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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
a'ragged woman in the crowd rails at both into the first-class ranks. There is no. him and the magistrate. She is hustled ont, | glozing away of the meaning of that it shrieking, A runner lights a cigarette from advertises, in manner unmistakable, how the glowing fag obligingly held by a little those illeais really do affect us. Our colleague. The British Assessor, toying ideals are academic, philosophie, ornamental,|| with a fountain pen, murmurs something conventional, anything but politics for use to the Magistrate. A foreign policeman in times of stress. China, on the other murmurs to the Assessor. The Magistrate, hand, may be said to have given them a roaring so as to be heard above renewed very fair trial. There have been sporadic dlamour, sinks back again into his seat, and lapses, of course; even CONFUCIUS could rolls his brush on the ink-slab. Another "lose his temper," and it would have been case follows, and so on, da capo, and (study interesting to study MARCUS AURELIOS with ing the expression on the Assessor's face) the toothache, pestered by an insurance apparently ad nauseam. The affair of agent; but on the whole, China has, as a December 12 must indeed have been some-nation, followed for a thousand years the thing altogether unusual to be described as line of least resistance, and on occasions a thing altogether unseemly and unbecom. turned the other cheek. There is surely ng ing the diguity which ought to be necessity to indicate how her adherence to maintained in such a place.”
those ideals has "panned out." Neither materially nor spiritually can the Chinese be said to le advanced beyond the ordinary
THE CHINESE POINT OF VIEW. human nature which vents an expletive
(Daily Press, 5th January.) Everybody at some time or other encouu- ters a phrase in reading, which, while it does no more than embody and crystalise a belief they may have held firmly for years, appears to give such belief a definiteness peculiarly gratifying. To many, a sentence from Lieut.-General Sir LAN HAMILTON's "Staff Officer's Scrap-Book during the Russo-Japanese War" will appeal in that way. Drawing a picture of what with his essentially soldierly ideal he regards as "that glorious and impressive survival from heroic times. a nation in arms," and holding up for comparison another less heroic view of an unmilitary. nation, Sir IAN HAMILTON goes on to remark, "With our education anti-military, and our Army organized on a basis of wages, we are marching straight in the footsteps of China, who one thousand years ago became so clever as to see that war was a relic of barbarism. So it is; but to neglect its precepts on that account is to hand over the conduct of the world to barbarians." That is a shrewd stroke; one that must greatly disconcert the good people who believe in the possibility of universal peace, and pin their faith to the ideals that were only partly incarnated in the Hague tri- bunal. The logical conclusion of a world controlled by barbarians gains force by the undeniable fact that there is already a nation which for ages has taken to heart identical ideals, and is now actually in the/ position of seeing the world controlled by barbarians". China has not always lived strictly up to her ideals; they would cease to be ideals if that were possible in the case of any people; but there is very little doubt that, taken collectively, the Chinese have got nearer to the spirit of their teaching than have the nations which have professed them and indeed gloried in them as a part of something said to be better than mere philosophy. Grudely in- terpreted, this means an implication that the nations of Christendom bave beed more hypocritical, greater slaves to humbug; and we lack the courage necessary for an attempt to deny it. The preachers of the religion of peaco have always shown a singular unanimity in ignoring the ideal when faced by everyday, practical issues; and have shouted for war with the lustiest of the laity. There was the famous recent utterance of a Japanese noblemau, that none of the arts of peace in Japan had brought that nation earer to recognition as a civilised one; and that it was only when their ability to kill people was recognised that the nations tumbled over each other in their haste to welcome Japan
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when its thumbnail is hit with a hammer After a fair trial, China is going to revert to the methods of barbarisin, the scientific, improved methods of barbarisul which Christendom sends to the Far East along with its expounders of the antithetic ideals. Japan is frankly barbarian (in this connection). China sees that it has paid her neighbour, and more than that, she hears the other barbarians singing praises of Japan for successful barbarism. Then where do we stand? We cling, wisely, to the methods of barbarism, and we cling unwisely, to the conventional humbug that forbids us from aluitting it. Sir LAN HAMILTON, although he does not say so, sees that it is that humbug which prevents us as much as anything from reaping the full benefit of our practice. We are neither good fighters nor good peace-keepers. He does not suggest that the Japan se so dier is better in all respects than the British but, after describing the desperate struggle made by a Japanese outpost of thirty-six men against a thousand Russiaus, be reverts to the question of surrenders, with South Africa in his mind, and confesses that "ceteris paribus the surrender type of army may expect to be-handsomely thrashed the 110 surrender type whenever and wherever they may meet Does it not seem fair to conclude that, if we exonerate (as we must) the surrender type" from the suspicion of cowardice, we must regard the imposible ideals as the things that hamper. and handicap them ?
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FACTORY LABOUR IN JAPAN.
[January 8, 1906.
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treating employees does away with strikes, poverty, and other features of manufacturing centres, and that it pays the employer as well, then the desired effect may be sooner obtained, even though with a less magnil- oquent motive. The Japanese claim to have no labour troubles; and if they have, they have so far been less heard of than in Great Britain and other manufacturing countries, including India. The secret, they say, is that the
feudal system persists in the relationship of employer and employed. The Business Man's Magazine publishes a descriptive article about, the methods of the Kanegafu chi Spinning Co., Ld.; and while we do not ask anybody to believe that "the employers. are so unselfish and sympathetic that the employees cannot be unloyal or disobedient," we may remark that the example of this company seems worth the careful considera- tion of; and emulation by, employers of labour elsewhere who have no intention of posing as philanthropists. The " Kanebo," as this company is popularly called, mus a free boarding school for young people aged from thirteen to sixteen years. The pupils are half timers," who receive the ordinary primary course of instruction, and in addi- tion an evening course of textile and engineering study. At sixteen, the pupila are taken into full employment. The com- pany, meanwhile, has provided everything. and made no charge, getting only the slight amount of labour that learners are able to give, in return. for food, clothing. and training during the three years. It is the old fashioned apprentice system with a difference. For higher posts, a similar in- stitution is provided for young men who can pass an entrance examination. There' are also boarding schools for girl employees. Food is cooked on modern ranges, heated by a special boiler, and served in huge dining halls. Money orders intended for parents are transmitted free of charge by the company. For nursing mothers while at work, the company provides physicians, nurses, a creche, and a kindergarten establishment; and generally accepts parental responsi bilities. The training which the children receive and later on the schooling obtained from the instructors gives each individual opportunities far. above those to be had by the employees in foreign countries. The company also maintains its own hospital, and free bathrooms and laundries. rents about 400 cottages, and sees that each has as beautiful surroundings as can be arranged. Two journals are conducted, in which suggestions and comments by employees are welcomed, and prizes offered for useful ideas relating to the manage- The ment of any part of the concern, company stores foodstuffs, clothing, dry goods, &c., and retails them at cost to its employees. Many employees went to the war; the families left behind did not suffer. A general fund was started, on which the company paid ten per cent. interest, as well as contributing to it; and no employee of
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(Daily Press, 7th January). The Cotton Spinners' Association of India has put it on record that Japan has become a formidable rival to all India, in the China market for cotton goods. The reasons for the remarkable progress made by the Japanese cotton factories, which are generally yarn mills that both spin and weave, as given by Japanese themselves, Kanebo "had to trouble any of the are partly what foreign observers would public funds. The employees have a recrea deem handicaps in the race for tradation park close by. As illustrating the success; and it is worth while making a feeling animating the employees, the note of what these are, for possible future following message from a soldier at the reference when Capital and the large front is given, "I am always ready to meet employers of labour begin to cast about for my dead comrades, but if such be the Gods' remedies for handicaps and hindrances will, I hope to survive and devote my entire
It will already experienced. Some firms in Eng. future to my beloved Kanebo.' land have done something on the same naturally be supposed that all this must. lines, but not quite the same; and the make a hole in the profits of the Company; On the other pratile of philanthropy accompanying their but this is not admitted. efforts has possibly had the effect of fright-hand, it is not denied that foreign com- ening away business men who have no panies' profits are often seriously impaired time to consider any goal but that of profits. by labour troubles. As we have said, there If it can be shown that a paternal policy of may be a lesson here for somebody.
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