, and for the dreadful sedative, tobacco. No doubt the Japanese can give the average European laborer points in the matter of sobriety, but to connect drinking habits with the use of machinery is distinctly an Oriental conception. The admitted fact is that, contemporaneous with the advance in industrial arts, the nations of Europe, and especially England, the home of manufactures, have become more sober, "We do not say that the use of machinery is responsible for this increased sobriety, though no doubt, in tending to reduce the hours of labor, raise wages, and cheapen production, so raising the standard of living all round, it has had an indirect effect. Be that as it may, the facts do not fit in with Mr Neesima's theory. Perhaps, no doubt, he would reply, with the French philosopher, "So much the worse for the facts." But we confess to a weakness for facts. The curious theories of Henry George seem to have had more effect on the Japanese investigators than those of any other writer, for their conclusion is : — Inasmuch as "capital" must, like all "wealth,'' be produced by labor from land, it follows that there are but two primary factors in production — labor and land ; or, as we might say, laborers and land, or men and land. Now some men by conquest, or in other ways, may be reduced to the private ownership of other men, and thus have a. buying »yd selling value. Thissystem is " chattel slavery." The surface of the world, " Jand," in the same way can be reduced to the private ownership of some men, and have a buying and selling value. This system is " pr.xdial slavery " even where the men, not being attached to and sold with any particular land, deem themselves free. The ultimate result of the latter form is apparently more fatal than the first. Under tho chattel form the owners, if not by a sense of justice or personal affection, are by self-interest and public opinion impelled to maintain their slaves in a certain degree of comfort. In sickness they aro nursed. If not employed they are yet provided w,ith shelter and food. In their old age they are oared for. But, with the lapse of time, this form of slavery has always given way to the second, fdr the reason that the second becomes the cheapest. To the pra'dial slaves the fear of discharge is more effeo tive than an overseer with a whip. No capital is " invested " in these men, nor any capital advanced to theni. They do the advancing aB they first add to their employers' capital for a week or a month. When no employment offers they can call on no one for support, while the fierce competition among them to " get work " tends jyages to the minimum of chattel slaves. The impeufecfc germ of an idea contained in the opening sentence of this extract accounts for the curious fallacies which follow. It is distinctly Georgiau. It is true that the primary soiirco of wealth is the land And if wealth ceased with the products of the norkjng of the land, either in agriculture or mining, the ' reasoning would stand good. But the majority of men are employed, ! not in raising raw material, but in j working it up, and it ib in that pro« I ]

cess most wealth is produced. "Wool and cotton do not manufacture i! themselves into clothing. To take a 1 familiar, though admittedly extreme, i example, a pound of iron is worth 1 about a penny. But converted into t steel, and made into the hair-springe ? of watches it is worth many thou- _ sands of pounds. It is odd that tbe _ acceptance of this Georgian fallacy leads the Japanese investigators to , endorse the institution of slavery as ; better for the workers than freedom, < a conclusion which Henry George would have been tho iirst to reject. ' It may be—we will admit that it is — to the interests of the slaveowner to keep his "chattels" in health, just as it is in tho interests of horseowners to keep their horses in good working condition. But the slave can demand nothing more, whereas the free man can and does demand for his labor a margin which he can spend on greater comfort, or even luxury. There may be to the mind of a Japanese Minister, himself surrounded with European luxury, something "antique, lovely, and picturesque " in a Japan where nine out of ten or the people had to toil early and late for a pittance of rice, in order that a few officials might live in great luxury, but to tbe nine j i we anticipate that his conclusions i will be as distasteful as his premises ' are fallacious.