When America was as yet undiscovered, and Europe was largely a forest inhabited by hunting tribes, China had taken up an advanced position on sociology. She has long been the world’s clearest and bravest economical thinker, from whom even Germany has consciously or unconsciously copied, and for thousands of years she has followed a thorough civil service in political appointments. It is not surprising therefore that Doctor Sun Yat Sen, the organizer of the revolution of 1911–12, the first president of republican China, and the leading economist of the race, enunciated himself as follows on April 5, 1912: “I have finished the political revolution and now will commence the greatest social revolution in the world’s history. The abdication of the Manchus is only the beginning of a greater development, and the future policy of the republic will be in the direction of socialism. I am an ardent admirer of Henry George, whose ideas are practicable on the virgin soil of China, as compared with their impracticability in Europe or the United States, where the money is controlled by the capitalists. I have the full consent of the new republican government to start a propaganda immediately, whereby the railroads, mines, and similar industries, will be controlled by the government. The single tax system, and as far as possible, free trade, will be adopted.” Shang, a minister of the Tsin clan of Confucius’ time—the “The more the houses of the rich are vast and magnificent, the more those of the poor will be small and miserable.” “The more the tables of the rich are covered with dainties, the more people there will be reduced to plain rice.” “At all costs, government should secure to all, all the necessities of life.” This last sentence is worthy of being linked with the immortal epigram in Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. Other notable economic writers were Tsien Tche and Leang Tsien, but towering above them all for adaptability to the convictions and crying necessities of our day was Wang Ngan Shih, 1069 A.D., a Rooseveltian statesman of the Sung dynasty, whose capital was the present Kaifong. Remember that this statesman-author wrote when William the Conqueror was putting England under the yoke of 1. The first duty of government is to secure plenty and relaxation for the common people. 2. The state should take possession of all important resources and become the main and dictating employer in commerce, industry and transportation, with the view of preventing the working classes being ground to the dust by the monopolizing rich. 3. Government tribunals should fix the local prices of provisions and merchandise. 4. The rich shall pay all taxes; the small owner shall pay nothing as long as he remains small. 5. Old age pensions. 6. The state to insure work for workmen. 7. The state to assign land, distribute seed and direct sowing, so that there shall neither be cornering of food by the rich, nor lack of food for the poor. 8. Destruction of usurers. 9. Confiscation of large and criminally-won estates; that is, retroactive laws and restitution, instead of “Go and sin no more, but keep what you got by former sins.” The Boswell of Confucius in the Ta Hio (Great Study) writes: “If those who govern states only think of amassing riches for their personal use, they will infallibly attract toward them depraved men, and these depraved men will really govern the state. The administration of these unworthy ministers will call down the chastisements of heaven, and also excite the vengeance of the aggrieved people. The riches of those who have the honor to govern states should rather be justice and equity, and not only talk of justice and equity.” Is this not excellent statesmanship, even if written in China long before the Christian era? The most brilliant maxim on sociology ever written is Chinese: “Gold is tested by fire: Man is tested by gold.” On this subject of hardships, Mencius himself wrote, in 315 B.C.: “When Heaven (Tien) is about to confer a responsible office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering and his sinews and bones with toil. It exposes his body to hunger and subjects him to extreme poverty. It confounds his bravest undertakings. By all these methods it China has specialized in localization, or home rule. Even in charities this operates. No province, district or city encourages any other district’s imposing its public charges upon it. To illustrate, we shall say that your Chinese interpreter and his wife have accompanied you from Amoy to Chingtu City. The interpreter dies. If you do not send the woman back to Amoy, she will report to the Amoy Guild in Chingtu. That guild will subscribe and send her on her way as far as Chungking, where the Amoy Guild will subscribe and send her in care of the Amoy Guild at Hankau. Eventually, to her great pleasure no doubt, she will reach her people in Amoy. A widow is not molested on her travels; her persistence in widowhood and desire not to sell herself, either as a second wife, slave or strumpet, are highly respected. She would not be encouraged, however, nor would she desire to remain in Chingtu, where, being a stranger, she would be unable to secure employment. The same system would operate inversely if a Chingtu woman were, through misfortune, stranded in far-away Amoy. The Chingtu Guilds in Amoy, Fuchau, Shanghai, Hankau, etc., would relay her onward to her home, where she would be more likely to secure work, remarriage, or properly be a charge upon her own community. A criminal is treated in the same way. He is driven on toward his own community, which can elect whether The community, closely related in cousinship, makes the family clan responsible for the misfortunes and crimes of its members. If a criminal breaks the law, the law does not bother itself long with the criminal. By one fell swoop it makes the clan take the criminal’s course in hand for the rest of his life. There is much talk of revising China’s code, the slogan being the American maxim: “Crime is personal.” China’s code in this particular does not need revision. It saves the state much expense; it is more effective also in real permanent reform. It is the most scientific system of reform ever invented, and beats all farming out of criminals, parole, coals of kindness, pellets of advice, pardons, abolishing of stripes, preachings, coddlings, threats, music-treatment, trepannings, religious advice, hypnotic treatment, flowers, sentiment, visits of the jail angel, etc.! Don’t whip the criminal alone; whip the criminal’s six elder brothers and cousins because they must have been lax in instruction and watch. They will see that never again will they suffer for the scamp’s dereliction! The Chinese say, “Don’t whip your trusts; whip your electorate! They will forever after see that the trusts do not break bounds; they will watch the charters.” Guilt then is not personal; it is communal. We are our brother’s keeper, and if we allow him to meet with misfortune or do wrong, we must suffer with him. How quickly would the Chinese scientific system of localization and communism correct and limit crime, poverty and misfortune. British vessels trading in China are manned entirely with Chinese crews. During the dock strike in Britain, in August, 1911, the dockers refused to handle the cargoes of vessels We shall hear more and more of international boycotts by the Chinese, and should study the question. They hover on the borderland of justice, and are recommended by many of “The chain is as strong as its weakest ring, and a corporation is as moral as its most corrupt director.” “Taking rocks away makes a smooth stream, as removing wrongs makes a placid nation.” “We can’t all agree exactly, for many faces, many minds, and the ten fingers are not all of one length; but they are all useful.” “Money covers a multitude of sins.” “Fire will burn through anything, and money will get through anything.” “The deeper you go in your cave, the smaller seems your heaven.” “A living poor man is better than a dead rich man.” “Some have had a thousand years of sorrow in a hundred years of life.” “You may think you’re on the right way, but you lose nothing by asking.” “You can’t carve much on a rotten stick.” “Some dogs are so intent on chasing the rabbit that they don’t see the tiger chasing them.” “Right is the only might that lasts.” “Of all the fools the greatest is the miser. He breaks his back with the burden which he carries when the goal is in sight.” “Before you beat an irresponsible dog for its howl, think of the manners you owe to its master.” “If you would have a long twilight of life, you must begin old age early.” “Riches may ornament a wall, but only virtue can adorn a person.” “When you are rich the whole world is your cousin; when you are poor, even your cousin doesn’t know you.” “He who deserves an increase in his wage is a coward if he does not ask for it.” “It’s a pretty mean traveler who destroys the bridge which has served his purpose; there are other brother-travelers.” “With money you can yell like a lion; without it you must squeak like a mouse.” “There were two fools: one when he was poor thought of days of riches; the other when he was rich never thought of days of poverty.” “A kind stranger at hand is better than a cold relative afar.” “Repentance is only good when it looks forward.” “Be hard on yourself and easy on your fellows.” “The same thing can be fact to a friend and fiction to a foe.” “Rough food is strongest, as rough wool is warmest.” “Emulation is only proper in charities.” “Charity is like smoking, hard to learn and hard to stop.” “Jewels in a pig’s nose and riches in a snob’s hand.” “He gives more who gives a penny to the poor than he who adds a fortune to the wealth of the rich.” “Those who rose from nothing lord it most.” “Get at the cause rather than attack the effect.” “A headlong hero is not so good as a timid man who knows just what he is after.” “If you would serve a fair master, work for yourself.” “Once books, art, music, poetry and gardening used to interest “The best place to await your enemy is at the graveyard boundary, for he must pass there at last.” “Another mouth at the table shrinks the bowl on the fire.” “You can only give a man a stone for bread once.” “The old boat is full of nails, and the old man is full of experiences.” |