The Foundations of Japan Part 20

It is idle to suggest that fair treatment of this sort is impossible.

It is perfectly possible.

The factory proprietors are no worse than many other people intent on money making. But the silk industry, as I saw it, was exploiting, consciously or unconsciously, not only the poverty of its girl employees but their strength, morality, deftness[147] and remarkable school training in earnestness and obedience. Several times I heard the unenlightened argument that, if there were a certain sacrifice of health and well-being, a rapidly increasing population made the sacrifice possible; that, as silk was the most valuable product in j.a.pan, and it was imperative for the development and security of the Empire that its economic position should be strengthened, the sacrifice must be made. Nothing need be said of such a hopelessly out-of-date and nationally indefensible att.i.tude except this: that it is doubtful whether any considerable proportion of the people connected with the silk industry have felt themselves specially charged with a mission to strengthen the economic condition of their country. They have simply availed themselves of a favourable opportunity to make money. That opportunity was presented by the cheap labour available in farmers' daughters unprotected by effective trade unions, by properly administered factory laws or by public opinion.

II[148]

The enterprise, the efficiency and the profits shown by the sericultural industry have been remarkable, and not a few of the capitalists connected with it are personally public-spirited. But many well-wishers of j.a.pan, native-born and foreign, cannot help wondering what is the real as compared with the seeming return of the industry to a nation the strength of which is in its reservoir of rustic health and willingness. It is significant of the extent to which the factories are working with cheap labour that, in a country in which there are more men than women,[149] there was in about 20,000 factories 58 per cent. of female labour. If I stress the fact of female employment it is because in j.a.pan nearly every woman eventually marries. Enfeebled women must therefore hand on enfeeblement to the next generation.[150]

The j.a.panese, in their present factory system, as in other developments, insist on making for themselves all the mistakes that we have made and are now ashamed of. In judging the j.a.panese let us remember that all our industrial exploitation of women[151] was not, as we like to believe, an affair as far off as the opening nineteenth century. I do not forget as a young man filling a newspaper poster with the t.i.tle of an article which recounted from my own observation the woes of women chain makers who, with bared b.r.e.a.s.t.s and their infants sprawling in the small coals, slaved in domestic smithies for a pittance. And as I write it is announced that the head of the United States Steel Corporation says that "there is no necessity for trade unions," which are, in his opinion, "inimical to the best interests of the employers and the public." That is precisely the view of most j.a.panese factory proprietaries.

The trade union is not illegal in j.a.pan, but its teeth have been drawn (1) by the enactment that "those who, with the object of causing a strike, seduce or incite others" shall be sentenced to imprisonment from one to six months with a fine of from 3 to 30 yen; (2) by the power given to the police (_a_) to detain suspected persons for a succession of twenty-four hour periods, and (_b_) summarily to close public meetings, and (3) by the franchise being so narrow that few trade unionists have votes. During the six years of the War there were as many as 141,000 strikers, but a not uncommon method of these workers was merely to absent themselves from work, to refrain from working while in the factory, or to "ca' canny." Nevertheless 633 of them were arrested. When I attended in Tokyo a gathering of members of the leading labour organisation in j.a.pan it was discreetly named Yu-ai-kai (Friend-Love-Society, i.e. Friendly Society). Now it is boldly called the Confederation of j.a.panese Labour. A Socialist League[152] and several labour publications exist. Workers a.s.semble to see moving pictures of labour demonstrations, and a labour meeting has defied the police in attendance by singing the whole of the "Song of Revolution." But crippled as the unions are under the law against strikes and by the poverty of the workers, they find it difficult to attain the financial strength necessary for effective action. Many workers are trade unionists when they are striking but their trade unionism lapses when the strike is over, for then the unions seem to have small reason for existing. The head of the Federation of Labour lately announced that the number of trade unionists was only 100,000, or half what it was during the recent big strikes and it is doubtful whether, even including the 7,000 members of the Seamen's Union, there are in j.a.pan more than 50,000 contributing members of the different unions. But this 50,000 may be regarded as staunch.

The poverty-stricken unions certainly afford no real protection to the girl workers, who form indeed a very small proportion of their members. And the Factory Law does little for them. A j.a.panese friend who knows the labour situation well writes to me:

"According to the Factory Law, which came into force in the autumn of 1916, 'factory employers are not allowed to let women work more than twelve hours in a day.' (Article III, section 1.) But if necessary, 'the competent Minister is ent.i.tled to extend this limitation to fourteen hours.' (Section 2.) As to night work the law says that 'factory employers are not allowed to let women work from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.' (Article IV.) If, however, there are necessary reasons, 'the employers can be exempted from the obligation of the Article IV.'

(Article V.) Article IX says that 'the employers are forbidden to let women engage in dangerous work.' But whether work is dangerous or not is determined by 'the competent Minister' (Article XI), who may or may not be well informed. There is also Article XII, 'The competent Minister can limit or prohibit the work of women about to have children' and within three weeks after confinement. But anyone who enters factories may see women with pale faces because they work too soon after their confinement.

"I cannot tell you how far these provisions are enforced. I can only say that I have not yet heard of employers being punished for violating the Factory Law. Can it be supposed that employers are so honest as never to violate the Factory Law? As to working hours, in some factories they may work less than fourteen hours as the law indicates. In others they may work more, because 'there are necessary reasons.' This is especially true of the factories in the country parts. As 200 inspectors have been appointed, the authorities must by now know the actual situation pretty well."

Dr. Kuwata, a former member of the Upper House, with whom I frequently discussed the labour situation, declares the Factory Law to be "palpably imperfect and primitive." At the end of 1917 there were, according to official figures, 99,000 female factory operatives under fifteen years of age and 2,400 under twelve. Some 20,000 of these children were employed in silk factories. What protection have they?

Before pa.s.sing this page for the press I have shown it to a well-informed j.a.panese friend and he says that he has never seen any newspaper report of a prosecution under the Factory Law. Obviously a Factory Law under which no one is ever prosecuted is not operative.[153]

It is excellent that j.a.pan has sent a large permanent delegation to Switzerland to establish a system of liaison with the International Labour Office of the League of Nations. This company of young men will keep the j.a.panese Government well informed. There is undoubtedly in j.a.pan, under Western influence, a steady development of sensitiveness to working-cla.s.s conditions and a rapid growth of modern social ideas. But the Government and the Diet will not step out far in advance of general opinion, the most will naturally be made by the authorities and trade interests of bad factory conditions on the Continent of Europe and in some industries in the United States, and the majority of a public which has been carefully nurtured in the belief that a profitable industrialism is the great desideratum for j.a.pan will not be restive. Real factory reform is not to be expected until an enlightened view is taken by j.a.panese in general of the exploitation of girls for any purpose. It is not in commercial human nature, Eastern or Western, that factory directors and shareholders should forgo without a struggle the advantage of possessing cheaper and more subjected labour than their foreign rivals. Some influence may be exerted in the right direction by the fact that those who are profiting by cheap and docile labour may themselves be undersold before long by cheaper and still more docile labour in China.[154] And in 1922 j.a.pan is under an obligation, accepted at the Washington Labour Conference, to stop women working more than eleven hours a day and to abolish night work. Meantime the labour movement makes progress. It is significant that many of its leaders are under the influence of "direct action" ideas. They hope little from a Diet elected on a narrow franchise and supported by a strong Government machine backed by the Conservative farmer vote. Although, however, there does not seem to be as yet a junction between the labour movement and the unions of the tenant farmers, who have their own interests alone in view, the future may present unexpected developments. As I write, the labour movement is conducting a trial of strength with the great Mitsubishi and Kawasaki enterprises and is presenting a stronger front than it has yet done.

This Chapter would give an unfair impression of the relations of capital and labour in j.a.pan if it included no reference to the well-intentioned efforts made by several large employers to improve the conditions of working-cla.s.s life and labour. Sometimes they have followed the example of philanthropic firms in Great Britain and America. As often as not they have been inspired by old j.a.panese ideas of a master's responsibilities. Many leading industrials have believed and still believe that by the conservation and development of old ideas of paternalism and loyalty the trade-union stage of industrial development may be avoided. This conviction was expressed to me by, among others, Mr. Matsukata, of the famous Kawasaki concern, who has made generous contributions to "welfare" work. My own brief experience as an employer in j.a.pan made me acquainted with some canons in the relationship of employer and employed which have lost their authority in the West. Given wisdom on the part of masters, the prolonged bitterness which has marked the industrial development of the West need not be repeated in j.a.pan, but whether that wisdom will be displayed in time is doubtful. The j.a.panese commercial world has been commendably quick to learn in many directions in the West. It will be a serious reflection on the intelligence of the country if the lessons of the industrial acerbities of Europe and the United States should not be grasped. Meantime it is a duty which the foreign observer owes to j.a.pan to speak quite plainly of attempts as silly as they are useless[155] to obscure the lamentable condition of a large proportion of j.a.panese workers, to hide the immense profits which have been made by their employers and to pretend that factory laws have only to be placed on the statute book in order to be enforced. But if he be honest he must also recognise the handicap of specially costly equipment[156] and of unskilled labour and inexperience under which the j.a.panese business world is competing for the place in foreign trade to which it has a just claim. Such conditions do not in the least excuse inhumanity, but they help to explain it.

FOOTNOTES:

[144] It is a chastening exercise to read before proceeding with this Chapter an extract from Spencer Walpole's _History of England_, vol.

iii, p. 317, under the year 1832: "The manufacturing industries of the country were collected into a few centres. In one sense the persons employed had their reward: the manufacturers gave them wages. In another sense their change of occupation brought them nothing but evil. Forced to dwell in a crowded alley, occupying at night a house constructed in neglect of every known sanitary law, employed in the daytime in an unhealthy atmosphere and frequently on a dangerous occupation, with no education available for his children, with no reasonable recreation, with the sky shrouded by the smoke of an adjoining capital, with the face of nature hidden by a brick wall, neglected by an overworked clergyman, regarded as a mere machine by an avaricious employer, the factory operative turned to the public house, the prize ring or the c.o.c.kpit."

[145] See Appendix XL.

[146] Number of factory workers, a million and a half, of whom 800,000 are females. For statistics of women workers, see Appendix XLI.

[147] The Minister of Commerce has himself stated that the sericultural industry is rooted in the dexterity of the j.a.panese countrywoman.

[148] This section of the Chapter was written in 1921.

[149] In j.a.pan in 1918 there were, per 1,000, 505.2 men to 494.8 women.

[150] Of the workers under the age of fifteen in the 20,000 factories, 82 per cent. were girls. The statistics in this paragraph were issued by the Ministry of Commerce in 1917.

[151] For sketches of women and children (with a chain between their legs) harnessed to coal wagons in the pits, see _Parliamentary Papers_, vol. xv, 1842. "There is a factory system grown up in England the most horrible that imagination can conceive," wrote Sir William Napier to Lady Hester Stanhope two years after Queen Victoria's accession. "They are h.e.l.ls where hundreds of children are killed yearly in protracted torture." In Torrens's _Memoirs of the Queen's First Prime Minister_, one reads: "Melbourne had a Bill drawn which with some difficulty he persuaded the Cabinet to sanction, prohibiting the employment of children _under 9 in any except silk mills_."

[152] More than 200 books on Socialism were published in 1920.

[153] For a declaration by Dr. Kuwata concerning bad food and "defiance of hygienic rules," see Appendix XLII.

[154] See Appendix XLIII.

[155] See Appendix XLII.

[156] In a pre-War publication of the United States Department of Commerce it was stated that the cost of cotton mills per spindle is in England _32s._, in the United States _44s._, in Germany _52s._, and in j.a.pan _100s._

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARCHERY AT AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL. p. 158]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CULTIVATION OF THE HILLSIDE. p. 148]

[Ill.u.s.tration: RAILWAY STATION "BENTO" BOX (OPEN) AND POT OF TEA WITH CUP. p. 110 The _bento_ box provides rice, meat, fish, omelette and a.s.sorted pickles; also paper napkin and _hashi_ (chop-sticks) and (between them) a toothpick.]

FROM TOKYO TO THE NORTH BY THE WEST COAST

CHAPTER XX

"THE GARDEN WHERE VIRTUES ARE CULTIVATED"

(f.u.kUSHIMA AND YAMAGATA)

BOSWELL: If you should advise me to go to j.a.pan I believe I should.

JOHNSON: Why yes, Sir, I am serious.

In one of my journeys I went from Tokyo to the extreme north of j.a.pan, travelling up the west coast and down the east. f.u.kushima prefecture--in which is Shirakawa, famous for a horse fair which lasts a week--encourages the eating of barley, for on the northern half of the east coast of j.a.pan there is no warm current and the rice crop may be lost in a cold season. "Officials of the prefecture and county,"

someone said to me, "take barley themselves; enthusiastic _guncho_ take it gladly."

The prefectural station, by selecting the best varieties of rice for sowing, had effected a 10 per cent. improvement in yield. In each county an official "agricultural encourager" had been appointed. The lectures given at the experiment station were attended by 18,000 persons. The studious who listen to the lectures had formed an a.s.sociation that provided at the station a fine building where supper, bed, breakfast and lunch cost 30 sen. It contained a model of the Ise shrine with a motto in the handwriting of a well-known Tokyo agricultural professor, "Difficulties Polish You."

"Some villagers," said a local authority, "want to make the Buddhist temple the centre of the development of village life. In several places agricultural products are exhibited at Shinto shrines. Farmers offer them out of a kind of piety, but the products are afterwards criticised from a technical point of view. This is done on the initiative of the villagers encouraged by the prefecture."

Hereabouts the winter work of the people, in addition to basket, rope and mat making, was paper making and smoothing out the wrinkles of tobacco.[157] A considerable number of people had emigrated to South America. The princ.i.p.al need of the villages, it was stated, was money at less than the current rate of 20 per cent. In one place I found a factory built on the side of a daimyo's castle.

I was told of crops of _konnyaku_ which had made one man the second richest person in the prefecture and had therefore qualified him for membership in the House of Peers. (The House includes one member from each prefecture as the representative of the highest taxpayers of that prefecture.)

During my journeys I picked up many odds and ends of information by walking through the trains and having chats with country people. I was also helped by county and prefectural agricultural officials who, having learnt of my movements, were kind enough to join me in the train for an hour or so. One head of an agricultural school which was full up with students told me that there were already in f.u.kushima two prefectural and five county agricultural schools.

Our train, half freight with a locomotive at each end, went over the backbone of j.a.pan through the usual series of snow shelters and tunnels. Having surmounted the heights we slid down into Yamagata. I should properly write Yamagataken, which we cannot translate Yamagatashire, for a _ken_ (prefecture) is made up of counties. There are eleven counties in Yamagataken.

Almost any sort of dwelling looks tolerable in August, but many of the houses that first caught our attention must be lamentable shelters in winter. Some farmers, I learnt, were "in a very bad condition." We dropped from a silk and rice plateau and then to a region where the main crop was rice. The bare hills to be seen in our descent were an appalling spectacle when it was realised how close was their relation to the disastrous floods of the prefecture. A man in the train had lost 10,000 yen by floods, a large sum in rural j.a.pan. In two years the prefecture had spent in river-bank repairs nearly a million yen. A flood some years ago did damage to the amount of 20 million yen. The prefecture had a debt of 60 million yen, chiefly due to havoc wrought by its big river. A yearly sum was spent on afforestation in addition to what was laid out by the State and by private individuals. A forestry a.s.sociation was trying to raise half a million yen for tree planting. But the flooding of the plains was not the only water trouble of the Yamagatans. In one district they had a stream which contained solutions of compounds of sulphuric acid so strong that crops fail for three years on ground watered from it. In other parts of the prefecture, however, farmers had the advantage, enjoyed in many parts of j.a.pan, of being able to water from ammonia water springs.

Hereabouts I first noticed the device common to many districts of having on the roof of a cottage a water barrel, tub or cistern, ready to be emptied on the shingle roof when sparks fly from a burning dwelling. Sometimes the wooden water receptacles are wrapped round with straw.

In the prefectural city of Yamagata I heard of a primary school which had a farm and made a profit, also of four landowners who had engaged an agricultural expert for the instruction of their tenants. "A very certain crop" round about the city was grapes. Some 25,000 persons yearly visited the prefectural 12 _-cho_ experiment station, which within a year had distributed to farmers 7,600 cyanided fruit trees and 80 bushels of special seed rice.