Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, April 11, 1909, Page 18

Page views left: 0

You have reached the hourly page view limit. Unlock higher limit to our entire archive!

Subscribers enjoy higher page view limit, downloads, and exclusive features.

Text content (automatically generated)

THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: APRII Stockholders WILDERNESS OF WHIRLING SPINDLES. AUDIENCE OF GIRLS AT FREE THEATER FOR MILL HANDS, BREAKING COTTON AT THE KANBGAFUCHI MILLS. (Cdpyright, 199, by Frank G. Carpenter.) ¢ OBE-—(Special Correspondence of The Bee)~If you want to see how wide awake the Japanese are, come with me and take a look at the Kanegafuchl cotton mill, which lies on the outakirts of Hiogo. ‘It is the biggest spinning estab- lishment of the empire, add it belongs to a company which has a capital of 7,000,000 ts and pald last year a dividend The company has alto- gether rineteen mills In operation and in course of construction It has already more than 200,000 spindles at work; and the four new mills, now building, will add to this 98,00 more. It Is putting up mills for weaving as well as for spinning; and when all are completed it will still have $500,000 worth of working capital to go on. The company began its work twenty yeurs ago by erecting a spinning mill at Toklo. It has now two there and is build- ing a third. It has silk mills at Kyoto, which are rapldly approaching completion, and it will soon have 16000 spindles opération there. to in wmcenijecis Japan's Blgg Cotton Mill, Of ail the establishments of this corporation th: one here at Hiogo Is largeést. It covers many acres and ploys 4,000 hands. Its works run day. and night, and they turn out cotton yarn by the thousands of bales annually. Much of the product Is consumed here in Japan, but \a great deal goes to the rapidly de- veloping market of China, where it com- petes with that from our country. Hlogo fs the native city for which Kobe is -the port. It has, all told, more than 300,000 people; and in going to the cotton mill, our Jinrikishas take us through sev- eral miles of Japanese stores, over the bridge which crosses the river and almost Into the country. We can see the great smokestack. It rises high above the low warehouses and spinning mills, and its dense volume f black smoke polsons the alr. The: smokestack Is made of iron, in- stead of brick, as in the United States. This Is that it may the better withstand thb earthquakes which occur here every few ddys, and which at times are so great “that they might send a tall brick stack to dhe ground. For the same reason the large Hille are almost all one story. They are bullt of brick and are so walled with glass that they are splendidly lighted 1.do not know the acreage, but T went through a wilderness of moving pulleys, hirling spindles, cotton opening machines and other works of various kinds, which togk more time than a Sabbath day's Jour- ney. ‘Single bulldings seemed to reach on and on till one could hardly see the end, and in all was the busy hum of machinery and the Japanese men, women and chil- dren working away 1 have &een many pf our great mills in the United States, but none In which the cotton s more rapidly and efficlently han- dled than here. I doubt it we have any in which the work is done with less labor. The finest of up-to-date machinery is em- ployed, and when it wears out It goes to the serap heap. In some rooms, covering an acre, no more than.two score men were at work, and one little girl was tending to every machine. In the spinning and reeling rooms thére were more, and In some I saw hundreds of girls and women at work. T Steam En, , Homemade, ‘1 asked whence the machinery came and Wwas told that some was from the United States, but that more came from England. Japan has not yet begun to manufacture cotton machinery, although it is experi- menting with work of all kinds. For in- the engines which run these big works were constructed at Tokio. One of them 1s of 1500 horsepower, and it is as fine as any engine of the kind anywhere. ~Connected with the establishment is an experimental weaving mill, which will soon be ‘Increased to 40 looms. As it is now, the ‘cotton comes into the mill In bales, being imported from China, Indla and the United States, and it goes put in smaller balea of cotton yarn, ready for weaving. In the near future much of it will go out in the shape of cotton cloth for the mar- kets, ot Japan, Corea, Manchurla and China. big the em- e During my visit 1 went through twelve great cotton warehouses which are packed full of bales, from the ground to the roof, and the manager tells me that at certhin times in the year he has as much as $3,000000 worth of raw cotton on hand, The greater part of the cotton used comes from Indla, although much is from the United States. Kobe, ‘which is one of the chief porty of the empire, lands about $0,00,000 worth of cotton every year; and of this, $20,00,00 from China and over §10,00,000 from the United States. Our cotton is the best; but the Indian product is cheaper, and the two are mixed in the making Of these yarns. The manager com- plainbd to nie about the bad packing of our American, bales, and showed me some of them side by side with bales from Bombay. The latter were beautifully put up and so wrapped that no ‘cotton could be lost. *Our bales were broken and torn and the lint ‘Wwas. falling out Syt With the Cotton Haunds, As I walked through the mills I asked a8 to wages and hours of work. There are two shifts, one during the day and the other at night. THe hours of actual work are ten, and there are rest hours at 9@ m, at noon and 3 p. m. The rest times copsume- about two hours, and with them the working day Is twelve hours long. This company does not work its hands on Sundays, as is common with many of the industries of Japan. It belleves in night work. Its manager tells me that almost all the cotton mills work both night, and that this custom fs benefit to the spinning industry. As it is now, the demand for cotton yarns Is so great that night work is a necessity, but in times of depression it is possible Lo stop the night work until the demand requires it again. By this double work the Japan mills producing twice ch, per capital and machinery, as mills of other countries where day work only is used This fact may be one of the reasons for the big - dividends which nearly all the companies are now paying I asked as to wages of the mill hands and was ‘told the are from twenty- two to sixty sefi a day. This means from eleven to thirty cents of our mohey, or from a little’ more than one to three cents for each working hour. At that they are higher than in some other mills, the general wage of cotton throughout this district being about twenty- one cents for women, thirty cents for men and six cents for children As 1 went thfough the mills I great many children at work and many of the child workers were under fourteen 1 had a photograph made of myself stand- ing beside some little almond-eyed tots who could havé been more than ten. According the government Treports, there are now three hundred and twenty- five thousand hands In the textile fac- torfes, of these almost two hundred and thousand are females. There are twenty-six thousand girls and two thousand boys who are under four- teen years of age. This fs not a large pro- portion of children and the number grows less from year to year. aoifis Girle’ Dormitories. . The Kanegafuchi company fs about the most advanced of all In Japan as to lts methods of handling its employes. It has tenement houses which it #@nts out at low rates, and also dormitories for men and dormitories for women. I visited one of the latter buildings. It was a two- storfed structure surrounding a beautiful garden. Its walls were of framework cov- ered with paper, with outer walls of pine wood. It had accommodations for 800 girls slecping in Japanese fashion on the floor, with several girls in each room. As the night shift was sleeping, I was not able to look at many of the rooms, but the few I saw were carpeted with the whitest of mats and warmed by hibachis or Japanese fire boxes. Outside this, they had prac tically no other furniture. The bedding consisted of futons, or thick-wadded com- forters, which were packed away In boards when not in use. The girls day and a great are as spinners saw a not to and ninety also cup- have neither bedsteads, tables nor chairs, and they sit and sleep Japanese fashion upon the floor. Two-Cent Meals. Frort here I went to one of the large dining rooms ,which the company has es- tablished for its employ Here several hundred men and boys were eating with chopstieks steaming rice, ‘vegetables and fish. They were enjoying the meal and were apparently satisfied. As 1 looked the manager told me that they furnished board at a little less than cost price, and that the men were given three meals for 6% cents per day. This s not quite 2 cents per méal, névertheless they work all day and grow fat. The manager told me that they lose about 2 cents per day on each man in thus feeding them, and when I asked whether the food was uniformly good the reply came quickly: “Of course it is, and we have to keep It so or we should soon hear from the men."” The company has also a store where it furnishes its employes such merchan- dige they want at cost price. This store handles all sorts of Japanese goods, though' the men may buy else where if they will, It has food, clothing, notions and everything that appeals to the taste of such people. as Well Treated Workmen. This company 1s anxlous to keep its men In a good humor It trains its employes for its work and does all it can to make them loyal to the establishment. It takes great pride In the fact that it has some of the best workmen in Japan, and leaves no stone unturned to Increase its reputation in this regard. Among the special insti- tutions at the mills is a theater with a large stage and a full equipment of scenery. The house’ will seat, I should say, about 1,00, the audlence sitting on white mats on the floor. There are gallerles with similar seats, and the floor rises under them, so that the people can be uniformly well. The company brings actors and lec- turers here at its own expense, in order to amuse its employes. There is also a two-storled school bulld- ing in the works, a large part of which is glven up to a kindergarten for the little children’ whose mothers are employed in the mills, and there is a technical school, where picked boys are taught the sclentific theory of cotton spinning and practical mill work under competent teachers. This is with the object of supplying intelligent overseers and foremen for the future. Another institution which all the Kane- gafuchi mills have is a first-class hos- pital with a corps of pnysiclans and nurses, who attend the sick without charge. The B EOME OF THE CHILD WORKERS. hospitals have spring beds and are thor- oughly ventilated and lighted. The one here had a laboratory connected with It for the study of microbes and the investi- gation of speclal diseases. The company proposes to build a sanitarium at Taka- sago, one of the seaside resorts, for its convalescent operatives; it has appropriated $15,000 for the building, and this is now under construction. In addition to the above, these mllls have a pension fund which now amounts to $142,000, a fund for the welfare of the em- ployes of more than $100,000 and a sanitary fund of $25.00. The workmen have also socleties organized under a company for mutual rellef and for the promotion of thc general interest of .the members. One of these socleties has a large income from its membe subgidy from the com has a capital of $100,000. 1 am including a y, and another told that all the cotton mills of Japan are doing well. In addition to the establishmgent which I have described there are many others which work day and night and which propose to increase their vacity and to extend thelr trade through sut the far east. They look upon China as their especial market and say that they have the advantage of all other peo- ples in understanding the written charac- ters used in the languages of the two coun- tries, and also in their general knowledge of the Chinese people and thelr customs. There are now Japanese going over C investigating the kets for cottc there are steamship lines which connect Kobe with the big cities on almost ¢ Chinese rivers. The demand for cotton goods at home is steadily Increasing, and there a great effort will be made the trade in Corea and Manchuria. At present there are 118 mills in the try devoted to spinning have more than 1,500,000 ca- ma to push coun- th They alone; and spindles. Helena Modjeska’s Wonderful Career on the Stage LENA MODJESKA, actress and patriot, had a larger acquaint- ance In Omaha than almost any other woman on the state In her time. This was parlly because early In her career on the Amer- stage she made here some warm friends, and partly because her son, Ralp Modjeskl, practically began here the engi- neering work which was to lead him to a position as eminent In his profession his mother occupied In hers, Thus it came about that Mme. Modjeska always stayed as long In Omaha as her engagement would permit, and while her son was llving here for two years, his mother came at times when she was not actively engaged in dramatic work. Modjeska was not a young woman when she first came here, and nelther was she so old in this year 1%% as many would have thought. She was born n 184, In Cracow, Poland. At that date this portion of her country had not yet been absorbed by Russian, and Mme. Modjeska, born a free Pole, remained one in spirit all her life. She first saw Omaha in 1878, the year of her first trip across this country as an ac- tress, and’\ was upon the occasion of this first visit that she and the late Edward Rosewater became acquainted and formed a friendship which lasted until his death. Mme. Modjeska was an actress of renown in Europe before she came to America. It had been an amateur theatrical experiment which first directed her toward the stage. In the year 1861 she was visiting in Bochina, in Austrian Poland, and with some friends essayed a little play in behalf of charity. She herself took the stellar role. It was a successful venture, eminently so, and the little company decided to turn professional. In three years Mme. Modjeska was engaged to play the leads for a new theater In Cracow, and it was now that the European world began to know her. For e tinued and her fean as n years the Polish woman con- to play in Warsaw and Cracow fame spread all over the conti- nent. Meantime her husband, the brilllant M. Chlapowskl, had become persona non grata to the Russian government through taking part in the fll-starred revolution of 1583 and was forced to suspend labor as & newspaper man His wife, torn by sor- row for her native land and worry at the enmity of the government toward her hus- band, at length broke down. Just at this time a lttle band of enthu- slastic, restless souls conceived the idea of finding a refuge In the United States. It was planned along the line of Brook Farm of New England memory, although none of the Poles had heard of this first ex- periment in communism. Two men were sent to the United States, one of them being he who later has risen to eminence as the author of “Fire and Sword” and “Quo Vadis,' Slencklewica and his com- panion pitched on a spot in southern Cal- ifornia known as Anahelm. It s near Los Angeles. Then they returned to Po- land. Some of the enthusiasm had de- parted, tut Mme. Modjeska, her son Ralph and Chlapowski, her second husband, we among those faithful to the original plan. The party salled to New York, visited the centennial exposition in Philadelphia, and then salled for California, going by way of Panama. The colony time. proved a failure in a brief Its career was not even as long as that of Brook Farm. It was now that Mme. Modjeska determined to return to the stage. For slx months she applied her- HELEN self to end of ficulty, ter in San reur” scored the study that time secured, hearing at the ¥ was the as of English, and at fter some California jenne the aif- thea- Lecouv- vehicle and Mme. Modjeska instantancous and complete a success as she had on first appearances in Warsaw and Cracow 8he was immedlately engaged for an ap pearance In New York and at the Fifth Avenue theater In December, 1877, she re- peated her California victory. After that her career was one of unbroken successes, She made twenty starring tours across ancisco MODIESKA (From an autographed portrait presented tv Edward Rosewater ln 1900.) the courcry in the of which she played fifteen Shakespearian roles—Juliet, Rosamond, Viola, Beatrice, Portia, Imogen, Ophella, Julla, Desdemor Queen Catherine, Hermione, Isabel Lady Macbeth. It Is of course as th named that is best not her favorite part to play Mary Stuart | One of her children Queen of Scots. It is asserted that Modjeska was the first who played Ibsen in America. Certaln it is at any rate that she put on “The Doll's House" under the name of *Thora” in It met with a cool reception. With “Heimath,” fagda, better luck in her for some Illustrious fessionally course , Lady Constance, and last known, but it was Best of all she like the “Schiller drama she named for the given as * and kept it vears, as Mme. Modjeska was pro- . she will be longest remembered by those Who knew her best for character in priv life. A n spring of energy and inspiratic fessional way to her stage, she was by and other friends beloved as few men or women In any age for her kindliness and thoughtfulness Her son, Ralph Modjesk! (his name with the masculine “I") was sent to study at the Bcole Chausses. He graduated his class and soon came to practice engineering. work, begun in Omaha, has served to place him in the very front rank of etvil gineers who d themselves designing. His work in through 1885 and 1886. It the widening of the Union Assistant engineer of the Union at that time, he rose rapidly He became consulting engineer nols Central and has since others the g Willan Oregon, which will citic into Portland, bridge at Louisville come to him recently One the international comni build the bridge over Quebec. The other consulting engineer to the had ertory her noble ver-failing in a pro- issoclates on the these ends to Paris Ponts et head of back to America His profeseional des at the en- bridge lasted do with bridge. Pacific thereafter of the 1L designed among Thebes, Til., the the Columbia in the North Pa- @ great 1sipn Two hon 't the appolntment vote to Omaha had to Pacific cat bridge at bridge over take nd Ky m Susp rs have rank of to re highest is his as a member ission of three the St is his for the Lawrence at selection as new structure replace the Willlamsburg bridge New York. years across East river at During Modjeskl street near his two in Omaha esidence o nty-third Mr ed a Burt North Tw became a warm friend friend of Mme time that whose wife ha Modjeska her her debut Adrienne Lecouvreur. Mr. and Mrs Jeski and Mme. Modjeska have been quent guests of the Chases in Omaha and the always sta 1 at the Chase home when her company played here. Mr. and Mrs. Chase named oneé of their daugh- ters after the Polish woman. woman de in Mod- fre- actress make almost 1,000,000 bales of cotton yarn annually; and have a profit om of $9,000,00 or $10,000000. 1 before me figures showing some of the divide paid. In 195 every cotton mill in Japan pald from 10 to 40 per cent, and In 1906 there were ten companies which paid all the v to 46 per cent. In 1907 there were which pald 50 per cent; and the T Grand Yarn company has pald as 0 per cent. Nearly all thes are adding to their surpluses charging off good amounts to the der tion of thelr bulldings and machine: thers have Ay from 16 two kio high as companies and are ecia- Cotton Weaving. 8o far the Japanese have not done a great deal in weaving cotton, but they are now making enough sheeting every year to carpet a road as wide as Pennsylvania avenue, in Washington, for a distance of 60,000 miles. Buch a carpet would reach twice around the world at the equator and leave more than enough over to cover a similar pathway through its center. There are now a number of large mills with something like 10,000 looms. They grew rapidly during the war with Russia, for the army needed quantities of goods, and the prices rose. The cost of blankets went up 100 per cent, and some of the mills were kept busy making kahki. Of what the war required it is estimated that Japan supplied 0 per cent and only fmported 80 per cent. In addition to the work factorles, an enormous amount was done In the houses on hand looms. There are now almost 1,000,000 homes In which weayv- ing is carried on, and there are hundreds of thousands of people who work these The number was more than 1,000,000 ten years ago, but it is gradually decreasing and more and more of the work is being done in the factories. It is this houseweayv- ing Industry which consumes a great part of the cotton yarn manufactured here, and it is on the hand looms that most of that which Is exported to China and Korea is woven. Many small mills are springing up, some worked by steam and others by water power and electricit, The cen of the weaving industry is about Osaka, which is also the center of the spinning industr, That city has more than 20,000 houses in which weaving is done. It has scores of large factories the smoke from thelr stacks makes the town seem more like Pittsburg than any In Japan. Osaka Is now big as Philadelphia, and it has grown greatly within the past few year: of the weaving nnese Matting. This region is th industry. There are many Osaka bay and here in millions of mats for millions of mats for The Japanese do not center of the matting factories about make consumption Kobe which home hame consumption. use matting like that the United States. The most common carpet here is made up of white straw woven into mats an inch thick, a vard wide and two vards long. These mats are the unit of surface measurement for exported to almost everything. The rooms of the houses are rectangular and their sizes ars estimated at the number of mats it takes to cover them. Wkhen a man orders a house bullt he directs that it be one of so many mats, and the cost of construction is based upon that estimate. These mats are bound with black cloth, and, as they fit closely, the floor is with number of these white rectangles rounded by black. Japan uses over 14,000.- 000 such mats every year, and also 3,000,000 or 4,000,000 of ordinary matting of the same shape. The value of the whole is several million dollars As to the matting for export, the manu- of that began than twenty years ago, and it now brings in something like $,000,000 a year. Almost the whole of this export to the United States, cur purchases of Japanese matting annually amounting to something ltke ),000,000 yards, The most of this is cheap and coarse, but other varieties are as fine Panama hat. They are now making new with raised figures. I have just ordered a roil sent home, which looks like brocaded silk woven of straw. This matting s made which grows about here. It has no knots and Is much llke rice, although its has no value. It is planted and cultivated in the same way, and Is well dried and bleached before it is sold. The matting dyed with analine colers. It is woven like cloth, but all the pleces have to be put in by hand. The work is tedious and of the finer varieties two men and an assistant can make not more than three rolls per month, The Japanese are now weaving beautl- ful straw rugs in flowers and other pat- terns, and these are exceedingly cheap. I have bought some about six by ten feet in size at 60 or 60 cents each and the high- est price I have pald for any matting ls less than 20 cents gold per yard. P i Native Cotton: The most beautiful cottons made here are intended for native consumption. They are not much more than a foot wide and are artistically printed in designs far different from the loud figures used on the goods intended for the United States markets. The cotton crepe for home use is beautiful and it would have a big sale in the United s for curtains If it sent there, The Japanese use it for their every-day summer kimonos. Another iInteresting manufacture of cot- ton is that which the native people employ here for toweling. have gay figures printed In white and blue Every firm has its own design and not a few of the natly hotels give away towels of this kind to thelr guests. Within the last few years quite a has sprung up among the foreign ladies visiting Japan to make col- lections of these towels, and I know many who buy pleces of them for use as fancy tablecloths and napkins, FRANK G covered pleces facture less is as a patterns out of a reed seed were cra CARPENTER. Quaint Features of Life hat Was Going Some.” TTIRED 'in underclothing, two pairs of trousers, a heavy out- side-flannel shirt, stockings and rubber boots, Brvin Leonard was working about a revolving shaft in his Farmington saw mill, near Westfield, Pa Suddenly he was picked up by the belting, whirled around the shaft many times and hurled many feet. He was nude save for a little strip of underclothing around wrist and one ankle. Companions who lifeless body his eyes and hear him say “Gee whiz! but that was His hips were dislocated numerous bruises, but with these tions he is as good as ever. The tween the top of the shafting and the which he crowded through, than twelve inches high one ran to pick amazed to see his pen 1p were him going and he me. recelved excep be- beam, is not space was more Wife May Nog at H It may be very unpleasant for to listen to the nagging his wife. She may of things, but as long as she confines her remarks to the four walls of thel the husband cannot sue for a divorce, is th at of Judge Hacker of the circult court of Bartholomew county Indiana. He was called on to decide a murrer in the Wild- man, to the me. a husband remarks made all by ac him. of rts home That e opinion, least, divorce case of Aaron and he sustained the complaint Wildman he hac manne ment demurrer declared in his int t been treated in a cruel and inhuman Then he specificd that th consisted in hls making m remarks accusing him of unf fulness, wishing him bad luck all that t thing. He 1 ever struck It the been made that they Wildman to him, aith and did no him o wit made o wife in public, Judg might be construed to st ered from th marks Hacke »w that had suf reatment, Obliged the “Corpse. rested .on a truck ¢ n one day City Jou An em Atchisol relates \ the week atfc is mischief one employes in gage room crawled Into the coffin box drew the lid down. No sooner was he cealed than & young colored man jaunty swagger and tuneful whistle along and wishing to rest settled comfort ably on the casket. He fell asleep and was awakened by a distressing moan. was repeated, and then with a came ‘The moan somebody sald: “Oh-0-0! The nergo Please get off dead body granted the request at once With a blood-curdling yell he leaped into the alr and sped away. He attempted to cross the bridge, but Cy Smith, fearing that In his frenzy he would leap into the watery depth below, blocked the Unable to cross the river, the colored man sprinted to the rallroad yards, and when last seen was passing the coal mine and still going my way evelt's Macaulayan Memory, in the White House filcs enator Lodge, relates Collfe had been dining at the White , and the letter refers to the talk of the night before It begins “You are so deplorably exact that Hiero after simply about dates when said Alexander 1 and wondered how blunder to king the & two you was a cent climbed to make Alexandor up,/1 find my exeus: Hieros. Hiero 1 relgned was his date I had in my head 6, not very far A long reign, and lived to Ty down I came such a as put him before atter ere were It Hiero 11 away was b et but he re ne introduced Edward Clarke to the president ), said Roosevelt when he heard the name, “you wrote a m proth In the onograph on studled country.” the notary warbler. You Kankakee River him Electrical Effects in Water, Alaska- iced as f these the ¢ 5. which exposition ctacle f the ex W gul this them It frag The heavy arranzed that tanes to the center electrical installations at the exposition rmit trial fllu held proved that central feature stitute a x are far adva wations. O of st beautiful & The feot position thr ek extend the rounds . [ cen ons of water a ous v broken » ts by submerged electri submerged 1 lum ung ver 15 lons of rainbow ts. by hts arc protected heads of they shade fr of the stream t edy, \ tr serles of takes on the The the ston, over the rd course, it s of the lights. yser Basin, where of the Yellow- purting jets of water intervals of a minute. The basin, like the cascades, {s flluminated by submerged lights which make of the Jets of water thousands of iridescent sprays. lams in it varied 1 Faithtul is reproduced 14 feet In the alr @

Other pages from this issue: