New Britain herald., 1927-07-15
CHINESE PROBLEMS
 BEING WORKED OUT.
Nationalist Govt. Authorities
 frying Improvements

Hankow. July 15. (UP)-Nation- alist Government authorities are working on plans designed to bring lbout far-reaching extensions and improvements in China's systems of communications, Sun Flo. son of the late Dr. Sun Yat-sen and Minister of Communications in the National ist Government. told the United Press in an interview here.
 These plans. Sun frankly, admit ted. are necessarily things of the fu- ture. rather than of the present 1 Wars are in progress. revenue is relatively scanty and now largely diverted to military affairs. and i while ,the Wuhan Nationalist Gov ernment fights for its existence {, there can be no widespread com , munications improvements.
 "Unification of the country must come first, :" explained Sun. Once that is. accomplished, we purpose to put through comprehensive scheme of administrative changes making for an efficiency which will greatly increase government rev. enues without burdening the people. i jfNational revenues can be made three times the present amount within a year of the time we under take this, we believe. This will be due solely to more efficient admin ;4ration We have already shown ! tHat it can be done. In kwantung 1 province the yearly revenues used to bS thirty-five million Mexican dol lars; we increased this to around s1oo. ooo 900 by the efficient and honest governmental methods and without increasing the burdens on the people,"
 The land tax is at present based on the old Manchu figures compiled ! 7oo years ago Sun continued. Now this tax is wholly out of date, for 1 1t took into account land yields and market prices of these yields which l aie today meaningless. Some fea- lures are laughable, he declared. l Families are taxed for land they | sold perhaps fifty years ago, simply beeca use their names still appear on l the tax. books as owners; new own ] eFS escape sWlC1Oul ldA oeSdooo S1ASJ l are not listed as owners.
 Sun explained something of the | new policy on land distribution in arnplification of the tax statement. In Human province, ten million peasants have been organized into | peasants unions as first step to- ward improving both their condi- hot of hn nj First the landless peasants. a vir- 1 tual serf class, came into the unions; | next came those who were barely 1 self-sufficient and finally the so- called rich peasants who are able to make small yearly profit.
 Lani taxes have in the past been collected from landlord class who | were united against alterations in rate or practice. The landlords in i turn collected as high as eighty l per centy of the yearly yield as rental, making it necessary for their tenants to chop wood and engage in | similar enterprises to subsist. Now the maximum rent has been set by law at forty per cent of the yield, . and plans are on foot to eliminate , the large landholders altogether, obtaining the land for the govern ! ment and parceling it out to the peasants who would then pay taxes direct to the government.
 Apparently the plan for taking over the land is not thoroughly rre- pared. There may be appropriation on a scheme of gradual payment to the landlord from the proceeds of future taxes Figures 50 far compiled indicate that by direct collection of taxes from the land workers, around Mex. $5o,oeo,ooo (about U s.t $e5,0D0, 0,0Oo) can be obtained in Human instead of the present $3oo,- [ e9o, and that the government should net Mex. $3o,o00,ooo after paying the share of the landlords.
 Widespread work must be done in: a number of directions, Sun con- tipued. Village Government must be reorganized.- or rather organized for the first time to replace the present condition of virtual anarchy. Lut with all this work well under way. the complete national revenues should total more than billion Mex. dollars year in place of the present $400,0o0,o00, and com mhnications systems will be among the first beneflciaries.
 Work contemplated included ac- cqrding to Sun, railway building, port development, highways, city hpildinR and renovation of old canals and construction of new ones aA well as dike building and other river conservancy work.
 lone of the biggest jobs which will receive priority is completion of the Hankow-Canton railway, Sun said. This is a difficult piece of work which will require three or