Page:The Cannery Boat.pdf/135

Rh than sixty. But his spirit was unchanged. He still kept up his habit of inspecting the factory.

A priest, whose speciality was sermons, had been attached to the factory. Once a month there was a concert and a movie show. Those who attended were given free refreshments. They also received a towel each with the Uematsu trade-mark stamped on it.

Many grains of sand piled one on top of the other will make a mountain as big as Fuji, and sen by sen saved up will make a million yen—such was the burden of the songs chanted by the singer.

A movie, “The Money-making Tree,” sounded interesting, but it, too, proved a hoax.

On the other hand, in the factories the work became killing. The scabs were saved from being turned off; they were saved from having to leave the village through starvation; they were saved from prison, but in the factories they were subjected to the speed-up. Production of pulp was increased from a little over 600 gallons a day to nearly 800 gallons; 2000 old barrels were washed a day in place of 1500. And at the same time the standard of living went back to the old days.

In order to get fuel the women and children, their noses all blocked with dust and ash, had to pick up coke from the cinder pits.

The increased wages were abolished when Handa, Niemon, Himuro and the others were taken off to the police station. After a while a distinction between “skilled” and “unskilled” was made. Unless a man had been employed for five years or