The Japanese Workman There are sharp differences in the standard
of living among various European races, but nothing com- parable with that which exists between the European and the Japanese. At the General Meeting of his company, Mr. Samuel Courtaukl showed what sort of competition the English industrialist has to face from Japan. Courtaulds, he said, were paying their women workers in their silk and rayon factories eight times as much as the corresponding Japanese women received, and their male rayon worker was getting more for one hour's work than his Japanese opposite number got for a whole day. The average English wage rate was ten times as high. Under such conditions there is no possibility for the British manufacturer to compete in neutral markets, and Mr. Courtauld admitted that no existing general tariff would redress the balance. The real yellow peril of the future is economic rather than political, and apart from palliatives in the form of inter- national agreements on wages and hours it is hard to see what defence there can be against it.
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