THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
OF CHINA
A Project to Assist the Readjustment of
Post-Bellum Industries
It is estimated that during the last year of the World War thedaily expenses of the various fighting nations amounted to two hun-dred and forty millions of dollars gold. It is accepted by even themost conservative way, that only one half of this sum was spenton munitions and other direct war supplies, that is, one hundredand twenty millions of dollars gold. Let us consider these war sup-plies from a commercial point of view. The battlefield is the mar-ket for these new industries, the consumers of which are the soldiers.Various industries had to be enlisted and many new ones createdfor the supplies. In order to increase the production of these warcommodities day by day, people of the warring countries and eventhose of the neutral states had to be content with the barest ne-cessities of life and had to give up all former comforts and luxuries. Now the war is ended and the sole market of these war sup-plies had closed, let us hope, forever, for the good of humanity. So,henceforth, we are concerned with the problem as to how a read-justment might be brought about. What is to be considered firstis the reconstruction of the various countries, and next the supplyof comforts and luxuries that will have to be resumed. We remem-ber that one hundred and twenty million dollars were spent everyday on direct war supplies. Let us then suppose that the two itemsmentioned will take up one half of this sum, that is, sixty millionsof dollars a day which will still leave us a balance of sixty milliondollars a day to be utilized. Besides, the many millions of soldierswho were once consumers will from now on become producersagain. Furthermore, the unification and nationalization of all theindustries, which I might call the Second Industrial Revolution,will be more far-reaching than that of the first one in which
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Manual Labor was displaced by Machinery. This second industrialrevolution will increase the productive power of man many timesmore than the first one. Consequently, this unification and natio-nalization of industries on account of the World War will furthercomplicate the readjustment of the post-war industries. Just ima-gine sixty million dollars a day or twenty-one billions and nine hun-dred millions of dollars a year of new trade created by the warsuddenly have to stop when peace is concluded! Where in this worldcan Europe and America look for a market to consume this en-ormous saving from the war?
If the billions of dollars worth of war industries can find no placein the post-bellum readjustment, then they will be a pure economicwaste. The result will not only disturb the economic condition ofthe producing countries, but will also be a great loss to the worldat large.
All the commercial nations are looking to China as the only"dumping ground" for their over-production. The prewar conditionof trade was unfavorable to China. The balance of imports over ex-ports was something over one hundred million dollars gold annu-ally. The market of China under this condition could not expandmuch for soon after there will be no more money or commoditiesleft for exchanging goods with foreign countries. Fortunately, thenatural resources of China are great and their proper developmentwould create an unlimited market for the whole world and wouldutilize the greater part, if not all of the billions of dollars worth ofwar industries soon to be turned into peace industries. China is the land that still employs manual labor for produc-tion and has not yet entered the first stage of industrial evolution,while in Europe and America the second stage is already reached.So China has to begin the two stages of industrial evolution at onceby adopting the machinery as well as the nationalization of pro-duction. In this case China will require machinery for her vast
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agriculture, machinery for her rich mines, machinery for the build-ing of her innumerable factories, machinery for her extensive trans-portation systems and machinery for all her public utilities. Let ussee how this new demand for machinery will help in the readjust-ment of war industries. The workshops that turn out cannon caneasily be made to turn out steam rollers for the construction of roadsin China. The workshops that turn out tanks can be made to turnout trucks for the transportation of the raw materials that are ly-ing everywhere in China. And all sorts of warring machinery canbe converted into peaceful tools for the general development ofChina's latent wealth. The Chinese people will welcome the de-velopment of our country's resources provided that it can be keptout of Mandarin corruption and ensure the mutual benefit of Chinaand of the countries cooperating with us.
It might be feared by some people in Europe and America thatthe development of China by war machinery, war organization andtechnical experts might create unfavorable competition to foreignindustries. I, therefore, propose a scheme to develop a new marketin China big enough both for her own products and for productsfrom foreign countries. The scheme will be along the following lines:I. The Development of a Communications System.(a) 100,000 miles of Railways.
(b) 1,000,000 miles of Macadam Roads.
(c) Improvement of Existing Canals.
(1) Hangchow-Tientsin Canals.
(2) Sikiang-Yangtze Canals.
(d) Construction of New Canals.
(1) Liaoho-Sunghwakiang Canal.
(2) Others to be projected.
(e) River Conservancy.
(1) To regulate the Embankments and Channel of the Yangtze River from Hankow to the sea thus facilitating Ocean-going ships to reach that port at all seasons.

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(2) To regulate the Hoangho Embankments and Channel to prevent floods.
(3) To regulate the Sikiang.
(4) To regulate the Hwaiho.
(5) To regulate various other Rivers.
(f) The Construction of more Telegraph Lines and Telephone and Wireless System all over the Country.II. The Development of Commercial Harbors.
(a) Three largest Ocean Ports with future capacity equal- ling New York Harbor to be constructed in North, Cen- tral and South China.
(b) Various small Commercial and Fishing Harbors to be constructed along the Coast.
(c) Commercial Docks to be constructed along all nav- igable Rivers.
III. Modern Cities with public utilities to be constructed in all Railway Centers, Termini and alongside Harbors.IV. Water Power Development.
V. Iron and Steel Works and Cement Works on the largest scale in order to supply the above needs.
VI. Mineral Development.
VII. Agricultural Development.
VIII.Irrigational Work on the largest scale in Mongolia and Sinkiang.
IX. Reforestation in Central and North China.
X. Colonization in Manchuria, Mongolia, Sinkiang. Kokonor, and Tibet.
If the above program could be carried out gradually, China willnot only be the "Dumping Ground" for foreign goods but actuallywill be the "Economic Ocean" capable of absorbing all the surpluscapital as quickly as the Industrial Nations can possibly produceby the coming Industrial Revolution of Nationalized Productive Ma-chinery. Then there will be no more competition and commercialstruggles in China as well as in the world.

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The recent World War has proved to mankind that war is rui-nous to both the Conqueror and the Conquered, and worse for theAggressor. What is true in Military warfare is more so in trade war-fare. Since President Wilson has proposed a League of Nations toend Military war in the future, I desire to propose to end the tradewar by cooperation and mutual help in the Development of China.This will root out probably the greatest cause of future wars. The world has been greatly benefited by the development ofAmerica as an industrial and a commercial nation. So a developedChina with her four hundred millions of population, will be an-other New World in the economic sense. The nations which willtake part in this development will reap immense advantages. Fur-thermore, international cooperation of this kind cannot but helpto strengthen the Brotherhood of Man. Ultimately, I am sure, thiswill culminate to be the keystone in the arch of the League ofNations.
In order to carry out this project successfully I suggest that threenecessary steps must be taken. First, that the various Governmentsof the Capital-supplying Powers must agree to joint action and aunified policy to form an International Organization with their warwork organizers, administrators and experts of various lines to for-mulate plans and to standardize materials in order to prevent wasteand to facilitate work. Second, the confidence of the Chinese peo-ple must be secured in order to gain their cooperation and enthus-iastic support. If the above two steps are accomplished, then thethird step is to open formal negotiation for the final contract of theproject with the Chinese Government. For which I suggest that itbe on the same basis as the contract I once concluded with thePauling Company of London, for the construction of the Canton-Chungking Railway, since it was the fairest to both parties and theone most welcomed by the Chinese people, of all contracts thatwere ever made between China and the foreign countries.
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And last but not least, a warning must be given that mistakessuch as the notorious Sheng Shun Hwai's nationalized railwayscheme in 1911 must not be committed again. In those days for-eign bankers entirely disregarded the will of the Chinese people,and thought that they could do everything with the Chinese Gov-ernment alone. But to their regret, they found that the contractswhich they had concluded with the Government, by heavy brib-ery, were only to be blocked by the people later on. Had the for-eign bankers gone in the right way of first securing the confidenceof the Chinese people, and then approaching the Government fora contract, many things might have been accomplished without ahitch. Therefore, in this International Project we must pay moreattention to the people's will than ever before. If my proposition is acceptable to the Capital-supplying Pow-ers, I will furnish further details.

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