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vur MELGEEGUS my We have many misvenceptions, suys Pear! Bush, UR Amertcan policy toward Cama today is in an interesting state ef flux. No one knows quite what it should be, and therefore no one cam do “more than gueag what tt ia going to: be. It may be wise enough for us to do noth- ing for a brief space, during perplexity, so far as China is concerned, but equally wise would it be to do some preparatory attic cleaning meanwhile in our own minds, for there is an amaxing amount of trash in our mental attics when it comes to the Chinese. Age-old fragments of misinformation | clutter our thinking, and added to the ge accumulation 1s new misinformae- n, ladied out by persona who have been in China very recently, very briefly, and who have gone there with a job to do, & purpose to accomplish—a fatal atmos- and they prevent adeption of a sound policy. Dy PRARL &. BUCH ligtous, political and military, are usually failures. It will not be possible very eoon to clear our attics entirely of the residues of a century or so, but certain large and cum- bersome myths might be cast into the bottom of the sea for good and al). First of all, 1 would reject the myth That China's basic problem is hunger. It will be a myth difficult to relinquish, for it is an casy explanation of Chins’s troubles. A hungry man can siways be handed bread and the bread then Decomes a debt. Did I not feed and im spite of consequent continued re- gional civil war, the Chinese fed them- ealves heartily and well, as Urey have Gone for a very long time indeed. True, there were occasional famines, of which Americans beard very much through other Americans, Mostly kindhearted missionaries. But these famines were not the result of basic food shortage. They were caused by catastrophe, by food or drought Flood and drought are not al- ways preventable but they are always local. . Uunina Chinese country road on donkey and man back. During the eight years of the last war. of course, many farm families Med and the food situation was disrupted, and local disruptions will continue until the country has peace. Yet in spite of war and dis- turbance the Chinese farmer even now produces vast quantities of food which he would be glad to market more widely Were it possible. The Chinese earth is neh in food production. and the Chinese farm- er is skilled in conserving the sail Tax Chinese are farmers of forty centuries and there thes have much to teach the reat of the wurid They need help in scientific seed selection ard in dis- ease and insect contrel, which Can easily be given them The primary need uf the you when you were hungry? Thus bread turne into stone. phere in which lo approach any peo- ple No ane who goes with a mission to & people ever learna anything about them, neither what they are nor what they want. It is inevitable that most missions, re- Chinese farmer, therefure, 14 not food bur More marketa for tre food he nas The abundance of feed production .n China is more than tne result of ner essits The Chinese are extremes Modern in herr outlook on life Centuries before Reming: way set the faanton for natura fer America’s young omen ard wemen ine Chinese were naturatist oi their very marrow Every Continue fo Page 85° China's vast terntory, much larger than ourn, can easily remedy any local famine, were there roeds enough. Lack of com- munications is a basic problem in China and has been (or a very long time. In my own experience it was often cheaper and actually easier in some famines to ship wheat acroes the Pacific Ocean from the United Statea and Canada than it was to bring it over three hundred mules of Veto \bow I>fy9 A Nea ioe a Fle Ansar e Letters CHINA'S FrooD To THe Rite It was indeed heartening to read Pear! Bucks ‘Qur Dan- gerous Myths Aboul China,” which contained the gratifying information that China is prac: tically bursting with faod Thus apparently explodes the argument advanced by agr- cultura) scientists to the effect that epproximatel: 24 acres of arable land are required for the comfortable preservelon of each person According to government statustics, Chins possesees about half an acre of arable land for each person J.T. BULMAN Waahington Tax «: actual fact is that hunger is not China's chief problem. Anyone who lived in China before the last war knows that in spite of the overthrow of one govern- ment and the setting up of a new military government under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, never thoroughly accompliabed, a PEARL $. BUCK, Nobel pre winner, led ia Chine for many yearn. For “The Good Earth” the tecerved the Pubtzer pra wa 1932. Her letest boot « “Kiafolt,” published earty tha veer. MAGAZINE. OCTOBER 25. 1848.