Yat-sen Sun

“ In my International Development Scheme, I intend to make all the national industries of China into a Great Trust owned by the Chinese people, and financed with international capital for mutual benefit. Thus once for all, commercial war will be done away with in the largest market of the world.
Class war is a struggle between labor and capital. The war is at present raging at its full height in all the highly developed industrial countries. Labor feels sure of its final victory while capitalists are determined to resist to the bitter end. ”

“ Labor is very cheap and plentiful but food and commodities of life are just enough to go round for the great multitude of the four hundred millions in China in an ordinary good year. In a bad year, a great number succumb to want and starvation. This miserable condition among the Chinese proletariat is due to the non-development of the country, the crude methods of production and the wastefulness of labor. The radical cure for all this is industrial development by foreign capital and experts for the benefit of the whole nation. ”

“ Mining and farming are the two most important means of producing raw materials for industries. As farming is to produce food for man, so mining is to produce food for machinery. Machinery is the tree of modern industries, and the mining industry is the root of machinery. ”

“ China, however, owing to the backwardness of her industrial development, which is a blessing in disguise, in this respect, has not yet entered into the class war. Our laboring class, commonly known as coolies, are living from hand to mouth and will therefore only be too glad to welcome any capitalist who would even put up a sweat shop to exploit them. The capitalist is a rare specimen in China and is only beginning to make his appearance in the treaty ports.
However, China must develop her industries by all means. Shall we follow the old path of western civilization? ”

“ Just imagine sixty million dollars a day or twenty-one billions and nine hundred millions of dollars a year of new trade created by the war suddenly have to stop when peace is concluded! Where in this world can Europe and America look for a market to consume this enormous saving from the war? ”

“ From every point of view Shanghai is doomed. However, in our scheme of development of China, Shanghai has certain claims for our consideration which may prove its salvation as an important city. The curse of Shanghai as a world port for future commerce is the silt of the Yangtze which fills up all its approaches rapidly every year. This silt, according to the estimation of Mr. Von Heidenstam, Engineer-in-chief of the Whangpoo Conservancy36 Board, is a hundred million tons a year and is sufficient to cover an area of forty square miles ten feet deep. ”

“ Europe and America are a hundred years ahead of us in industrial development; so in order to catch up in a very short time we have to use their capital, mainly their machinery. If foreign capital cannot be gotten, we will have to get at least their experts and inventors to make for us our own machinery. In any case, we must use machinery to assist our enormous man-power to develop our unlimited resources. ”

“ The development of China's natural resources will give a new impetus and vitality to industry and commerce in your country and will not only be of incalculable benefit to your own people, but offer undeniable and unlimited advantages to all people in all nations. Therefore Governments and foreign financiers should not hesitate in giving your plans their most careful consideration and support, and come to your assistance in the realisation of your grand humanitarian project. ”

“ As a late comer, China can greatly profit in covering the space by following the direction already charted by western pioneers. Thus we can foresee that the final goal of the westward-ho in the Atlantic is not India but the New World. So is the case in the economic ocean. The goal of material civilization is not private profit but public profit. And the shortest route to it is not competition but coöperation. In my International Development Scheme, I propose that the profits of this industrial development should go first to pay the interest and principal of foreign capital invested in it ”

“ International war is nothing more than pure and simple organized robbery on a grand scale, which all right-minded people deplore. When the United States of America turned the recent European conflict into a world war by taking part in it, the American people to a man determined to make this war end war forever. And the hope of the peace-loving nations in the world was raised so high that we Chinese thought that the "Tatung" or the Great Harmony Age was at hand. But unfortunately, the United States has completely failed in peace, in spite of her great success in war. ”

“ Thus we need not fear the lack of capital to start work in our industrial development. If the Powers are sincere in their motive to coöperate for mutual benefit, then the military struggle for material gain in China could eventually be averted. For by coöperation, they can secure more benefits and advantages than by struggle. The Japanese militarists still think that war is the most profitable national pursuit, and their General Staff keeps on planning a war once in a decade. ”

“ Thus, without the mining industry there would be no machinery, and without machinery there would be no modern industries which have revolutionized the economic conditions of mankind. The mining industry, after all, is the greatest factor of material civilization and economic progress. Although in the fifth part of the first program I suggested the development of the iron and coal fields in Chili and Shansi as an auxiliary project for the development of the Great Northern Port, still, a special program should be devoted to mining in general. ”

“ The recent World War has proved to Mankind that war is ruinous to both the Conqueror and the Conquered, and worse for the Aggressor. What is true in military warfare is more so in trade warfare. Since President Wilson has proposed a League of Nations to end military war in the future, I desire to propose to end the trade war by coöperation and mutual help in the Development of China. ”

“ So China has to begin the two stages of industrial evolution at once by adopting the machinery as well as the nationalization of production. In this case China will require machinery for her vast agriculture, machinery for her rich mines, machinery for the building of her innumerable factories, machinery for her extensive transportation systems and machinery for all her public utilities. Let us see how this new demand for machinery will help in the readjustment of war industries. ”

“ Besides these provisions the rest of the profit I should go to the public in the form of reduced prices in all commodities and public services. Thus, all will enjoy, in the same degree, the fruits of modern civilization. This industrial development scheme which is roughly sketched in the above six programs is a part of my general plan for constructing a New China. In a nutshell, it is my idea to make capitalism create socialism in China so that these two economic forces of human evolution will work side by side in future civilization. ”

“ This is the largest job ever conceived by man. But if China is going to give up her foolish traditions and useless habits and customs of the last three thousand years and begin to adopt modern civilization, as our industrial development scheme is going to introduce, the remodelling of all the houses according to modern comforts and conveniences is bound to come, either unconsciously by social evolution or consciously by artificial construction. ”

“ There is not a home in old China that is planned for the comfort and convenience of man alone. So now when we plan the housing industry in China in our International Development Scheme, we must take the houses of the entire population of China into consideration. "To build houses for four hundred millions, it is impossible!" ”

“ For trusts, by eliminating waste and cutting down expenses can produce much cheaper than individual producers. Whenever a trust enters into a certain field of industry, it always sweeps that field clean of rivals, by supplying cheap articles to the public. This would prove a blessing to the public but for the unfortunate fact that the trust is a private concern, and its object is to make as much profit as possible. ”

“ China, the most rich and populous country in the world, will be the prize. Some years ago there was great inclination among the Powers to divide China and Imperial Russia actually took steps to colonize Manchuria. But the then chivalrous Japan went to war with Russia and thus saved China from partition. Now the militaristic policy of Japan is to swallow China alone. So long as China is left to the tender mercy of the militaristic powers she must either succumb to partition by several powers or be swallowed up by one power. ”

“ This war has become more and more furious every day since the adoption of machinery for production. It was once thought by the economists of the Adam Smith school that competition was a beneficent factor and a sound economic system, but modern economists discovered that it is a very wasteful and ruinous system. As a matter of fact, modern economic tendencies work in a contrary direction, that is, towards concentration instead of competition. That is the reason why the trusts in America flourish in spite of the anti-trust law and the public opinion which aim at suppressing them. ”

“ China is known to be the country most rich in coal deposits, yet her coal fields are scarcely scratched. The output of coal in the United States is about six hundred million tons a year. If China is equally developed she should, according to the proportion of her population, have an output of four times as much coal as the United States. This will be the possibility of coal mining in China which the International Development Organization is to undertake. As coal deposits are found in great quantities in certain areas so its output can be estimated quite accurately beforehand. ”

“ Furthermore, the unification and nationalization of all the industries, which I might call the Second Industrial Revolution, will be more far-reaching than that of the first one in which Manual Labor was displaced by Machinery. This second industrial revolution will increase the productive power of man many times more than the first one. Consequently, this unification and nationalization of industries on account of the World War will further complicate the readjustment of the post-war industries. ”

“ As we all know devastated Europe is calling for capital for rehabilitation and other nations want capital for development programs of considerable proportions. Thus it would seem that China's program of development must of necessity take cognizance of her most immediate and most pressing needs. We are all united in that transportation occupies a prominent place in such a program. 50,000 miles of railway and 100,000 miles of good roads would seem to be sufficient to engage our attention for any plans for the immediate future. ”

“ The whole nation must bear the burden of its expenses. To deepen its mouth, to regulate its embankments and to build extra dykes are only half of the work to prevent flood. The entire reforestation of its watershed to prevent the washing off of loess is another half of the work in the prevention of flood.
The Grand Canal, the former Great Waterway of China between the North and the South for centuries, and now being reconstructed in certain sections, should be wholly reconstructed from end to end, in order to restore the inland waterway traffic from the Yangtze Valley to the North. ”

“ Besides these, there are many lines projected by the Japanese. In order to develop this rich region properly a network of railways should be projected.
Before dealing with the separate lines of this network of railways, I should like to propose a center for them, just as the spider's nest is to a cobweb. I shall name this central city "Tungchin," the Eastern Mart, which should be situated at a point southwest of the junction of the Sungari and Nonni rivers, about 110 miles west by south from Harbin, and will be in a more advantageous position than the latter. ”