In this factory, as in others, there was a system of tallies, showing to all the workers the ranking of the girls for payment.  The standard wage seemed to be 20 sen a day, and the average to which it was brought by good work 30 sen.  There were thirty or more girls who had deductions from their 20 sen.  Apprentices were shown as working at a loss.  Once or twice a month a story-teller came to entertain the girls and every fortnight a teacher gave them instruction.  When I asked if a priest came I was told that “in this district the families are not so religious, so the girls are not so pious.”  Two doctors visited the factory, one of them daily.  Counting all causes, 5 per cent. of the girls returned home.  The owner of the factory, a man in good physical training and with an alert and kindly face, said the industry succeeded in his district because the employers “exerted themselves” and the girls “worked with the devotion of soldiers.”  I thought of a motto written by the Empress, which I had seen at Ueda, “It is my wish that the girls whose service it is to spin silk shall be always diligent.”  Behind the desk of this factory proprietor hung the motto, “Cultivate virtues and be righteous.”

The fourth factory I saw seemed to be staffed entirely with apprentices who were turned over to other factories in their third year.  The girls appeared to have to sleep three girls to two mats.  In the event of fire the dormitory would be a death-trap.  I was told that there was an entertainment or a “lecture on character” once a week.  The motto on the walls of this factory was, “Learning right ways means loving mankind.”

I went over the factory which belonged to the largest concern in Japan and had 10,000 hands.  The girls were looked after in well-ventilated dormitories by ten old women who slept during the day and kept watch at night.  There was a fire escape.  All sorts of things were on sale at wholesale prices at the factory shop, but for any good reason an exit ticket was given to town.  The dining-room was excellent.  There was a hospital in this factory and the nurse in the dispensary summarised at my request the ailments of the 35 girls who were lying down comfortably:  stomachic, 12; colds, 7; fingers hurt by the hot water of the cocoon-soaking basins, 5; female affections, 4; nervous, 2; eyes, rheumatism, nose, lungs and kidneys, 1 each.  The average wages in this factory worked out at 60 yen for 9 months.  The hour of beginning work was 4:30 at the earliest.  The factory stopped at sunset, the latest hour being 6:30.  I was assured that of the girls who did not get married 70 per cent. renewed their contracts.  A large enclosed open space was available in which the girls might stroll before going to bed.  The motto of the establishment was, “I hear the voice of spring under the shadow of the trees.”  In reference to the new factory legislation the manager said that the hours of labour were so long that it would be some time before 10 hours a day would be initiated.[143] This factory and its branches were started thirty years ago by a man who was originally a factory worker.  Although now very rich he had “always refused to be photographed and had not availed himself of an opportunity of entering the House of Peers.”