Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 edition. Excerpt: ...two-thirds as much grain as in the ordinary year, --that is, one hundred bushels. The government should then sell at the normal price what it has bought in the lowest grade of good crop. During the middle famine, the hundred acres yield one-half as much grain as in an ordinary year, --that is, seventy bushels. The government should now sell what it has bought in the second grade of good crop. During the great famine, the amount of grain is only one-fifth of what it is in an ordinary year, --that is, thirty bushels. The government should sell what it has bought in the first grade of good crop. Therefore, even if famine, flood and drought should occur, the price of grain would not be high, and the people would not be obliged to emigrate. This would come about because the government takes the surplus of good crops to fill the insufficiency of bad years. In other words, the government controls the excess of supply in a good year in order to meet the demand in a bad year. The policy of Li K'o is for the benefit of both society as a whole and the agricultural class. His main idea is for the welfare of the people only, and not for the finances of the state. Therefore, he is the real Confucian who stands on the side of the people and represents the purely economic doctrine in a practical scheme. When his scheme was carried out in Wei, he not only made the people rich, but also made the state strong.1 1 History of Han, ch. xxiv 2. Statement of Mcncius In the writings of Mencius we find also the same principle of adjusting the supply and demand of grain. Mencius said to King Hui of Laing: When the grain is so abundant that the dogs and swine eat the food of man, you do not make any collection for storage. When there are people dying from famine on the
