The Oregon daily journal., September 06, 1908, Page 40, Image 40

THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 6. 1903
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I ' ; ? I " . h - - ' :---JLd?&W,t l --- -m I. mil -- - - - --- " .JT
1 heir Increasing bhare P;
in JDniargmg me
Industries
; F ITTLE girls little almcnd-eyed, ,
. y ,r,;,f' dressed in old, soiled kimonos '
oh? roa-j, busily .'swaying to Vr
fro, passing baskets one to the other.
! Little girls v;ho never tatk while they
1 work, who labor . from early morning
; j until late at night, filling the. Hold of a great
Y ocean liner with coal. Little creatures; alas!
- not ihe living ideals of Japan " flower gar-
' den of girls" we see in pictures but the
' real girl-workers of Japan.' ',.,. ,
This is the sight you would see every
, day during the entire year at the port of
Nagasaki, where women and children en
: gage. in coal-heaving. You may judge how
fast they work when the average labor of a
Jcrew of, say, thirty girls is ihe loading of
' i boo tons a day. '' . , t t
Little girls! Coal-heaving! You seem
surprised. But this is only one' industry in
which the women of the Flowery Kingdom
take a leading part.
,' Oh, yes, in our idealizing of the Japs
: we have overlooked an important but pro
" sak, even sordid, factor in their national &
economy the labor of their women.' And
it is the labor of the women that iscarrying
Japan along, with the weight of a war
debt, to an era of prosperity.
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"M
OST of the goods exported from
this country are . made by Jap
anese .women," recently declared .
Manager Toyowaka, of the Mit
: sui i?ishi Bank, of Japan.
"The men of this country are going in for
'J the professions, ,for more .complicated labors.
?.. They are studying electrical engineering, Bhip
;l building; they are becoming chemists, doctoM,
i'.; dentists, mathematicians. They are going into
: . the " iron industry, and . leaking it a Bcientific
$' -i study. Engineering engages their attention.
r0
'The men of our country are no longer sat-
' isfied to dump coal and dig in the mines. It is
v - their duty to take' up the higher lines of work.
i Today you will find our young men studying in
the colleges of the TJnitcd' States, England, Ger
many and France. You will find them working
v in the shipyards of the United States. You
' will find tht m in the steel mills.' They are pre
paring to make Japan great fit to take her
tplace commercially with other nations.
' . "So the labor of the country on whom does
"irfallf Tin? women. The women today make
most of the goods export-wi. Since the war with
Russia they have put their shoulders to the
wheel. , They are doing splendid work.
" . "JFor centuries the . jmen of Japan have
labored. In the tea, silk wearing and light in-"
dustries female labor has ben almost wholly re
Quired. But they are now taking up more
difficult lines-of labor hard labor, if you please.
4 "There has never .been a stronger and
weaker aex in Japan. Woik always has ben re
corded as an inalienable right of our women
They do it gladly. They bear ft well"
Tb words cf the. noted financier bring to
the attention of the world the part of the women
rf Japan in re-establishing the prperity of the
kingdom. Like busy bees, the women of the
country are going to work, making prtj)crity's
honey in a country which has suffered greatly
from the depletions of a terrible war.
Surpose we take a trip to the new Japan
and observe the little ladies, nojt as we view them
in picture books, but as th.y are at work!
On hot, sizzling days in summer and blii
rsr 'r diiys in winter tb women coal-beavera 1
1 f Nvri'ki are at work. Early each morning
' " w'nwn and girUM Jvopakura. Stikimi er.
l ulu ! travel lj ryd or boat to XagassLL Coal
is
I Mem mr"
brought from Takibhima- Shimmoski and
Takasaka on lighters. These are tawed along
side the ships, and the day's labor begins. Now,
fair lady, you who go to bed o' nighU with hands
and face -vered.with cold en am, bow would
you like to'stand all day parsing baskets holding
fifteen pound of coal over your bead for a ray
of 20 nt I ' Xot at all f
Or would rou nrefer iV.K nn Tw fy.rl
that line the coast of the nation f - Here is an-
$3,218,430, ' and tabid
salt, $4,713,41. The to-
f I ValiiA f na v!n
products in 1900 kmouiited to $16562,705, and
the takes of fish to $23,418,575. v ,
Along the coast you will see thousands of
men and women mostly women engaged in
fishing. From March to May they engage in catch
ing herring. In one year tbe value of these fish
draw the nets. Along the coast at low tide, with
their children,' you can see them scraping the
sand and digging for crabs and edible sea weeds.
In the marshes and bars you will seo them work
ing,' too. You may grasp an idea of the extent
of the industry when the number of fishing boats
in use number 420,000.
But it is not in the coaling and fishing in
dustries that the women hare made the most
notable advancement in rthe work of their country.-.
Bather have they made th&jmost astonish
ing invasion in the field of manufacture, in the
mills and factories, at the looms, and in the mak
ing of small articles of merchandise. -
Since the war Japan has exhibited remark
able progress in manufacture. With the wheat -fields
of Manchuria at her disposal, and the agri
cultural facilities of Korea to draw upon, doubtr
less she has determined to make of her own
country a manufacturing center in. the world's
market, .
You are in Japan, and silk mills are going .
up before your, eyes ; umbrella factories ; turn
out rain-protectora for Europe; ;you observe '
them engaging - in the manufacture of soaps,
matches, leather goods, clocks, cotton materials
end furniture,- An era of industry has -brgun. .
But while you will find the men, of ten un
der the direction of foreign engineers and archi
tects, putting-tip buildings, you jrill find the
women doing the work in the newly erected fac
tories, putting together, dainty bit of bnc-a
Sans and Cherry Blossoms must mean to tho
country, you must remember that Japan manu-i
' f actures goods not only for her own use, but for ,
the world. And the worhi is taking her .stuffs,'
In 1890 the exports of cottqn yarns, towels, flan !
nels, silk handkerchiefs and crepes amounted, in 1
value to $12,500,000, an increase of 50 per cent', j
over the export of 1885. - Silk, cotton and textile "
goods manufactured in 1901 amounted in value
to $76,797,959. ...... !
Cotton spinning milla numbered seventy-six
in 1903. There were employed in those 57,168 .
women, against 13,160 mci. ...... I
An important and profitable industry mo-1
nopolized by the women is the manufacture of.
umbrellas. Enter a factory. Rows upon rows'
of women; dressed in modest kimonos, with'
sleeves rolled up", put together the wire ribs,
cover them with silk, often embroidering the
covers with the delicate imageries for which
Japan is noted: The export of umbrellas has
. increased to -$691,237 from practically nothing ,
i in 1885. ' , '
Visit the match factories, and you will find
1 women dipping-matches and enabling the c6un-
try to export nearly $5,000,000 worth within one
year. ' ' . ' . i
Matting is shipped to liurope.and America,1
bringing into the country more than $2000,000. !-
Plaited straw, made by the women;-brings
an equal amount of money. And leather goods, '
including poiiketbooks, purses 'and satchels, ;
i turned out by the dainty hands of women, in-
crease the country's inoomo by more than a half i
'million. . . v ' , ' 1
" " In the rice districts of Nippon'you will often j
find women plowing knee ecp in water-covered
land. The rice farm is cut up into patches and
inundated. Bice thrives only whenthe field is ,
covered with ix inches or more of water. Diffi- 1
cult work this, but when the soldiers were fight-' ,
ing the wives and daughters gladly went to the ! '
(fields. -They faced the alternative of working-cr
starving. ' . . i'
For years they tjve labored in the tea fields ,
and tea houses. And the income exceeding , .
$3,000,000 from this industry is largely" credita- ',
ble to the women.- . j .
So in all the important industries the -worn-.
en of Japan are doing astonishing work and
V
thon ervmo
Not only in the factories, mills and fieidsj
but in the schools, in hospitals, in tbj realm of 1
art. During the Russo-Japanese War ' 10,000 1
women were ready to .volunteer for service. - To-, '
day they teach in the school and nurse in the
hospitals. They dominate - the stage, where
Japanese art ii especially influenced by foreign
nations. . '. - - - - '.; i
The theater was founded in the twelfth cen
tury in Japan by' women. Led by tbe Priestess
Okoumi, troupes of women appeared and took
J a 1 a fArt WW1 C 1 ' 1
; j , . . , , : " uauuniea va near it rfvw,wsj, oaraioes. DO-
2137. f K?J:Z2teL r 1'to,ni, cod, mackerel. lobster..re among
.r 1 . j - - inj u?urift iuru OIJ9
of the mt important and profitable industries
in the country; the product of dried rh in i:03
amounted ia value' to $4,Vj,9Q; in h oil to
tbe ib caucht In great Quantities, The sardine
brirrs Japan about $3,700,000 annually, and tbe
sbonito $2j000)00. ;
, Out in boats' on tbe teething waters women t
brae, furniture, weaving carpet, spinning silk part in the mythological drama of Nippon.
and designing toys. . . or same reason this wa not favored, and a
The imitative faculty of the wily Jap is well royal decree a half century later placed ihe baa
known. In Nippon yon will observe the results on women appearing on the; stage. Then the
of imitation. You will' see them making fur- men took possession -of the boards. .
niture after mission styles, using German models Several ; centuries latex, however, women
for toys, and turning oat carpets equaling in again t&ok tsp roles, never sppearing, however,
quality those of tbe mill of Kensington. - with the men. But with the sudden awakening of
And most of - this work is' being done by' Japan a change rcme, and in 4300 Sad Yacco, m
women. ', ' ' ' beautiful Japanes actre, went to Paris and ap
To appreciate what the labor of tbe fair pes red in a play with men. ' - . .