PART V
The Printing Industry
This industry provides man with intellectual food. It is a necessity of modern society, without which mankind cannot progress. All human activities are recorded, and all human knowledge is stored in printing. It is a great factor of civilization. The progress and civilization of different nations of the world are measured largely by the quantity of printed matter they turned out annually. China, though the nation that invented printing, is very backward in the development of its printing industry. In our International Development Scheme, the printing industry must also be given a place. If China is developed industrially according to the lines which I suggested, the demand for printed matter by the four hundred millions will be exceedingly great. In order to meet this demand efficiently, a system of large printing houses must be established in all large cities in the country, to undertake printing of all kinds from newspapers to encyclopædia. The best modern books on various subjects in different countries should be translated into Chinese and published in cheap edition form for the general public in China. All the publishing houses should be organized under one common management, so as to secure the best economic results.
In order to make printed matter cheap, other subsidiary industries must be developed at the same time. The most important of these is the paper industry. At present all the paper used by newspapers in China is imported. And the demand for paper is increasing every day. China has plenty of raw materials for making paper, such as the vast virgin forests of the northwestern part of the country, and the wild reeds of the Yangtze and its neighboring swamps which would furnish the best pulps. So, large plants for manufacturing papers should be put up in suitable locations. Besides the paper factories, ink factories, type foundries, printing machine factories, etc., should be established under a central management to produce everything that is needed in the printing industry.
[PROGRAM VI]
The Mining Industry
Mining and farming are the two most important means of producing raw materials for industries. As farming is to produce food for man, so mining is to produce food for machinery. Machinery is the tree of modern industries, and the mining industry is the root of machinery. Thus, without the mining industry there would be no machinery, and without machinery there would be no modern industries which have revolutionized the economic conditions of mankind. The mining industry, after all, is the greatest factor of material civilization and economic progress. Although in the fifth part of the first program I suggested the development of the iron and coal fields in Chili and Shansi as an auxiliary project for the development of the Great Northern Port, still, a special program should be devoted to mining in general. The mineral lands of China belong to the state, and mining in China is still in its infancy. So to develop the mining industry from the outset as a state enterprise would be a sound economic measure. But mining in general is very risky and to enlist foreign capital in its development in a wholesale manner is unadvisable. Therefore, only such mining projects which are sure to be profitable will be brought under the International Development Scheme. I shall formulate this mining program as follows:
I. The Mining of Iron.
II. The Mining of Coal.
III. The Mining of Oil.
IV. The Mining of Copper.
V. The Working of Some Particular Mines.
VI. The Manufacture of Mining Machinery.
VII. The Establishment of Smelting Plants.