By Geonce E. SoKotsxy, The present phase of the strike cial improvements are the Naigai was perhaps not altogether un- Wata Kaisha Cotton Mills, the expected. It might be called the third phase of a general uprising of labour in Shanghai, The first phase was purely economic and wat evidenced by the strikes in tha Japanese cotton mills in Shanghai ard Tsingtao, These strikes. usher-td in the end of 1924 and culm ed in the riots of May 80, when the second phase of the movement mads its appearance, This phase was! largely political: an anti-British anti-Japanese movement developed. even among. that labourers. The a moment passed from labour groups to students and merchants. With ut discussing any Of the "potltical questions of that phase, it is necessary to indicate that there wer many factors other than economic which swelled the ranks of the strikers and which agitated all classes of the Chinese people. The third phase is again economic, Te! is a movement for the inetease of wages and a betterment of con ions. It knows no nationality and, as a matter of fact, is liable tack Chinese rather than foreign institutions in that conditions and Wages are not as good in the form-eras in the latter.
The Post Office Demands The Post Office strike was en tirely economic. The strikers demands looked like political pro-Paganda but these demands have more or less become stereotyped, each striking group copying what has appeared before. The actual demands were for wage increases and the strike ended the moment, the increase was assured. Had all, the political demands been granted. and the wages not increased, the strike would not have ended. ' That, apply to all economi datum of the strikers says about. foreigners and the treaties. After} all, in this phase of the strike move. ment, the workers have practically forgotten the wild urgings of the Chinese Bolsheviks and have again returned to what is becoming a. purely economic struggle in an industrial centre, a struggle which is, not different from similar move-' ments in England and America and which seems to be an historical concomitant of the application of the method of the Industrial Re-} volution to production and distribution, To the Chinese labourer, good, working conditions are apparently, not as important as wage increase, This is understandable to the eco-pomist, although it must appear as! ingratitude to.such employers Inbour-as have provided their workers with modern social improve. ments. The three. firms. which have the most modera. programme vf. s9-
British-American Tobacco Company plants and the Commercial Press. The present writer is not repeating company propaganda, but as editor of the chapter on Labour for the "China Year Book," he each year makes an investigation of th whole field and therefore is ina position to justify such a statement by continuous observation,—Thes organizations provide benefits their workers in the form of education, health protection, better wages within the particular feld and a supervisory interest in. the general welfare of their workers, which contrast favourably with similar efforts ab In the ease of the B.A.T., wages are practi ly on a sliding scale in that a rice allowance is provided which is in direct ratio to the cost of rice on the open market, The Currency Evil The difficulty with wages is that currency is uncertain in China, The currency of the labourer is the copper which is constantly of a de-for sing purchasing power. The ratio between the copper and the silver dollar, which itself is of uncertain purchasing power, is constantly fluctuating. The writer recently saw tables of copper fluctuaion during the past yea covering important cities throug! out the country, which clearly dicated that the copper is gradu ly reaching a position where its Purchasing value for commodities not indigenous to the locality will be nil. The labourer may be paid silver but he converts his silver into coppers. Any surplus over his expenses has a diminished value due to the constant decreasing value of the coin. The bad money. situation can in no way be im: Proved by the employers of labour 5 they cannot interfere with the ie, an authority whicl, the Chinese Government is unable to exercise, Wages are further decreased in value by the uncertainty and excess of taxation. House-owners, who are forced to make contri tions to militarists, do not take the money out of their own pockets. They quite naturally and, from economic standpoint, correctly levy their additional expenditure on the tenant in the form of increased Tents. It must be remembered that since August, 1924, Shanghai has been levied upon by Ho Feng.
Haieh-yuan, Sun Chuan-fany Chang Yuen-ming and Chang. Chung-chang.. These levies forced loans have had a tremendous bearing upon the local strike situ for The militarist have at the "dame deen levying excessive atiid
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.