October 14-1893.1
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORTIT
Chinese Altogether: Mr." Uporaft's tempt in Japan to exercise any control by means the nations Without going into aur
on the state of affairs in an important world deserve careful consideration ing from an independent and keen ob-
N CATaily News, hami nawa ana as REPORT ON=LABOUR IN THE AR EMPIRE OF JAPAN,
The United States Consul at Kobe in his report for last year gives a report on Japanese labour, from which we extract the following
In order to place before the American people the true facts in regard to labour in this Em- piro, I have had the following table made up by competent and trustworthy heads of Japanese industries, and confirmed by the proper autho- rities having charge of the industries of the Empire and its labour statistics :----
wyd endr & PER DAY.
Carpenters... Plasterers i... Stonecutters
1895. 1894. 1893.
detail Count Okuma Shigenobu Finance of the Empire sa in the July number of
of legislation over the various fields of activity which come under the general head of labour No laws have yet been enacted to regulate the hours of toil. The determination of that quest be remembered that it is not much levation is left solely to the judgment of the years that Japan has been opened to the orld: principal: and employé. Nor has any effort and as to our industries it is hardly dedade been made thus far to deal with the important since they became to be more or less modernizeds problems connected with the employment of But there has been meanwhile a notable advan092 child labour? How far the admitted antipathy in wages. The wages to day, are incomparably i of the people to long unbroken periods of activity higher than the wages of twenty or leven-fives has operated with the governing classes in years ago. At this rate it is not hard to see tlise their attitude of indifference to the welfare future of Japan Labour here will soon beco of the working sections of the community and without doubt us costly as that of the West offe how far that attitude has been due to habits of not more costly." But before this time arrivest mind belonging to the age of feudalism, which it will not be amiss to say that," while thei here is not a generation old, are questions prevailing rates of wage are apparently low age altogether beyond the scope of this report. It compared with American labour, writers on is, however, reasonable to assume that the ne
the subject should not be permitted to take theo glect of labour legislation in the past has been prevailing prices which are paid in allver and due to the conviction that such legislation could then reduce them to gold. The amount paid tri be dispensed with, and that conviction has rested the labourer or mechanic here in silver goes for upon thorough knowledge of national char-
him as far and no further than the like amount- acteristics. In an Oriental country, where the in gold does for his fellow labourer in Americas! right to rest is asserted upon the flimsiest pre- So far as the use of money is concerned theo text, the Government may be pardoned for its human nature of the working man of Japan ish failure to protect by express legislative enact about the same as that of his brethren of ment the interest of the worker. It is but just Europe and Americs. As he forces an increased to state here that there are not wanting indica- reward for his daily labour he advancest his reto tions that the days of a laisser faire attitude are quirements. His wants become greater as his ! numbered. The rapid extension of the cotton in-wages rise in the scale, and very often his real dustry and the steady increase of mills and fac- tories on a much larger scale seem likely to lead to legislation on the general subject of labour. In- deed the necessity of governmental interference in labour matters is fast becoming a question of the day, and leaders of thought lean more to the opinion that in the near future the Imperial Government will be obliged to enact laws de- termining hours of labour and abolishing all forms of child labour.
yen. yen. yen. 0.55 0.45 0.35 0.55 0.45 0.32 0.50 Q.45 0.40 0.60 0.50 0.35 0.42 0.35 0.30 0.60 0.50 0.38 0.30 0.25 Not stated,,
0.25 0.20 0.28 0.25
Sawyers
Roofers
Tilers...
Matting makers
0.35
Screen makers
Joiners
0.35
Paper hangers
0.35
Tailors
For Japanese cloth.
0.40
For Foreign cloth.
1.00
Bilk spinners
Ten workers
Tea firing:
Male Female
Confectioners
0.30 0.12 0.70 9.35 Not stated.
51
0.30 0 15
0.70
0.30
-0.50 0.20
Common labourers
0.30 0.25 0.20
Sauce makers*
Dyers...
Cotton beaters
Blacksmiths
0.70 0.50
Porcelain makers
0.50
0.30 0.20 0.15 0.13 0.10 0.07 0.30 0.22 0.20 0.38 0.30 0.20 0.25 0.30
Porcelain artists
0.60
Oil press men
0.30
0 25
0.20
Tobacco cutters
0.50
0.38
Printers
0.55
0.40
Ship carpenters
0.50
0.35 0.25
Lacquer workers
Not stated.
Compositors
0.40
Sake brewers *
0.13
0.30 0.20 0.10 0.08
(* Food furnished by the employer.)
PER MONTH.
Farm labourers :--
si: Male
Female
Silkworm breeders
Male
Female
Weavers (female)
0.35
0.22 0.25
2.50 2.00 1.30 1.50 0.75 0.50
Servants in foreign houses.
at Male
Female
Not stated.
15.00
11.00
22
22
6.00
4.00
or imaginary wants develop more rapidly than his earning power. atban, aziblog akua)
cases the introduction of Western labour-saving devices and the copies of them made in Japan have not been successful the time when thep introduction of such appliances will become an important factor is too far distant to interfere with the laws of supply and demand which under conditions ruling are fast placing the labour off Japan as to reward or wage on the same footings as the labour of Western nations, qui bon adi
Where the demand for labour is as great asi it is in Japan, and skilled labour is so limited it! will be readily seen that such conditions will hasten the time when the cost of Japanese labour will grow up with that of Europe and America. It may be argued that the introduc tion of labour-saving machinery may change these conditions, but when it is considered thati. In dealing with the subject of the natural the Japanese are great copyists, but are not tendency of labour, the legislator, in order to inventive, and that the introduction of labour” “ enact just laws, will have to give serious con- saving devices has not kept pace with the sideration to the fa t that the Japanese are sub-advancement of these people and that in many jects of an Oriental state and are accustomed to regard life from a dreamy, listless standpoint. This characteristic enters, into-permeates their work, and explains, if it does not justify, one of the difficulties manufacturers meet in attempt ing to deliver their productions on contract dates. They will also have to give serious con- sideration to the fact that they are not dealing. with a new people, that the Japanese are indeed a very old people and are essentially children of nature, working when nature smiles, idling when nature frowns, that they are about to transplant them from their workships, which for centuries have been within the walls of their habitations, of which they were lord and master, sleeping, eating, resting, smoking, chatting, drinking tea, and working at their own sweet will, to the inside of the brick walls of great factories; and when there to prescribe long hours of incessant toil for them.
OF ALI. THE TENDENCY
BRANCHES
LABOUR IN ITS DEALING WITH
OF
EM-
PLOYERS, AS TO PRICE, QUALITY, DIS- CIPLINE, HOURS OF TOIL, AND PRO- DUCING POWER.
Disciplined effort in industrial undertaking is almost unknown. The shikataga nai (au- avoidable, fatalistic) spirit crops up in endless ways. There seems to be an abiding faith in the utility and efficacy of trade and industrial guilds and unions, in connection with which it is a noticeable fact that they are not only organized for purposes of protection and to secure increased rewards for labour, but to protect inferior work. Not only do these or ganizations seek to dictate terms of remunera- tion, but to destroy the liberty of their members to choose, with whom they will deal, or for whom they shall or shall not work. The amount of skilled labour in Japan is so small that arti! sans and others are able, through the agency of trade organizations, to effect rapid increase of
The producing power of Japanese labouras compared with that of other nations is andim portant factor in the labour problem of Japan which the writers herein before referred to finda it very convenient not to allude tor" To get at the producing power of Japanese labourast compared with American labour, the habits of the two workers must be considered: Thef Japanese carries into the workshops or fielde or any ordinary undertaking requiring the? expenditure of physical force, Oriental customs? which seem to be part of his nature. They are so habituated to the practice of resting fat frequent intervals, to smoke, obat, or drink tea, that when what is called a day's work is summed up, the production as compared with the ordinary output of an American workman, who gives ten long hours to his labour, under almost less. It is no exaggeration norisit in anywaying perfect factory discipline, is found to be woefully
The figures in the above table shows the in- crease in daily wage of the principal classes of labour yearly for the past three years. They also show, in a manner which cannot be ques- Lioned, inasmuch as they have been obtained from official sources, and are corroborated by foreign residents of long experience, that low though the daily wage is in this Empire as compared with the daily wage of artisans and workmen generally throughout the United States, the rates have risen, enormously since the marked depre- ciation of silver at the beginning of 1893, and that they are still advancing. This fact in itself is fatal to the argument of those who pro- fess to see in Japanese skilled labour a rival that is destined to throttle and stifle American industries. But there are other and perhaps more serious considerations that affect even the remotest possibility of the labour of Japan being utilized to the detriment of American labour or vancement of American industries, and hese considerations may be summed up under reward or wage for their work more successfully; whether the specially skilled labourer of lapa
following headings: Lack of Government in the fields of labour and the tendency of all branches of labour in its dealing with employers as to prices and quality, discipline,
s of toil and producing power. Ge GOVERNMENT & CONTROL IN THE VARIOUS OLİFİELDS OF LABOUR, ad; lo 9:02 Up to the present day there has beển no
no at
world; and when here than anywhere else in the these facts are taken in connection: with the absence of all legislation governing the relations of capital and labour it must be evident to the ordinary mind that no matter what the pro ducing capacity of labour is in Japan it will in the very near future not only become dangerous' to development in the mechanical arts, but will: become more costly than the labour of any of
tended to belittle the Japanese, workman, who is simply continuing the independence ingrafted with his being and I believe necessaryśniąd can labourer produces: more in three, hon sustain his well being to say that the Ameris ; his Japanese fellow workman does in what is called a day's work. This may undergo modification when the time, arrives that the- bulk of the labour of Japan, skilled and otheria wise, will spend the time devoted to labour, within the walls fof: factories, but then then question will also arise, and its importance can. not at the presents time be determined, an will thrive as well when subjected to their daily work around their firesides div discipline, as they do at present in per
The American working, men need their time to suit their inclinations.
peo fear of competition with the workers, nor feed thự States interested in trade pursuits i apprehensióu the possibility
in capital
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