蕭旭智

Hsu-Chih Hsiao

日治、日常生活、電報、勞動、遞信部

Japanese colonial period, daily life, telegraph, labor, communication department

日治時期臺灣遞信協會曾發行官方雜誌歷時約24年，包括1918年創刊《臺灣通信協會雜誌》（1-17號）、爾後更名《臺灣遞信協會雜誌》（18-232號加上1941-42年現存16期），以及具同仁雜誌性質的《我等と通信》（發行13期）三份雜誌。這三份雜誌保留了日治時期臺灣遞信部政令、宣導、行政、信息，紀錄了遞信部轄下的有線與無線電報局、電話交換局、郵便局以及簡易保險儲金部門的發展、業務以及當時雇員（包括電報手、電話交換手、郵件、儲金窗口局員）的職業、勞動、技術發展、作業規定、生活瑣事、出差見聞新知、休閒娛樂、運動、團體旅遊、修養鍛鍊、醫療保健、以及藝文創作等等。這正是當時通信事業與通信勞動者最詳實的文字與圖像記錄。

本文以電報工作的人與事為主，呈現出當時儲存、傳遞、處理電報的通訊網絡，以及資訊的物質基礎。內容描述電報相關的建築空間、勞動時間、技術養成、休閒與競技、修學旅行和人的意識。

During the Japanese colonial period, Taiwan witnessed significant advancements in telecommunications and communication technology. These technological developments impacted geographical time and space, social life, work, and leisure. Innovations such as the telegraph, telephone, and radio greatly accelerated communication compared to oral or postal services. This paper presents how the staff involved in telegraph labor within Taiwan’s telegraph communication system during the Japanese colonial period adapted to and participated in the processes of telegraph information input, transmission, and processing.

Key questions addressed in this study include:

- How did telegraph workers operate and manage their tasks?
- What were the configurations of their workplaces?
- What was the nature of their work, and how was efficiency achieved?
- What recreational activities were linked to vocational education and labor?

The materials used in this study are official magazines published by the Taiwan Communications Association during the Japanese colonial period, which lasted for about 24 years, including Taiwan Communications Association Magazine (臺灣通信協會雜誌，No. 1-17) founded in 1918, later renamed Taiwan Communications Association Magazine (臺灣遞信協會雜誌，No. 18-232, plus 16 existing issues from 1941-42), and We and Communication (我等と通信，13 issues) that had the nature of a colleague magazine. The contents of the magazines were coded and divided into telegraph-related infrastructure and technology, architectural space, working time, technical training, leisure life, learning, travel, and human consciousness. Through text analysis, the study represents and reconfigures the condition of labor and daily life in the compartment of the telecommunications industry.

Japanese technicians improved the signal relay of the sea line with low-cost and simple technology, gradually changing from manual to semi-automatic and further moving towards automation. The telegraph formed the infrastructure for long-distance message transmission, and its gradual acceleration became constant with dense and regular intervals. However, it is subject to the network of the post office, the business hours of the post office, the space of the route map, the timetable for sending and receiving, and the speed of the courier.

Taiwan’s telegraph business at that time relied heavily on human capital, responding to the impact of technological progress with more efficient workers. Because the equipment for automatic receiving and sending messages was expensive, long-distance telegraphs used automatic telephone equipment. Moreover, the island’s telegraphs maintained a considerable proportion of human labor, and local post offices were rarely equipped for use. It was not easy to train someone who could operate a typewriter and recognize Morse code on a paper machine. From the perspective of technology and society, it was a localized solution based on solving the difficulties of submarine telecommunications between Japan and Taiwan.

Accompanied by information acceleration and minor instrumental improvement, the way to facilitate telegraph technicians in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period was to increase their salary or bonus if they passed the exam and competitions. The telegraph technology in this process included language ability, knowledge, speed, accuracy, and skills of various telegraph machine operations. Positive systematic feedback was also a way to increase the efficiency of practitioners by encouraging people to become skilled operators.

The degree of man-machine in information labor was different from that of today. The so-called “concentration” had to overcome low automation in order to improve accuracy and productivity. Therefore, technological progress relies on the self-technical improvement of the human body. The complex of colonialism and anthropology has long dominated imperialism.

From the records of communication labor, such as abacus levels for subpoena calculation, telephone exchange operation manuals, mail distribution competitions, etc., Taiwanese people were not inferior to Japanese in such competitions after receiving training. The improvement of labor status such as technology, efficiency, speed, and accuracy was also important for the synchronization of intelligence between the empire and the colonies.

The staff’s collective outing was not to go on their own, but rather to go out with a group of staff within the organization. Therefore, the meaning of leisure was to continue working after playing. Leisure back then was also part of professional work and labor, and even where to play was arranged. In addition, the activities echoed positive goals such as teamwork, competition, efficiency, and honor at work. In other words, going out for fun or leisure was selective and purposeful. The entertainment of high-ranking officials reflected aesthetic experiences, integrated work and life, and echoed the relatively elegant career and lifestyle of a salaried class. Sports reports in magazines, such as tennis, baseball, golf, and table tennis, were no longer just score records, but took into account the excitement and excitement of the competition. They provided readers with modern newspaper entertainment.

Through the study of publications and related literature published by the Taiwan Telecommunications Association, this article provides a specific description, discussion, and analysis of the careers, professions, and jobs of telegraph communications industry during Japan’s occupation of Taiwan. From the perspective of media history, post, telegraph, telephone, and radio are the predecessors of electronic and digital media. Through the description of analog communication technology and the lives of media workers in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period, this paper provides a classification and interpretation of existing data on the relationships among information space, media, technology, body, labor, and self-technology, which may be further explored in the future.

This paper does not describe much about technical objects, because the historical materials related to the telegraphs of Chunghwa Telecom are concentrated in the post-war period. After the end of the Japanese colonial period, Japanese typewriters, wires, and cables were not preserved. The study of technical objects and actor networks has shown that the archives from the transfer of power were not easy to preserve. There is not much description of the Ministry of Communications of Taiwan in the relevant Japanese literature. Therefore, this study cannot extend this part due to limited space, and it will be left up to other researchers to discover delve into this topic in the future.