MUST START RIGHT

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8295, 5 December 1912, Page 4

MUST START RIGHT

SOCIALISM IS THE IDEAL. SAYS CHINESE' REFORMER.

China Has Revolted Against Manchu rule. , “Get off our backs,”, said China. This is a Chinaman : . . Dr Sun.Yat Sen. , Looks intelligent—doesn’t he? He is intelligent Listen-: - - • ONCE UNIFIED AND PROSPEROUS CHINA WILL STAND AS A GREAT, NATION OF THE . WORLD, NOT TO BE TRIFLED WITH NOR IMPOSED UPON NOR PARTITIONED. THE TIME IS COMING WHEN CHINA CAN HOLD HER OWN AND PREVENT FOREIGN 'AGGRESSION. So greatly is the happiness of the people bound up in the material development of China that it has, for. many years, given me serious pause., .In every part of the civilised world I have seen the incessant, struggle between capital and labor which has precipitated and is being, maintained .by the expansion of industrial and commercial effort. I have seen the tremendous poverty of the weaker, witnessed the struggles of the ' stronger for a sufficiency of daily bread, and have marvelled at the constant turmoil and savage adoption of almost primitive violence by the modern trades union to secure for'the workers a living wage. During the past few years, in fact, different parts of the world have provided strikingly sensational evidence of the ends to which the skilled and the unskilled laborers have been driven to obtain what they describe,- justifiably I think, as their' rights from the' capitalists who thrive abundantly as the product of the work of the under man. All those strikes which we have Seen in Prance, among the railway men, in Australia amongst the ‘miners and the tramway men, in'. America among the coal miners, the taxicab drivers, the hotel servants and other branches of labor,, in England among the dock laborers’and miners, in Germany among the miners and others, are the direct and sole result of advanced-industrialism- In China they are practically unknown. The people have thrived on the soil free from all these distressing evidences of unrest and antagonism between the men who have little. and .those who have much. I have asked myself _ a thousand times is this terrible condition to be imposed upon China ? Who would nos hesitate 1 to bo the one to plunge this strike free land into the vortex of industrial strife. I know that industrialism is necessary in China; the march of civilisation is too insistent to be stayed and it must come to China. We must develop our resources, and the development of them provides food for serious thought. I want to avoid what seems to be the natural corollary of advanced modern capitalism—the unfair treatment o( the toiler. And when I look around me for a solution I find none has yet been found by foreign countries; 1 find the ideal is Socialism, but it cannot be applied because other countries have gone too far, and cannot • arrive at a point where capital and labor ore able to evolve a workable scheme for an equable division of the proceeds of labor and capital, AN OPPORTUNITY TO BEGIN RIGHTLY.

In, this virgin country there is opportunity to begin rightly—and I am convinced that we should strive in every way to so meet the advance of industrialism that the worst features of

it should be prevented from ever taking root. Therefore I advocate Socialism, and what do I mean by that? Not, as has been declared in thoughtlessly antagonistic quarters, a redistribution of wealth (for that is absurd) but the introduction of a system whereby the suppliers of physical necessities will be able to derive mutual benefit upon a common ground of justice and fraternity. That, after all, is the definition of Socialism. I want to see the laborer obtain the full value of his hire, and to see the Chinese work upon a co-oper-ative plan so that in the new time coming we will be able to build up a nation politically and industrially democratic, each unit dependent upon the other, all living in a sense' of mutual confidence and good will- The ideal is difficult to obtain, but one should strive for the ideal and so secure some improvement of the conditions far from the wished for stage of perfection. By' this system' production would be enhanced, and advanced to the maximum, with a minimum of poverty and labor slavery. All men would have their proportion of the products of the wealth now awaiting development at their hands; they would reap the full fruit of their toil; secure favorable conditions of labor, and obtain opportunity in leisure to think of other things than the daily grind in the mill or the mine. They would be able to cultivate the mind, have adequate recreation, and procure the blessings which should be in all men’s lives but which, on the ■showing of other nations, are largely denied the worker and the _ poorer masses. A chance would be given to all in the race for livelihood and life, and the fullest measure of liberty would be provided. This is what I want to see. When I urge a Socialistic system I urge a system which will create for the citizens a direct interest in the country that is theirs. I want to see them participate in the results of its productiveness. I want to see, too, that the State derives the fullest value from the sources of revenue which • should be under its immediate control. I advocate State ownership of railways, tramways, electric light power, and gas works, water works, canals, and forests. I want to see royalties coming to the State from mines, and revenues from the land. ■ I have in mind three main sources of revenue for the States: LAND VALUE TAXATION PLANNED.

The first is Land Value Taxation (not as a single tax) which is easy of introduction into China. Without going into details it may be said that the values of city and urban lands will bo appraised on the simple plan.of proposing the purchase. The owner will be asked to name his price, and the value given will be that upon which a tax will be levied, the proviso being made that the Government will be entitled to purchase at the. price named from, time to time whenever it may need the particular piece- of property. • The second source of revenue-will be from the railways- It is stated that in America the income from railways—which now finds its way- into private purses—is something like 700,000,000 dollars (gold)—more than sufficient for the purposes of- State administrative expenses. In China we know that railways will pay, as they come directly into Government control the whole revenue will be available for Government purposes. The third source is from mining royalties. These three sources are- at, hand, to a greater or less extent immediately, and other sources open for development are public utilities, such as water works, electric power and gas works, forestry, etc. _ The revenue derived from ell - these avenues will constitute a sum greatly in excess of what will be needed for State administration, and the balance may be used in the necessary work of education, and those more charitable but desirable objects such as old age pensions, the care of the halt, the lame, and the blind. We should look to the upbringing of our young citizens and the care of the old and feeble. ■ • Citizens of • the New China, now enjoying the blessings of enlightened government and well rid of the oppression which kept them in bondage for centuries, face a golden, happy future. All that is needed is sensible co-opera-tion. So saith this Chinaman • Who looks so intelligent And is so wise!