The Manufacture of Mining Machinery
Most of the metal deposits of the earth are in small quantities
and scattered far and wide in various places. Most of the mining
enterprises resemble farming in that it is more profitable to work by
individuals and small parties. As such is the case, most of the mining
enterprises have to be worked out by private concerns. In order to
accelerate the development of mining, more liberal laws should be
adopted; education and information should be given freely by experts
employed by the state; and encouragement and financial assistance
should be given by the state and private banks. The part that the
International Development Organization should take in general mining
enterprises is to manufacture all kinds of mining tools and machinery,
and to supply them to the miners at low cost, either on cash or on
credit. By distributing tools and machinery to the surplus workers in
China, the mining industry would be developed by leaps and bounds.
And the more the mining industry is developed the more will be the
demand for tools and machinery. Thus the profits for the manufacturing
concerns would be limitless, so to speak. Of course, the factories
should be started on a small scale and be extended gradually according
to the ratio of the development of the mining industry. I suggest that
the first factory of this kind should be established at Canton, the
seaport of the southwestern mining region, where raw materials and
skilled labor can be easily obtained. The other factories should be
established in Hankow and the Great Northern Port afterwards.