Some Facts About Japa 



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thirty spindles. In deftness and delicacy 

 of touch Japanese operators have no ri- 

 vals, but the Japanese industry is handi- 

 capped as yet by the scarcity of skilled 

 labor. This disadvantage is, however, 

 counterbalanced by the longer working 

 hours of the Japanese mills, which work 

 twenty-three hours out of twenty-four 

 with two shifts of operators, and conse- 

 quently their production per spindle is 

 40 per cent greater than the production 

 at the Bombay mills and nearly double 

 the production at English mills. 



Another, and by far the most impor- 

 tant, factor is the low rate of wages. 

 In 1900 wages were 9 cents per diem 

 (American gold) for men and 5 cents 

 for women in Japan, while in the same 

 3'ear they ranged from $1.34 to $1.68 in 

 England and from 13 to 35 cents in 

 India. It will thus be seen that the 

 wages of the Japanese spinners are far 

 lower than those ruling in India. 

 Though it is a false notion that low 

 wages in themselves are sufficient to es- 

 tablish Japan's yarn trade, there is no 

 gainsaying the fact that the rate of 

 wages has much to do with the determi- 

 nation of the cost of production. The 

 scarcity of capital and the consequent 

 high rate of interest, which ranges ordi- 

 narily from 8 to 10 per cent, and some- 

 times even as high as 12 per cent, is a 

 drawback. But this is offset by the 

 longer working hours of the Japanese 

 mills and the consequent larger produc- 

 tion of yarn per spindle. Whether the 

 mills are run at night or not, the cotton- 

 spinning companies have to pay the 

 same rate of interest. 



RICE AND THE FOOD SUPPLY 



It is undeniable that Japan has al- 

 most reached the maximum in her pro- 

 duction of rice. Of late years, even 

 under the most favorable circumstances, 

 the Japanese crops have not sufficed to 

 feed the growing population without the 

 importation of foreign supplies. Every 

 inch of the arable land of the country 

 has been brought under cultivation by 



the labors of many centuries, and even 

 the mountains are often cultivated to 

 their highest summits, manure being 

 laboriously carried up on human shoul- 

 ders. Under these circumstances, there 

 is at present no prospect for any large 

 extension of cultivable soil, with the ex- 

 ception of Hokkaido, the northernmost 

 island of Japan, a great part of which still 

 remains untouched. However primi- 

 tive be his method of cultivation, the 

 Japanese farmer understands his work so 

 thoroughly that, by elaborate means of ir- 

 rigation and the skillful use of fertilizers, 

 lie has been able to obtain rich harvests 

 from the same land during fifteen or 

 twenty centuries. It will thus be in- 

 ferred that agrarian improvements in 

 the direction of more scientific processes 

 of intensive cultivation would hardly 

 afford much relief, especially in view of 

 the fact that the population of Japan is 

 increasing at the rate of 400,000 souls 

 per annum. It is quite evident that at 

 no remote time Japan will be compelled 

 to rely for her means of subsistence 

 upon foreign lands. 



Agriculture, however, is still the fun- 

 damental basis of Japan's industrial life. 

 To this industry the country owes its 

 ability to pay its way, and but for the 

 peasant farmer, who, by a more or less 

 cheerful acquiescence in the imposition 

 of a land tax, made it practicable for 

 the newly formed central government 

 to carry on the task of administration 

 on a Western model, it is difficult to 

 see where the resources could have been 

 found for the consummation of so vast 

 a change as that which has occurred 

 within the last thirty years. The Jap- 

 anese farmers toil hard throughout the 

 year, but their profits are small com- 

 pared with those derived from other 

 kinds of business. Farmers conse- 

 quently are constantly forsaking their 

 holdings for other lines of business. 

 The result is a net gain to the country 

 as a whole. Work is applied in direc- 

 tions which give a greater return to the 

 individual and to the country. 



