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THE CHINA CRITIC
March 13, 1930
March 13, 1930
THE CHINA
CRITIC
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tional character as found in Mr. Bertrand Russell's Problem of China or in Professor Schiller's Eugenics and Politics.
Unemployment Question
HE question of unemployment has always been a
Complicated one.
On the one hand, we have the problem of the unemployed, of those able-bodied and alert-minded men and women who, by the force of mere circumstances, over which they have no direct control, are thrown out of their regular employment. Among those uncontrollable circumstances are industrial de- pression, change of capital-form, evolution in the pro- ductive processes all of which are more or less inher ent in the present capitalistic system. Of course, un- employment has been known to exist long before the coming into being of the present stage of industrial de- velopment. It prevailed among a hunting tribe when the animal supply became exhausted in the neighboring forest. It prevailed among an agricultural community when a famine hit the land, and when nothing was left for men to do but to wait and to starve. The introduc- tion of the factory system, however, has brought the question to the fore. As never before, the laboring masses are grouped into close and compact units; all economic vicissitudes affect the members of the same unit in more or less the same way; and unemployment, when it should occur, is in such magnitude and with such severity that it compels the closest attention of economic students. Authorities differ as to what shape the remedies to the situation may take; but they are at one in that some remedies must be effected. These remedies, however, would not do for another highly
important and allied problem, namely, the problem of the unemployable. The unemployable may be classed into the following catagories: the bodily disabled; the feebleminded; and those who have a tolerably strong body and a balanced mind, but who, from either instinct or habit, refuse to work, or refuse to do useful work. For the first two classes of people, the solution is com- paratively easy. Their place is either in the hospital, or in the asylum. The last class can be sent to neither of these places; but the world would be a much more desirable place to live in if this class should become totally extinct, either through a proper mode of educa- tion or through being stamped altogether out of exist- ence. While we sympathize fully with those unforty- nates who are unemployed through no fault of their own, we cannot look or even think of with non-chalance
the class of persons who are unemployable, and who are the monkey wrench in the machinery of social progress.
Student Revolt in the Philippines CCORDING to Reuter's report, the parents of 6,300
A high school students have supported their sons
and daughters in their strike, which arose over alleged derogatory and insulting remarks made by Mabele Brummitt, an American teacher of senior class mathe- matics. It is claimed that the American teacher called
the Filipinos "savages, simmering idiots, contemptibl cads, and half-civilized," Reuter added, in the usual Reuterian phraseology, that "communists" took advant- age of the trouble to create troubles for the authorities. and Reuter called this "the strangest rebellion of stu- dents" which, to our less sophisticated way of thinking, does not seem even a bit strange. If a Filipino teacher in any American school should be thick-headed enough to apply the same epithets to the American people, it would be quite clear even to Reuter's press agents that it does not require "communists" to raise a hell of a hullaballoo against the Filipino teacher. We say this because we are familiar with Reuter's way of reporting this kind of incidents. Of course, Reuter never forgets to report also that one student was knifed and another school girl was maltreated in front of the school where she was trying to attend classes. And, of course, "the communists, full of zeal and activity during the earlier apparently frightened at the publicity given to them in stages of the strike, have now dropped out of sight,
the newspaper, etc." We are surprised that Reuter forgot to call the parents of these school students a "mob" this time. It usually does so. That is the easiest way of coming out of the mess with a clear conscience by supposing the peace-loving and orderly elements of society to be entirely in favor of having their own cads, and half-civilized." In fact, Reuter almost makes people called "savages, simmering idiots, contemptible
us believe that they would love it. But the emphasis on the disorderliness and irregularities of the revolt does not mislead the thinking public from the real issue of the revolt. The point is that no nation likes to be call- ed names any more than individuals do, and that, in ably be lynched, instead of being just “dismissed" from America, our hypothetical Filipino teacher would prob-
the school. There are always members in a foreign anything good in a foreign people, and such things will community who are congenitally incapable of seeing always happen. It is only right that the American au- thorities in the Philippines should not stand for this kind of anti-Filipine behaviour, which could only bring about bad feelings between the natives and the Americans. We are not so sure who is the sinner in this case, Miss Brummitt, or the striking students. If the outrageous conduct of Miss Brummitt is not strongly discouraged by the American authorities in open and unequivocal terms, we are afraid, there will be more "disgraceful tides of juvenile sentiment" for the Reuter agent to re- port in future. There are forms of pig-headed thinking "disgraceful" as any tide of juvenile sentiment or any and pig-headed social behaviour which are just as "communist" agitation, but which our Reuter's agent will never open his eyes to see.
Pyjamas and Politics
CCORDING to a report from New Orleans, a grave
A international incident was almost precipitated by
the unconventional attire of Governor Long of Louisiana when receiving the Commander of the German cruiser Emden and the German Consul-General in New Orleans on March 4. Governor Long had the unconventional
lea of appearing in his "green silk pyjamas, a red dressing gown and blue bedroom slippers," acting on the Christian principle of treating all men like his brothers, or "like home folks," as Governor Long himself put it. Naturally the German representatives resented being treated on this familiar footing, and what might have developed into an international incident was diplo matically averted by the firing of seventeen guns in honour of the German visitors and the return call of Governor Long “in formal morning attire, borrowed from friends, but carrying a bowler hat." It is rather rare to find a man with such unconventional ideas in the person of a governor one might, for instance, easily imagine Bernard Shaw or James Barrie doing the stunt, but Mr. Long told the press representative that he knew nothing about diplomacy, and that he "was brought up in the hills and only happened to become a State governor by accident." All the same, we suspect the most conven- tional and seasoned diplomats in the world are secretly in sympathy with the Louisiana governor, and would be eternally grateful to a world which could excuse them from wearing stiff collars, starched shirt-fronts and those wonderful strait jackets human civilization has decreed for our ambassadors. At the same time, we can sympathize with the German commander in resenting that too brotherly treatment: we do not think this is entirely due to the German love for official pomp; the
English fear of such "scandalous conduct" is probably just as great. This shows the Chinese are not the only sticklers for form, but it shows also that there is a human element in this silly social etiquette which can- not be ignored even in international relationships. And the social etiquette between the foreigners and Chinese rubbing shoulders with each other everyday in Shanghai leaves a great deal to be desired. There is a current anecdote about a Chinese professor trying to humiliate a foreign visitor at the university library by purposely sitting on the table and letting his shoes fall to the ground and showing his broken stockings when the lat- ter passed by. He thought he had thereby successfully humiliated the foreign gentleman. But we also daily see foreign passengers in the trams and buses getting angry with Chinese conductors for not understanding their English language, or catching hold of Chinese fellow passengers by the waist and forcing them to close the front door, which the latter had neglected shutting when coming in from the cold weather. Most Chinese conduc- tors have probably learned the English "sorry" or "pardon," but we do not think one per cent of the foreign community in Shanghai know yet the Chinese phrase "tui pu chu." Will they ever learn it? It is little fric- tions of this kind after all that go to make the sino- foreign relationships unnecessarily unpleasant in this city.
The Ministry of Finance Report
It is with mixed feelings that the report of the Ministry of Finance for 1928-29 was received by the Chinese public. On the one hand, we feel encouraged that the action taken by the Minister of Finance in giving an account of the country's finances is undoubted- ly a sign of the growth of democratic ideas in China Though not exactly a budget, a report of this kind is something new to the Chinese people and augurs well for public control of national revenues and expenditure. We also feel encouraged at the various reforms intro- duced by the Ministry of Finance inspite of adverse cir- cumstances. On the other hand, it is distressing to note how much more could possibly have been accomplished had it not been for the civil wars which continued to embarrass the country since the founding of the National Government. It is indeed a sad coincidence that the report which forms a strong condemnation of civil strife was issued at a time when another war was threatening the country.
The Minister of Finance is to be complimented for his frank and outspoken statements on what ails the national finances. As his report shows, almost half the receipts were swallowed up by military expenditure in- curred to prevent internal disruption. The receipts ,totalled $434,440,712. Of this sum the Central Govern- and ment spent $147,155,371 for military purposes, $62,381,579 was disbursed directly by the provinces. It may be reasonably supposed that the serious situation as revealed by these figures had the good effect of helping
(According
to avert the threatened war in the north. to the latest dispatches, the Northern secessionist move- ment has collapsed and the possibility of fighting has been removed). At least let us hope the report did produce such effects on the minds of the military lead-
ers.
However, there are a few facts which may be noted with optimism. First of all is the improvement in the Salt Gabelle. According to the Finance Minister, at the beginning of the fiscal year the salt revenue was at a very low ebb both as regards revenue collected and in point of administration. The Central Government had only three provinces under control-Kiangsu, Chekiang and Anhwei—and a large part of the revenue was pledged for war loans. The Salt Inspectorate was all but dis- integrated. But he shows how the revenue picked up until. before the outbreak of civil war in the fall, it rivalled the halcyon days of the Salt Gabelle. This illustrates how a great surge forward is possible if only peace and order can be restored.
Secondly, the effort of the Ministry to restore China's financial credit deserves high praises. The Min- ister declares that although during the great part of its life the Government has been confronted with the mere task of defending its existence, it early realized the im- portance of dealing with the problem of national in- debtedness in arrears. The Ministry has been setting aside $5,000,000 annually toward the final scheme of
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