Press translations [Japan]. Economic Series 0208, 1946-01-25.
Date25 January, 1946
translation numbereconomic-0948
call numberDS801 .S81
Persistent Identifier
ECONOMIC SERIES: 208
ITEM 1 Effects of the Land Reform - Provincial Newspaper Niigata Shimbun (Niigata) - 20, 21 Jan 46. Translator: R. Aoki.
Summary:
NIIGATA-Ken is one of the foremost strongholds of landlords in the Nation. Among
5,600,000 farmers in JAPAN only l60,000
farmers own more than 5 cho. Out of these 160,000 landlords, NIIGATA holds more than
3,000.
As the result of formal application of the Land Reform Law, a majority of the landlords
will lose their present economic
position as well as the accompanying social dignity. In some cases the big landlords
have retained an air of feudal dignity.
What such landlords will do after losing their land will be interesting to watch.
At present many landlords are leaders in rural affairs, but all leaders are not landlords.
In fact the recent tendency is to
have leaders of the non-landlord class. Yet some landlords may remain as leaders,
but some others may soon be removed at once.
Such landlords who lose their former position must content themselves with the thought
that their retirement will open a new
road for the mass of the farmers.
The significance of land re-distribution lies in the stabilization of the life of
the liberated farmers. Once this
stabilization is attained, the present master-protege relationship between the landlords
and tenants will be lost just as the
landlord-tenant relationship has been lost. Nevertheless, the ultimate goal of the
land reform must lie in the general
uplifting of the cultural standard of rural JAPAN. Without this the mere dividing
up of farms may mean the introduction of
mass politics rather than the progress of democracy.
"Land hunger" is a universal psychology. The tenants wanted land for assurance. Thus,
the affirmation of tenant rights will
lighten the land-hunger psychology. Furthermore, the national emergency of the war
pressed the tenants for production of rice
for the Country. Yet, statistics reveal that per tan production of rice on tenant
farms is short, amounting to an average of
three "to" to four "to", compared with that of the farms cultivated by the owners.
This means that the abolition of tenant
farming will save 3,000,000 koku of rice a year. All in all, the land reform seems
to be a great landmark in the progress of
rural JAPAN.
ITEM 2 The Ordinance for Application of the Revised Agrarian Adjustment Law - Nippon Sangyo Keizai - 24 Jan 46. Translator: R. Shibata.
Summary:
The Government decided on an ordinance for the application of the revised Agrarian
Adjustment Law (NOCHI CHOSEI HO) at the
Cabinet meeting held on 22 January. Following SCAP approval on 23 January, the ordinance
will be promulgated on 25 or 26
January. The items decided on in article
ECONOMIC SERIES: 208 (Continued)
ITEM 2 (Continued)
15 will be put into force on 1 April 1946, and other articles on 1 February 1946.
The principal points revised in the new ordinance are as follows: Limitation of the
area of lands to be held by landowners
(article 4); increase of organizations for purchasing lands in case cultivation is
made on unutilized lands (article 6);
application of the provisions in the Extraordinary Agrarian Administration Ordinance
(RINJINOCHI KANRIREI) and the Agrarian
Price Management Regulations (NOCHI KAKAKU KANRI REI) with regard to the price of
lands (article 13); revision of the rate of
conversion to be applied for payment of tenant fees in money instead of in kinds (article
15); qualification of electors of
the agrarian committeemen to owners of more than 1 tan of land (article 18); permission
to the agrarian committee in towns and
villages to hire clerks (article 33).
The first election of the members of the agrarian committee in cities, towns, and
villages is scheduled to be held at the
beginning of March. The election of the members of the agrarian committee in prefectures
will take place as soon as chiefs of
the above committees are decided on.
ITEM 3 Various Insurance Laws will Be Applied to Chinese, Korean and Formosan Workers in Japan - Nippon Sangyo Keizai - 24 Jan 46.
Full Translation:
According to the order of MacARTHUR's Headquarters regarding the abolishment of the
discrimination of workers by nationality,
the Government decided to reform the Welfare Annuity Law and the Crew Insurance Law
at the Cabinet Council on 22 January 1946
in order to make various insurance laws apply to Chinese, Korean and Formosan workers
in JAPAN. An Imperial ordinance
regarding the above proglem will be issued.
ITEM 4 Management of Production by Strikers is Legal - Asahi Shimbun - 24 Jan 46. Translator: T. Mitsuhashi.
Summary:
It is a current tendency that the management of production is carried on by labor
unions when a strike is going on. The case
of the BIBAI Mine in which the Company tried to prevent the labor union from occupying
various parts of it by applying various
mining industry regulations is a notable one. The question has arisen as to whether
such an action by a labor union is legal
or not.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has consulted the Justice Ministry about the
matter, and has announced that the
management of production by a labor union at the coal mine is not illegal so far as
safety measures in the mine had been
preserved in accordance with the various mining industry regulations. In the case
of coal mining, it is natural that someone
must manage the production when it is stopped by a strike. If no violent action has
been committed, there will be no law to
apply to it.
The Justice Ministry has revealed its view as follows: There may be cases in which
carfare or electric light charges will be
collected by labor union, although this is really the duty of the management of a
company. Whether it means a usurpation by a
labor union must be determined carefully according to its amount and other circumstances.
In all cases inclusive of the
dispute at mines, such a matter must be settled not by sticking to the existing law,
but by considering the actual conditions
at each instance as well as the social idea.
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ECONOMIC SERIES: 208 (Continued)
ITEM 5 Wholesale Prices of Commodities in TOKYO increased by 43 per cent - Nippon Sangyo Keizai - 24 Jan 46. Translator: T. Okamura.
Full Translation:
The index number of the wholesale prices of commodities in TOKYO last December was
794.2, taking October 1898 as a base with
100, according to an investigation by the Statistics Bureau of the Bank of JAPAN.
The figure shows a rise by 43.3 per cent and
79.9 per cent, in comparison with the preceding month and the corresponding month
of the previous year, respectively.
Of the total 110 commodities, 11 showed a rise, and 99 maintained stability. The
conspicuous soaring of the prices of metals
is attriubted to the rise in the controlled prices of iron, steel, non-ferrous metals,
and light metals, produced by the
abolition of the Governmental subsidy. The rise in the price of fuel is also due to
the revision of the control prices.
The prices of perishable foods and the black market prices are omitted from the list.
The rates of rice, in comparison with
the previous month, and the corresponding month of the preceding year, are as follows:
In Comparison with November 1945 (per cent) | In Comparison with December 1944 (per cent) | |
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS | 16.4 | 16.0 |
OTHER PROVISIONS | 0 | 63.2 |
RAW MATERIALS OF TEXTILES | 0 | 41.1 |
TEXTILES | 0 | 0 |
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS | 79.2 | 115.3 |
METALS | 374.9 | 457.7 |
FUEL | 126.0 | 187.5 |
CHEMICALS | 0 | 18.4 |
FERTILIZER | 0 | 0 |
OTHERS | 7.1 | 22.2 |
AVERAGE | 43.3 | 79.7 |
DISTRIBUTION "X"
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