Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/16

8 curriers, salt makers, a few seal engravers, plowmen, cattle and swine drovers, special thatchers and tilers, no barbers, but hair-dressers, dyers, tanners, carpenters and cabinetmakers, and these latter go by the name of large and small carpenters. Craftsmen are not allowed to sell raw material; the lumber dealer, for example, would prevent a carpenter from selling even a board. There are also stone polishers, paper pasters, and tailors who make clothing by quantity. As in this country, such clothing is not considered as good as custom-made clothing. Women make their own clothing. Boys are not commonly employed, but are sometimes seen on the streets as peddlers. In Japan, on the contrary, boys are everywhere employed, and in all occupations, thus adding to the industrial strength of the nation. Men make shoes, though this is considered a mean occupation. Sandals are made by monks. As with us, there is a localization of industries and trades. A system of apprenticeship exists. In the first year's service the apprentice is fed, in the second year he receives half pay, and in the third year full wages are paid him; in the fourth year, if skillful, he becomes a partner in the work, or goes off by himself, the master helping him. The Government builds long markets in which are shops for special merchandise, such as silk, cotton, shoes, paper, etc. These are hired by merchants on perpetual lease, and the merchant who thus rents a shop receives all the trade in his specialty. Thus every one dealing in cotton must come to the cotton shop. A shop thirty or forty feet long will sell for five thousand dollars. Traders are accustomed to borrow capital from the nobles, upon which they pay interest. There are a great many guilds, which are called Brotherhoods in Trading. Partnerships are common. In the guilds, if one meets with a loss or failure all the others help make up the loss; in partnerships this is not so.

Public work is done by the co-operation of villages. In Séoul public work is done by the general Government, the city, however, collecting taxes for the work. If the people volunteer to do the work, no taxes are imposed. If the municipality does the work, then continuous taxes are collected; if the Government does it, the city is taxed for it. In the country, five days' work on public improvements is considered an equivalent for the tax.

In farm work no distinction is recognized between the sexes. Female domestics are employed in spinning, weaving, sewing, and universally in cooking; women even of high rank may cook with propriety; indeed, such service is considered quite legitimate for women of all ranks. Men never become cooks. In certain districts women make hats and straw mats. In the western part of the country silk is made, in the northern part linen, while in the southern part cotton is made. This kind of work is all done by women.