Cotton-spinning is a comparatively new industry in Japan, but is growing rapidly. Cotton is, of course, the principal material for the clothing of the common people, who cannot afford silk robes. But Japan, though raising a great deal of cotton, cannot supply the demand, and imports large quantities from India and America. It is only within a short time that cotton-spinning by machinery has become a Japanese industry; formerly all the yarn was spun by hand; but in 1907 there were 136 cotton-mills in Japan. Some are very small concerns; but in Osaka, Nagoya, and Tōkyō there are comparatively large and flourishing mills. Ordinary workmen receive from 12 to 20 sen a day; skilled laborers make from 30 to 40 sen; girls earn from 10 to 20 sen, and children only a few sen per day; but the stockholders receive dividends of from 10 to 20 per cent per annum.
Since Japan acquired Formosa from China, she has had added to her resources another very important and valuable product, in which she possesses practically a monopoly of the world's market and a supply supposed to be sufficient for the demands of the whole world for this entire century. It has been estimated, for instance, that the area of interior districts in which the camphor tree is found will reach over 1,500 miles. The camphor business of Japan in Formosa is in the hands of a British firm, to whom, as highest bidder, the government let out its monopoly for a fixed term of years.[1]
- ↑ See Davidson's "Island of Formosa."
