HAPPY PEOPLE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 714, 14 December 1933, Page 7

HAPPY PEOPLE

I * j CONDITIONS IN JAPAN ! o . j WORKER BATTLING FOR COMMERCIAL EXPANSION. j • j EFFICIENCY OF MANAGEMENT. ; London, November 8. The unprejudiced observer is forced to admit that the Japanese worker is as healthy, happy, clean :and self-re-specting.as any elsewhere, declares the Round Table Empire review quarterly. The rank and file of Japanese regard .commercial expansion as a hattle for a national cause. There is a feeling that revenge is now being taken for the jWlest's ancient conquest of the East, which is turning our mechanieal weapons against us. Nevertheless, the volume of Japanese exports is much exaggerated. Probably there was a small increase in 1932-33, but it was mainly diverted from China to markets not previously attacked. Allegations of dumping are baseless, because depreciation of currency had actually aceompanied the fall of the internal price level, so that exporters are able to sell at lower prices while still showing' a profit. Similarly, suhsidies are small, and none worth mentioning has been granted to the textile industry. Simplicity and Happiness. It is -equally difficult to prove that workers are sweated. They have a simple standard, requiring few material possessions. Their traditional mode of life enables them to combine simplicity with happiness, unlike the W-esterner, wh'o is always crying for fresh possessions. The chief advantages in Japan are efficiency of management and labour, comhined with depreciation of the "yen. Britain's denunciation of commercial agreements, following the "Lytton report, and the proposed arms embargo on Japan," caused the general belief that Britain was leadin-g Western attempt's to thwart Japanese political, cultural and economic aspiratiors. Wool Supplies. The average Japanese believes that Japan is the vietim of a policy of "encirclement' 'by hostile Powers, as Germany believed before the war. On the other hand, the W'est rightly complains of market disorganisation following re-orientation of Japanese exports. Tlie Japanese Government realises the gravity of the situation, and will probably agree to voluntary restriction of exports and administrative measures to raise prices. Nevertheless, if pressed too hard, Japan may seek alternative sources of supply, for instance, of wool. If Japan imagined the British Empire to he her foe, and this led to closer ' relations with foreign countries, it would render naval disarmament inr possiblble.