LABOURERS [LXXVI].  When hired labour is required on farms it is supplied either by relatives and neighbours or by the surplus labour of strangers who are small farmers or members of a small farmer’s family.  According to the Department of Agriculture:  “Ordinary fixed employees are upon an equal social footing.  Apprentice labourers are very numerous.  No working class holds a special social position as such.  This is the greatest point of difference between the Japanese agricultural labour situation and that of Europe.”  The number of labourers in October 1920 was: 

|    Day    | Seasonal| All the
|           |         |year round|   Total
---------------------------|-----------|---------|----------

|---------
Labourers living  { male   |   119,676 |  52,007 |  49,110  |   220,793
solely on wages,  { female |    80,870 |  42,193 |  23,862  |   146,925
agricultural and  {        |           |         |          |
other             {        |   200,546 |  94,200 |  72,972  |   367,718
|           |         |          |
|           |         |          |
Labourers who are { male   |   949,266 | 407,596 | 188,369  | 1,546,231
labourers part    { female |   646,720 | 405,131 | 116,152  | 1,168,003
of their time              |           |         |          |
| 1,595,986 | 813,727 | 304,521  | 2,714,234
|           |         |          |
Total .  .  .  .  .  | 1,796,532 | 907,927 | 377,493  | 3,081,952
------------------------------------------------------------

-----------

In addition to the total of 3,081,952 “there are 32,973 agricultural labourers who are boys and girls under 14.”

DECREASE OF FARMERS TILLING THEIR OWN LAND [LXXVII].  In 1914 the number of farmers owning their own land was 1,731,247; in 1919 it had fallen to 1,700,747.  In 1914 the number of tenants was 1,520,476; in 1919 it had increased to 1,545,639.  That is, there were 30,500 fewer landowners and 25,163 more tenants.  During the period between 1914 and 1919 the number of farmers (landowners and tenants) increased 30,293.  While from 1909 to 1914 the percentage of landowners fell from 33.27 to 31.73, the percentage of tenant farmers rose from 27.69 to 27.87 and the percentage of persons partly owner and partly tenant from 39.04 to 40.40.  See Appendix XXXIV.

RURAL AND URBAN POPULATIONS [LXXVIII].  The following table shows the percentage of the population living in communes under 5,000 and 10,000 inhabitants in 1913 and 1918: 

Year | Percentage of Population living in | Percentage of Families
|           Communities              | engaged in Agricultural
|------------------------------------|  to Total Families in
|  under 5,000  |  under 10,000      |       Japan Proper
------|---------------|--------------------|----------------

--------
1913 |     50.44     |       72.39        |          57.6
1918 |     46.23     |       67.71        |          52.3
------|---------------|--------------------|----------------

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