Next comes the Taochung Iron Mine, Anhui province.  “The concession which was granted to the Sino-Japanese Industrial Development Co. will be worked by the Orient Steel Manufacturing Co.  The mine is said to contain 60,000,000 tons of ore, containing 65 per cent. of pure iron.  The plan of operations provides for the production of pig iron at the rate of 170,000 tons a year, a steel mill with a capacity of 100,000 tons of steel ingots a year, and a casting and forging mill to produce 75,000 tons a year.”

The fourth mine is at Chinlingchen, in Shantung, “worked in conjunction with the Hengshan Colliery by the railway.”  I presume it is to be sold back to China along with the railway.

The fifth and last mine mentioned is the Penhsihu Mine, “one of the most promising mines in the nine mining areas in South Manchuria, where the Japanese are permitted by an exchange of Notes between the Chinese and Japanese Governments (May 25, 1915) to prospect for and operate mines.  The seam of this mine extends from near Liaoyang to the neighbourhood of Penhsihu, and in size is pronounced equal to the Tayeh mine.”  It will be observed that this mine, also, was acquired by the Japanese as a result of the ultimatum enforcing the Twenty-one Demands.  The Year Book adds:  “The Japanese Navy is purchasing some of the Penhsihu output.  Osaka ironworks placed an order for 15,000 tons in 1915 and the arsenal at Osaka in the same year accepted a tender for Penhsihu iron.”

It will be seen from these facts that, as regards iron, the Chinese have allowed the Japanese to acquire a position of vantage from which they can only be ousted with great difficulty.  Nevertheless, it is absolutely imperative that the Chinese should develop an iron and steel industry of their own on a large scale.  If they do not, they cannot preserve their national independence, their own civilization, or any of the things that make them potentially of value to the world.  It should be observed that the chief reason for which the Japanese desire Chinese iron is in order to be able to exploit and tyrannize over China.  Confucius, I understand, says nothing about iron mines;[107] therefore the old-fashioned Chinese did not realize the importance of preserving them.  Now that they are awake to the situation, it is almost too late.  I shall come back later to the question of what can be done.  For the present, let us continue our survey of facts.

It may be presumed that the population of China will always be mainly agricultural.  Tea, silk, raw cotton, grain, the soya bean, etc., are crops in which China excels.  In production of raw cotton, China is the third country in the world, India being the first and the United States the second.  There is, of course, room for great progress in agriculture, but industry is vital if China is to preserve her national independence, and it is industry that is our present topic.