El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-12-23
for-collectIvism

clamoring for-collectIvism. Three
features characterize the systematic
universal responsibility OF the state,
the distribution Of property, ana the
regulating OF social and individual
life. These three features characterize
China of $500 years ago.
OF the responsibility Of the state,
YaO, the oldest of the great historic
emperOrs, says.
do the people feel cold2 Then I am
the one to blame. are the people hun
CRY? Are they committing grave er-
rors2 Then I alone am guilty
When he saw chained malefactors
passing by, he said:
Il am the author of their crimes
AS for the distribution, YaO and his
advisers tried to regulate il and they
regulated first wealth and production.
China's Land Law.
China" Ferrari says, began with
a land law so perfect that none OF our
modern UtOpians have dared boast of
any similar sense Of equality. The
first dynasty distributes the land to
the families. Every family receives its
share, and cultivates it half for itself
and the other half for the emperor.
Every proprietor, every one who en-
joys the use Of the land is forced 10
work under surveillance and to feel
himself as a worker for the state"
This is the only practicable way to
establish perfect equality Of condi-
necessary outgrowth of the social or
ganization, it is enough to mention it,
1t is the mandarins
It is useless to add that, complete
and logical as was this system, and
successful though was the application
Of it, il did not insure universal sat
isfaction even in these peaceful coun-
tries. The land of peace has been
ravaged by fearful wars, the density
OF the population made the massacres
worse, famines the like Of which we
have never seen raVaged the agr1cul-
tural country, and the religion left
the field open for abominable super
stitions. Man is not easily managed,
not even in hanniness and prosperity.
But 1t nevertheless came 10 pass
that China, through the methOdical
transformation Of human society into
vast agricultural and industrial
workshop, accumulated a wealth and
developed a population which was
tempting target for the avidity Of en-
terprising nations.
Chinese as Consumers.
BY their habits. their tastes. their
luxuries. the Chinese are consumers
OF the first order. Compare for in
stance, from this point Of view, an
honest inhabitant of Nankin, dresse
in silk. embroidered with gold,
ivory or jade, with some negro from
Congo whose whole dress consists Of
cotton lOinclOth. And compare the
earnings OF a railroad built through
an active population, with one thrown
across the sand deserts of Africa or
the icy plains of Siberia.
Imagine the SOIL which has barely
been scratched by agriculture, but hid
ing unexpected treasures in soil, In
minerals, in coal Imagine 1000 cities.
provinces that are kingdoms, rivers
fertilizing their valleys as does the
Nile in Egypt, mountains that are the
highest in the world, and consequently
the most powerful as reservoirs Of
dormant forces. And then tell your
self that all this is as nothing com
pared to the infinitely much greater
and more precious wealth, the wealth
Of men, Of manual labor.
Imagine that China had had the idea
Of sending to one of our expOsitions. |
not a model, but merely the estimate
Of one Of her great public works. as
Tor instance, the famous Chinese wall |
For 1000 years she worked on this
during one of the epOchs when the I
empire, believing itself to be the mas /
Ter of the universal peace, decided 70 /
adopt a defensive policy to carry
through the idea Of disarmament. They /
hen built a formidable wall to stop 4
the invasiOns of the Tartars. The |
wall is 1850 miles long with a height /
IF from 20 to % feet and six horses I
nay run abreast on the top of it. 4
L follows the fluctuations of the