over any other country. The taxation differs in the various provinces, but nevertheless there are 18 different categories of taxes to be paid by the peasants.
Another characteristic fact is that different provinces, and various categories of peasantry, have to bear the burdens of the wars waged by the militarists. In some cases taxation has reached such a point that in several provinces the generals have had the taxes collected for 86 years in advance. (Voices: Oh and laughter.) Even the revolutionary governments have collected the taxes for some years in advance, though to a much less extent than the militarists.
There are some American writers who are of the opinion that the recent economic, political and other crises in China have devastated agriculture to the extent of about 40%. It is entirely impossible to test the accuracy of this assertion, but one thing is certain and incontestable: the result of the land poverty of the peasantry, of the enormous burden of taxation, and of the unexampled oppression of the population at the hands of foreigners, who have seized the ports, the duties, and the most important taxes, is that the peasantry is being impoverished at a rapid rate. This impoverishment is so appalling that the country is overrun with millions of declassed unfortunates, who form into bands, or wander about the country. In Peking itself the number of these declassed elements is exceedingly great, and though they demand nothing of life but its barest necessities, they are literally condemned to death by starvation. Thus they are readily enlisted by any militarist, and go over from one government to another, without feeling themselves socially bound in any way. This process is a symptom of a certain disintegration of the whole economy of the country, and is the expression of the frightful impoverishment of the Chinese peasantry.
And now, comrades, in view of this situation, what are the chief difficulties and main problems presented
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