University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER V

HINDRANCE TO FARMING

a. The Lord Grand Secretary: If a private individual have an
article of value, he places it in a box or cabinet and keeps it.[1]
Then what if a Ruler possesses the mountains and the seas? Now
the sources of power and profit are assuredly in the mountain
fastnesses and the depths of the marshes. Only aggressive people
can come at their wealth. In another time, before the sequestration
of salt and iron, there was among the smock-frocked[2] people one
Ping of Chü, and among the princes was the King of Wu;[3] then
the salt and iron monopoly first came up as a matter of discussion.
The King of Wu took sole control of the surplus products of the
mountains and marshes, taxed his people lightly and gave doles to
the poor and humble. Thus he established his personal prestige;
when his personal prestige was increased, his heart was moved to
rebellion. Thus you see if you do not stop the source early and
only worry about the outcome, as in the bursting through of Lü
Liang,[4] the damage will be very great. As T'ai Kung[5] said: One

family would harm a hundred families, a hundred families would
harm the nobles, and the nobles would harm the ruler of the Empire.
This is why the prohibitory laws are made to prevent it. Now to
give the people free rein to strive after power and profit and to
end the salt and iron monopoly would be to give the advantage to
the overbearing and aggressive in the pursuit of their covetous
practices. All the evil-minded would come together, cliques would
become parties — for the aggressive if not constantly curbed are
ungovernable — and combines of disorderly persons would take form.

b. The Literati: The people have their wealth at home; the
Princes have theirs in the states; the Emperor has his in the land
within the seas. Therefore the people use walls for their hiding-places
while the Emperor has all the land within the seas as a
treasure-chest. The Emperor in visiting a Prince, ascends the steps
of the Prince's palace. The Prince offers him the official keys, and
holding the whip, waits attentive for orders. This shows that he
is not the lord there. That is, the ruler does not collect his wealth
but keeps it out among the people. He keeps away from fleeting
profit and makes the social duties of the people his chief concern. When
their social duties and the rules of intercourse[6] are established, then the
people will pattern themselves after the ruler. Even if T'ang and Wu
were still living, they would have no cause for anxiety.[7] The business
of the workmen and the merchants, the duties of the iron smelters[8] —
what evil could grow out of these? The three Huan[9] maintained the
sole control of Lu, and the Six Ministers[10] divided between them
the administration of Chin without the use of the salt and iron
monopoly. Thus we see that the sources of power and profit are

not in the mountains and the seas but in the court. That one family
harms a hundred families lies behind the gate screen[11] of the [ruler's]
household and not in such fellows as Ping of Chü.

c. The Lord Grand Secretary: With restrictions upon the mountains
and the seas, the people are not subverted. With the establishment
of equilibrium in prices, the people are not suspicious. When the
magistrates set up standard weights and measures, the people
obtain what they desire.[12] Even a lad only five feet tall may be
sent to the market and no one could cheat him. If now the monopolies
be removed, then aggressive persons would control the use
and engross the profits. They would dominate the market; prices
would be raised or lowered at a word; there would be no stability
in prices, dear or cheap. These people would be sitting firmly and
would grow more aggressive. This would serve to nourish the
powerful and depress the weak, and the nation's wealth would be
hoarded by thieves. Nourish the powerful and depress the weak
and the rank and file of law-abiding people will dwindle away. It
would be like letting the weeds flourish and spoiling the grain. One
family harms a hundred families, forsooth, if this does not apply
to such as Ping of Chü, what does it mean?

d. The Literati: The material basis[13] for economic prosperity is
in the mountains and seas; life and death for the farmers lie in
their implements of iron. When these arbiters of life and death are
ready at hand to use, then enmity will perish; when enmity perishes,
then waste land will be under cultivation; when waste land is
cultivated, then grain ripens and the road to economic prosperity
is opened; when the road to prosperity is opened, then the common
people will be fed and their needs met; when the people's needs
are met, then the nation is prosperous; when the nation is prosperous
and instruction is given according to the rules of propriety, then

there will be courtesy in giving way in passing on the road and
the artisans and merchants will not compete with one another.
Men will cultivate simplicity and sincerity, with the result that they
will seek to share with others, and none will seek profit at the
expense of another.

e. Now in Ch'in, Ch'u, Yen and Ch'i[14] the quality of the soil
differs. There is variety in the methods of cultivation of heavy and
light soils. The use of large or small, the suitability of straight
or curved ploughs,[15] are different according to districts and customs.
Each has its convenient use. But when the magistrates establish
monopolies and standardize, then iron implements lose their suitability,
and the farming population loses their convenient use. When
the tools are not suited to their use, the farmer is exhausted in
the fields, and grass and weeds are not kept down. When the
grass and weeds cannot be kept down, then the people are wearied
to the point of despair.

f. Because the places where salt is crystalized and iron smelted
are in most cases in mountains and on rivers near to iron and coal,[16]
their operation is all remote and their working is laborious. The
shifts of laborers are assembled in the demesnes without any investigation
as to their liability.

g. Utilizing conscripted labor, the county and city magistrates
sometimes cheapen the equalized price and make per capita levies
[through forced sales]. People of good families are forced in their
turn to work on the roads. The transport of salt and iron cause
trouble and expense; cities are in doubt as to their population;
the people suffer bitterly. As I see it, a single magistrate damages
a thousand hamlets. All this trouble is not because of such as
Ping of Chü.