was 4:30 at the earliest. The factory stopped at sunset, the latest
hour being 6:30. I was assured that of the girls who did not get
married 70 per cent. renewed their contracts. A large enclosed open
space was available in which the girls might stroll before going to
bed. The motto of the establishment was, "I hear the voice of spring
under the shadow of the trees." In reference to the new factory
legislation the manager said that the hours of labour were so long
that it would be some time before 10 hours a day would be
initiated.[143] This factory and its branches were started thirty
years ago by a man who was originally a factory worker. Although now
very rich he had "always refused to be photographed and had not
availed himself of an opportunity of entering the House of Peers."

I visited several factories the girls working at which did not live in
dormitories but outside. At a winding and hanking factory which was
airy and well lighted the hours were from 6 to 6. At a factory where
the hours were from 4:30 to 7 some reelers had been fined. Japanese
Christian pastors sometimes came to see the girls, and on the wall of
the recreation room there were paper _gohei_ hung up by a Shinto
priest.

I got the impression that the girls in the factories at Kōfu in
Yamanashi prefecture were not driven so hard as those at the factories
in the Suwas in Nagano. Someone said: "However the Suwa people may
exploit their girls, we are able, working shorter hours and giving
more entertainments, to produce better silk, for the simple reason
that the girls are in better condition. We can get from 5 to 10 per
cent. more for our silk." A factory manager said that it would be
better if the girls had a regular holiday once a week, but one firm
could not act alone. (The factories are working seven days a week,