DR. KAGAWA AND JAPAN.

Waikato Times, Volume 117, Issue 19596, 7 June 1935, Page 7

DR. KAGAWA AND JAPAN.

1 . j (To the Editor.) j Sir, —Having read with no small * interest the very fine letter headed £ “Kagavva," by Mr J. H. Furnlss, I J should like to comment thereon. [ In one of his speeches in Auckland Dr. Kagavva was reported to have 1 stated that the troubles of Die ( Japanese farmers were 'due to two ' things—one that over 70 per cent, of E them were tenant farmers and the 1 oilier that they had no sheep. In New ( Zealand wo have millions of sheep, 1 so we can -eliminate the sheep from the Japanese problem, seeing that the multitude of them we have docs not 1 free us from similar economic worries. I fancy that Dr. Kagavva knows that 5 Japan’s troubles are, Dice ours, duo not ! to the absence of sheep, but to the , presence of too. many goats (of the biped species), when it comes to 1 straight economics. We will find the 1 | trouble Is the other factor left—the , I land system- I have here a summary , of the history and economics of Japan for centuries past,.and the only time the country enjoyed peace and prosnerit.v seems tn linvn linen in the Inller

l-uiuiv aeeina lu jmvu jjuuii in mu ituioi part of the tenth century, and up to about 1185. This was the period of the Great Restoration, Prince NakaOhye having headed the revolution by giving his land back to the State, and all others followed. This was ttic Golden Age of Japan, when the Buddhist fine arts flourished and there was plenty for all. The State revenue was secured, purely from Die land rentals, or economic rent of land; and the facts arc exactly the opposite of Die misrepresentation given in a certain journal with which Mr Furniss is officially associated; so if lie wants Die cause of social welfare served 1 am giving him the Dp as to where lie can begin. Unfortunately for the Japanese, they were like all other human beings everywhere, inasmuch as they forgot I that eternal vigilance is the price of 1 human freedom and justice, and they | allowed one family to become loo! I powerful and to overthrow ihe good system. This family then founded j Die Samurai, or military caste, which ' lived as parasites, forcing tribute from the producers. A similar thing hap- ' pened in Argentina in the thirteenth century, when there waa terrible dis-

tress just as we have now. A leader named Ridavla freed the land from the grip of the landlord vested interest, and, as in Japan, abolished taxation, using land rentals instead. The people were happy and prosperous until an outside military conqueror swooped down, defeated the inhabitants, and parcelled the land out among his generals and officers, and Argentina has known no real peace and prosperity from that day to this. There is nothing wrong with Nature, and we cannot improve upon the laws of Providence for the running of the universe, and where there is neither squalid poverty, with its threat to life, nor opulent wealth, with its decadence, the population will balance naturally with conditions. Mr Furniss mentioned several famous men, including Professor Albert Einstein, stated by competent commentators to be the greatest ■scientific and mathematical brain on earth to-day, the late Sir Isaac Newton being alone comparable. Well, It happens that Einstein has made a study of social conditions, and is a great champion of human liberty, and voluntarily exiled himself from Germany in that behalf. Einstein docs not hold with that mass inferiority com- j plex which bows down to dictatorships. It may interest Mr Furniss to know that Einstein is a believer in land restoration. In one letter to Airs Anna George de Mille, granddaughter of Henry George, he writes of “the extraordinary foresight of this great personality”; and in another, “1 thank you for your fine friendliness. I have already read Henry George’s great book, and really learned a great deal from it. Yc-sterday evening I read with admiration the address about 'Moses. “Men like Henry George are rare, unfortunately. One cannot imagine a more beautiful combination of intellectual keenness, artistic form and fervent love of justice. Every line is written as if for our generation. The spreading of these works is a really deserving cause, for our generation especially has many and important things to learn from Henry George.” My view is that we musi sweep away all forms of monopoly and privilege, and my reading of history, and of 11 1 e present silnation, leads me to the conviction I hat. whatever else may have lo be done, Hie land system has to be reformed in the light of the riicla that the “profit of the earth is for all” (rentals on bare land and royalties on natural products). 1

must thank Mr Furniss for a thoughtprovoking letter. —I am, etc., t. e. mcmillan. Matamata, June 4, 1935. P.S. —The land restoration policy means full free trade; as the Japanese are very poor emigrants and colonists, even nearer home, what more could they desire of New Zealand? —T. E. McM.