ls, is not yet mainly in
feminine hands as it is with us, there is still a good showing of women
employed as teachers. From the figures of the school report of 1898, we
find over 10,000 women as teachers and assistants in the public and
private schools. The profession of nursing, too, which ten years ago was
just opening, has already drawn many women into its ranks. In the Red
Cross hospitals alone there are this year nearly a thousand nurses
taking the course, and a thousand graduates scattered throughout the
country hold themselves ready to answer the call of the society in the
time of need, in the mean time practicing their profession wherever they
may chance to be. The quality of the Red Cross graduates has been tested
now in two wars, and they show the soldierly virtues of their nation, as
well as the more womanly qualities of tenderness and gentleness; and a
self-respect that has kept them pure and free from stain in the midst of
severe temptation. It is impossible for me to gather statistics of the
work done by other institutions for the training of nurses, but the
figures given above may, I think, be doubled with absolute safety in
making an estimate of the total number of nurses trained and in training
throughout the empire.

The growth of commerce and industry has greatly increased the demand
for feminine labor outside the home. In the old days the two most
important industries of the country, tea and silk, were mainly carried
on by women in their homes, but the use of modern machinery is rapidly
taking the weaving industries out of the homes and making factory hands
of the women and children.[44]

[44] In the Japan _Mail_ of July 8, 1901, the following statistics of
women employees in factories in Japan were given:--

Manufacture. No. of Women. No. to 100 Men.
Raw Silk 107,348 93
Cotton Spinning 53,053 79
Matches 11,385 69
Cotton Fabrics 10,656 86
Tobacco 7,874 72
Matting 1,641 59

One of the most noticeable effects of this new demand for female labor
is the extreme scarcity of servants. Although wages are nearly double
what they were ten years ago, it is extremely difficult for Japanese
housekeepers now to find servants to replace the old ones as they drop
out of the ranks, and the women who apply for positions are apt to be
far inferior to those who came