General Chiang—Kai-shek's recovery of health has been signalized by the important pronouncement that, during the present summer, he hopes with the ce-operation of Mr.
Wang Ching-wei, the Chairman the Central Political Committee, to] consult educational leaders "and other experts on his programme of economic reconstruction. Specially interesting Is the Generalissimo's emphasis on the need for mobilizing' the "talent of the nation" regard-Jess of party affiliations. He has thus reaffirmed the importance of the principles which led him to appoint to the Government, from outside the ranks of the' Kuomintang, men whose specialist] Knowledge and experience were! urgently required. As Mr. L. Tsao has shown in his. official bulletin published under the aus: pices of the Council of International Affairs, excellent crop reports and the ' improvement in commodity prices have combined to make the past year one of general economic advance. Dr. LIH. Kung is supplementing his: reform of the currency by a whirlwind tour of Europe and has already achieved the satisfactory result of obtaining British and French capital to reinforce the! railway development programme to which Mr. Chang Kia-guan has} een giving such concentrated attention, Dr. Kung knows that confidence in the future must mainly depend on the progress made in carrying into effect schemes of his currency the creation of a Central Reserve Bank on sound lines and the balancing of the national Budget.
is greatly hoped that the sym. pathetic reception given to his presentation of China's economic development will be recognized by expeditious action in placing the coping stone on the structure devised in November 1935.
General Chiang Kai-shek's crea tion of the programme of econo mie reconstruction dated from August 1935 when he laid down eight principal works for the movement {0 develop: promotion of the labour conscription system, development of agriculture, re= claiming barren land and cattle raising, control of consumption, industrial development, opening of mines,—improving transport commodities, controlling currency and fnanee. In July 1936 the People's Economic' Reconstruction Movement. Commission was estab-
Ushed at Nanking and the provincial administration were ordered to form branches and sub-branches to enable the Commission's labours to function throughout the country. The programme was ambitious and success in eventually carrying it into effect will depend on the extent to which the Government can command ce-operation from' the people at large and from the subordinate administrations which represent it in the provinces, counties and districts. Tt would be idle to pretend that in the short time whic has elapsed substantial progress has been made in every part of the country. The field is so immense, the difulties—so great that only those who believe in the efficacy of a magic wand could be deluded into thinking that the establishment of the Commi sion was equivalent to "omprehensive attainment of its aims. By} an undesigned coineivence the: phnouncement made by the Gencralissimo in Kuling was puStished in the same issue of this journal] as contained a vivid despatch on! the conditions in the tin mines o:
Yunnan by Mr. W. Lewisohn, who has been making one of the most reniarkable motor-car _tours ever attempted in modern China. Mr, Lewisohn's account of the ghastly reeruitment—or—rather forcible impressment—of child labour to work Yunnan's tin mines should be seriously studied by all who desire to effect the economic improvement of the people of this country. Yunnan is prospering from its tin industry, as it docs from the sale of its opium, but! the price in human lives—60 per cent, of the workers are children' between the ages of eight and twelve and the mortality among the miners is 30 per cent—must surely be the subject of earnest] inquiry. The League of Nations has the details in a report made: by one of its experts. It deserves equal consideration with the prob-Jem of that narcotic traffic which has lately drawn Geneva's atten tion to conditions in North China.
This distressing revelation of the fact that, desperate as is the condition of the agriculturist in Yunnan, the miner in that prov-, Ince is far worse situated shows how well-founded is General Chiang Kai-shek's perception of the vital needs of China. When such plight confronts the work-ming industry which can bring large profits to its promoters. it is apparent that. tention to the principles 50 admirably outlined by General} Chiang Kai-shek is of vital moment to the country. It will be observed that Mr. Lewisohn specially praises the administration of Yunnan where General Lung Yun has been successful in _restoring Law and order and reducing banditry. 'This improvement on the conditions previously obtaining. holds out the best prospect securing provincial ce-operation. in measures for putting the tin' mines in Yunnan on a more humane basis. Modern mining engineers should not find it impossible to suggest measures for relieving these poor people of the necessity for abandoning their children to a species of terrible but mercifully short-lived slavery. In contemplating urgent needs for! reform—and Yunnan means an isolated example—it is. not surprising that General Chiang. Kai-shek lays stress on the mobilization of the country's brain. power. There, too, he is given the best possible justification for con~ outrating on internal reform and endeavouring to avoid external complications which can only} hamper economic progress within. China, in the last few years, has received proof of the readiness of the world to afford her as much sistance in.development of her material resources as conditions, allied to her own capacity, are calculated to warrant. Japan, judging from recent official de-lorations In Tokyo, is prepared to ce-operate. Side by side with this programme of internal reconstruc~ tion the Generalissimo finds himself fully fortified in encouraging, Sino-Japanese rapprochement on terms of equality and mutual confidence. China, at least, has no incentive to dispose of awkward domestic problems by adopting an Instransigent attitude in external affairs, for peace abroad is an essential concomitant to reform at Home in the conditions as they' present themselves to the Gove ment in which General Chiang Kai shake gives so inspiring a lead.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.