The Washington times., 1921-11-07

Fooh as Teacher.
Tho World Kaleidoscope.
China Tried Communism.
SslfIshness as handspring.
y ARTHUR BRISBANE
(Copyrisht. Is1i.)

udlrac could have imagined.
School teachers of this country,
more than soldiers, OF any other
class. are interested in Foch.
Until the war and its great
opportunity came. Foch was first
of all a teacher. He taught mill
.ary science to French boys.
When the Allies decided to put In
his hand control Of all the nations
against Germany. he proved what
has often been proved before,
that the teacher who understands
his theory also understands PRAC-
rICE.
While Foch was teaching he was
studying. He had stored within
his own brain the thinking methods
of Napoleon and other fighters.
And swiftly he went to the mark
and did the work when power was
given him.
The American people might learn
from Foch that IL would pay to
have In Congress and important
official bodies some of the best
American teachers from schools
and colleges.
Nations and governments are
like a child's kaleidoscope, ever
changing. H. G. Wells reminds
you that the two oldest govern
ments in Europe are under Lloyd
George and Lenin. The Com
munist ruler outlasted as premier
every European except one.
Thoughtlessness might ask:
"Can nations whose government
changes constantly expect to
achieve real power?"
The answer is another ques-
tion by D. Shkurkin, in a Russian
Liberal monthly: "Is there any
European state that has existed
over a thousand years? China
has existed for no less than five
thousand years"
And China, as old as the great
redwood trees in California, is,
like those trees, in great danger,
begging for protection.
Shkurkin's article, reproduced
in that admirable publication,
THE LIVING AGE, reminds you
China, ages ago, made her ex-
periments and failures in altru-
ism and communism. Twelve
hundred years ago the Chinese
prime minister, Wsn-Man, nephew
of the emperor's wife, father-in-
law of the young emperor, poi
soned that young emperor and
made himself ruler.
To weaken his enemies and
get the people on his side, he
inaugurated Chinese single tax
All land was made property
of the state. The richest man
could keep only twelve acres and
eight slaves to work the land.
All other slaves were set free.
Wan-Man was murdered and
his scheme fell to the ground.
A little later, in 1860, Wan
An-Shi convinced the Emperor
n.Tsun that all wealth and
all taxation should be divided
equally.
All grain was sold the Govern
ment at a fixed price. Farmers
were allowed to borrow money
for the spring work: taxes were
paid in goods instead of money.
An effort was made to fight big
incomes. The regular army was
abolished, etc.
Then came crop failure, starva-
ton, ferocious invading nomads
from the North. That scheme
1b1leu anu pIOpctsy iuiSu hS"'
Emperor at the top: princes,
mobiles, and mandarins below;
and poor devils that amounted
to nothing at the bottom.
So it is now in China and else
where. So it will be for many
a year until poor devils at the
bottom know good deal more
than they know now.
Downfall of Chinese Commu-
nism, because Of bad crops, is, as
YOU notice. repeated in the down
fall of the Russians effort--bad
crops and famine there. Read
the geographical and historical
works of Eli Reclus. His main
work, "Man and the Earth" will
enable you to study the present,
in the light of the past, better
than any other book.
Henry Ford says that history
Is bunk" It is more than that.
It Is to the human mind what
electric light is to a factory at