PROMPT PROPOSALS FOR AMERICAN ACTION
The Chinese were not slow in showing what conclusions they deduced from the withdrawal of the American Government from the Six-Power Consortium. On November 27th, two cabinet ministers called on me for a private conversation. Following this interview Mr. Chang Chien, recognized master of antique Chinese learning, but also Minister of Industries and Commerce, came to me. I will relate the substance of what passed on these two occasions, beginning with Mr. Chang.
Chang Chien carried off first honours in the great metropolitan examinations of Peking under the old régime in 1899. He is a scholar par excellence of the Chinese classics, and his chirography is so famous that he has been able to support a college out of the proceeds of a sale of examples of his writing. But he has not rested satisfied with the ancient learning. In the region of his home, Nan Tung-chow, on the banks of the Yangtse, he has established schools, factories, and experiment stations for the improvement of agriculture and industry. He had financial reverses. People at this time still doubted whether he would be permanently successful, although they admitted that he had given impetus to many improvements. Since then his enterprises have flourished and multiplied. He has become a great national figure, whose words, spoken from an honest desire for right public action, have decisive weight with the nation. While he still represents the old belief that the superior man of perfect literary training should be able successfully to undertake any enterprise and to solve any practical difficulty—which belief is contrary to the demands of our complex modern life for specialization—yet he has succeeded in bending his intelligence to thoroughly modern tasks.
As would be expected from his high culture as a Chinese scholar, Mr. Chang Chien is a man of refinement and distinction of manners, than which nothing could be more considerate and more dignified. The Chinese are exceedingly sensitive to the thought and feeling of any one in whose company they happen to be; if their host is busy or preoccupied, no matter how politely he may receive them, they will nevertheless sense his difficulty and will cut their visit short. They also have great tact in turning a conversation or avoiding discussions they are not ready for, and they can do this in a manner which makes it impossible to force a discussion without impolite insistence. The smoothness and velvetiness of Chinese manners, together with the absence of all servile assent and the maintenance of complete independence of discussion, are marvellous and bear evidence to thousands of years of social training.
Mr. Chang Chien was particularly interested in river and harbour development, and in plans for the drainage of those regions of China which are subject to periodical floods. It was contemplated to establish a special conservancy bureau under whose care surveys for important projects were to be undertaken. I questioned Mr. Chang concerning the status of the Hwai River conservancy scheme for the prevention of floods in the northern portion of the provinces of Kiangsu and Anhui, the region from which he came.
"I have already established a special engineering school," he replied, "in order to train men for this work. A large part of the survey has been made, and it can be entirely completed by a further expenditure of 35,000 taels.
"Besides the enormous benefit of such a work to all the adjoining agricultural lands," he continued, "there would be reclaimed nearly 3,000,000 acres which could now not be used at all, although their soil is inexhaustibly fertile. The land thus reclaimed would be salable immediately for at least $40 an acre. Would not this alone be ample security for a large conservancy loan? $25,000,000 would do the work."
Mr. Chang was also interested in the establishment of a commercial and industrial bank, in copartnership with American capitalists. "Such a bank," he said, "would assist in furnishing the capital for the works of internal improvement."
It was quite plain that Mr. Chang looked upon a bank as an institution which would invest its capital in such enterprises—a conception which was then quite current among the Chinese. They had not yet fully realized that in the modern organization of credit a bank may act as a depository and may make temporary loans, but more permanent investments must ultimately be placed with individual capitalists, with banks acting only as underwriting and selling agencies.
As we talked about the execution of these large and useful projects, Mr. Chang repeatedly made expressions such as this: "I prefer American coöperation. I am ready to employ American experts to work out the plans and to act as supervisors. But please to bear in mind, these works may not be undertaken without raising a large part of the needed funds in the United States or in other countries."