a. The Silk Industry
Silk is a Chinese discovery and was used as a material for clothes for many thousands of years before the Christian Era. It is one of the important national industries of China. Up to recent times, China was the only country that supplied silk to the world. But now this dominant trade has been taken away from China by Japan, Italy and France, because those countries have adopted scientific methods for silk culture and manufacture, while China still uses the same old methods of many thousand years ago. As the world's demand for silk is increasing daily, the improvement of the culture and manufacture of silk will be a very profitable undertaking. In this International Development Scheme, I suggest first that scientific bureaus be established in every silk district to give directions to the farmers and to provide healthy silk-worm eggs. These bureaus should be under central control. At the same time, they will act as collecting stations for cocoons so as to secure a fair price for the farmers. Secondly, silk filiatures with up-to-date machinery should be established in suitable districts to reel the silk for home as well as for foreign consumption. And lastly, modern factories should be put up for manufacturing silk for both home and foreign markets. All silk filiatures and factories should be under a single national control and will be financed with foreign capital and supervised by experts to secure the best economic results and to produce better and cheaper commodities.
b. The Linen Industry
This is an old Chinese industry. In southern China there is produced a kind of very fine linen in the form of ramie, known as China-grass. This fiber if treated by modern methods and machinery becomes almost as fine and glossy as silk. But in China, so far as I know, there is not yet such new method and machinery for the manufacturing of this linen. The famous Chinese grass-cloth is manufactured by the old method of hand-looms. I propose that new methods and machinery be introduced into China by this International Development Organization to manufacture this linen. A system of modern factories should be established all over the ramie-producing districts in South China where raw materials and labor are obtainable.
c. The Cotton Industry
Cotton is a foreign product which was introduced into China centuries ago. It became a very important Chinese industry during the hand-loom age. But after the import of foreign cotton goods into China, this native handicraft industry was gradually killed by the foreign trade. So, great quantities of raw cotton are exported and finished cotton goods are imported in large quantities into China. What an anomaly when we consider the enormous, cheap labor in China. However a few cotton mills have been started recently in treaty ports which have made enormous profits. It is reported that during the last two or three years most of the Shanghai cotton mills declared a dividend of 100 per cent and some even 200 per cent! The demand for cotton goods in China is very great but the supply falls short. It is necessary to put up more mills in China for cotton manufacturing. Therefore, I suggest in this International Development Scheme to put up a system of large cotton mills all over the cotton-producing districts under one central national control. Thus the best economic results will be obtained and cotton goods can be supplied to the people at a lower cost.
d. The Woolen Industry
Although the whole of Northwestern China—about two-thirds of the entire country is a pastural land yet the woolen industry has never been developed. Every year, plenty of raw materials are exported from China on the one hand and plenty of finished woolen goods imported on the other. Judging by the import and export of the woolen trade the development of woolen industry in China will surely be a profitable business. I suggest that scientific methods be applied to the raising of sheep and to the treatment of wool so as to improve the quality and increase the quantity. Modern factories should be established all over northwestern China for manufacturing all kinds of finished woolen goods. Here we have the raw materials, cheap labor and unlimited market. What we want for the development of this industry is foreign capital and experts. This will be one of the most remunerative projects in our International Development Scheme, for the industry will be a new one and there will be no private competitors on the field.