n and more co-operative societies. There had been a
continual rise in the world's demand for silk and there was no need to
fear "artificial silk." "People who buy it often come to appreciate
natural silk." And I read in an official publication that "the climate
of Japan is suitable for the cultivation of mulberry trees from
south-west Formosa to Hokkaido in the north."

FOOTNOTES:

[139] For statistics of sericulture, see Appendix XXXIX.

[140] She is examined microscopically in order to make sure that she
was not affected by infectious disease.

CHAPTER XVIII

"GIRL COLLECTORS" AND FACTORIES

(NAGANO AND YAMANASHI)

At your return show the truth.--FROISSART

I visited factories in more than one prefecture. At the first
factory--it employed about 1,000 girls and 200 men--work began at 4.30
a.m., breakfast was at 5 and the next meal at 10.30. The stoppages for
eating were for a few minutes only. A cake was handed to each girl at
her machine at 3. Suppertime came after work was finished at 7.[141]
No money was paid the first year. The second year the wages might be 3
or 4 yen a month. The statement was made that at the end of her five
years' term a girl might have 300 yen, but that this sum was not
within the reach of all.[142] The girls were driven at top speed by a
flag system in which one bay competed with another and was paid
according to its earnings. Owing to the heat the flushed girls
probably looked better in health than they really were. They were fat
in the face, but this could not be regarded as an indication of their
general well-being. It was admitted that some girls left through
illness. Employees returned to their homes for January and February,
when the factory was closed down; there was also three days' holiday
in June. In the dormitory I noticed that each girl had the space of
one mat only (6 ft. by 3 ft.). Twenty-two girls slept in each
dormitory. The men connected with this factory were low-looking and
shifty-eyed.

An agricultural expert who was well acquainted with the conditions of
silk manufacture and of the district and was in a disinterested
position told me after my visit to this factory how the foremen
scoured the country for girl labour during January and February. The
success of the _kemban_ or girl collector was due to the poverty of
the people, who were glad "to be relieved of the cost of a daughter's
food." Occasionally the _kemban_ had sub-agents. The mill proprietors