cotton industry during the 1800s
The cotton industry grew increasingly popular during the 1880s and continued its growth all the way to the 1930s. Two of its major producers were India and Japan, and although they both worked in the production of cotton, they had various differences. They used the same employees but their production rates were not the same. The living conditions in which the people worked also seemed to have been better in India than Japan. And the percentage of female laborers was much higher in Japan.
Documents 1 and 2 show the cotton production in both Japan and India. In India there is a total of 301 million pounds of hand/machine spun yarn and 1,238 million yards of hand woven/machine made cloth in the year of 1884. Japan was only able to produce 5 million pounds of hand/machine spun yarn. Then in 1914 India made 742 million pounds of hand/machine spun yarn and 2545 million yards of hand/machine made cloth. While Japan only made 666 million that same year. As you can see India had a much greater production rate then Japan.
Though there are no documents from India that directly tell us how the people worked, document 5 has two statements from Japanese girls and their experiences with the cotton factories. One tells us how she stayed late to finish working and when she was done she hardly had any strength left in her. Then she goes on about the horrible weather when there was no heat and how little they got paid. The second girl tells us how her little, thirteen-year old, sister died after working there for two years. Documents 4, 5, and 9 then explain to us why they got so little pay and where their employers came from. All of these documents state that all of their “cheap workers” come from “farming families” making them “peasants”
The illustrations on the documents 8 and 10 show how much more advanced India was. And how Japan needed more workers to complete the same amount or less than India. If you look closely you can see that the technology in India is better than in
Documents 1 and 2 show the cotton production in both Japan and India. In India there is a total of 301 million pounds of hand/machine spun yarn and 1,238 million yards of hand woven/machine made cloth in the year of 1884. Japan was only able to produce 5 million pounds of hand/machine spun yarn. Then in 1914 India made 742 million pounds of hand/machine spun yarn and 2545 million yards of hand/machine made cloth. While Japan only made 666 million that same year. As you can see India had a much greater production rate then Japan.
Though there are no documents from India that directly tell us how the people worked, document 5 has two statements from Japanese girls and their experiences with the cotton factories. One tells us how she stayed late to finish working and when she was done she hardly had any strength left in her. Then she goes on about the horrible weather when there was no heat and how little they got paid. The second girl tells us how her little, thirteen-year old, sister died after working there for two years. Documents 4, 5, and 9 then explain to us why they got so little pay and where their employers came from. All of these documents state that all of their “cheap workers” come from “farming families” making them “peasants”
The illustrations on the documents 8 and 10 show how much more advanced India was. And how Japan needed more workers to complete the same amount or less than India. If you look closely you can see that the technology in India is better than in