My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 428 Further Debate on the Morality of the Four Classes of People
The Yuefu Xinbao newspaper published an article about child labor in Shanxi, but this time, the newspaper did not comment on the issue.

This was Su Ze's requirement for Luo Wanhua: to only provide detailed reports and not to make moral criticisms.

As expected, this matter quickly sparked discussion in the capital's public discourse.

As Suze predicted, child labor is a “new” problem.

When faced with old problems, people always have the texts of sages as a reference, which allows them to quickly make moral judgments.

However, when faced with new problems, the positions of the various parties are quite different.

For example, the Commercial Daily, which is the most supportive of business owners, published an article defending these business owners.

This article points out that many children from impoverished families would starve to death if they could not work in factories and mines. It argues that business owners are not exploiting child laborers, but rather providing them with a way to survive.

Moreover, the employment of these child laborers was all done under contracts, and it was not illegal slave labor. It was a normal transaction between willing parties, and the employers should not be morally judged.

There was no law in the imperial court that prohibited business owners from employing child laborers.

This argument gained support from business owners, but also encountered opposition from many intellectuals with simple sentiments.

The Chinese nation has always had the saying "to care for the young as one would one's own children" and has a tradition of respecting the elderly and caring for the young.

The publication of these child laborers' experiences still aroused the indignation of these intellectuals.

He Xinyin's article was published in the Xinyuefu Daily.

The article directly raises another question: if these industrial and mining owners, or the gentry who cheered them on, were to send their children to work in these factories and mines, would they be willing?

This question hits the nail on the head, silencing those who shout for "freedom of employment."

In her article, He Xinyin also stated that the problem of child labor in Shanxi's mines is not limited to the issue of child labor; rather, it is a common problem faced by all those working in the mining industry.

Low pay, high labor intensity, and frequent mine accidents.

The Xinlefu Daily also conducted an investigation and found that in a mine owned by the Fan family in Shanxi, not a single miner had worked for more than two years.

The older miners either became disabled and could no longer continue mining, or they simply died in the mine, or they quit after working for a few months because they couldn't take it anymore.

The labor intensity in the mines is high, even adults can't handle it, let alone a child over ten years old.

But many miners had no other choice.

Shanxi has little land, so ordinary people have no choice but to work in these industries and mines to make a living.

He Xinyin believed that the problem lay in the distribution by the imperial court, which failed to protect the interests of these ordinary laborers.

At the same time, He Xinyin also wrote:
"Indeed, the court's unfair distribution and failure to consider the people's strength is one of the root causes of the problem."

"However, I observe that the ills of Shanxi's industry and mining are far more serious than this! You gentlemen only see the harm of land annexation, but you do not know that the profits from mining and factories to accumulate wealth are a hundred times greater than those from land annexation!"

“Even if powerful families occupy vast tracts of land through land consolidation, the yield of the land is still limited by the cycle and the fertility of the land is exhausted.”

"Even over many years, the increase in wealth is slow. But industry and mining are completely different! Opening a mine or establishing a factory yields profits far exceeding those of ordinary agriculture and sericulture. Profits from coal and iron, spinning, and all kinds of manufacturing flow in ceaselessly, day and night."

“Mining and industrial owners rely on capital to exploit the poor, paying them meager wages to reap huge profits. The wealth of one mine can rival that of a thousand acres of fertile land; the completion of one factory can amass a fortune of tens of thousands of taels of silver. The speed at which they accumulate wealth far surpasses that of landowners who have accumulated land for generations!”

"Even worse, although the land was annexed, the farmers who lost their land still had a way to make a living by renting land, or they could migrate to reclaim wasteland and barely survive."

"However, as our previous investigation described, many miners in the mines are injured or die from overwork. Even young and strong men can hardly survive for more than a few years, let alone children. Their situation is so harsh that it is like snatching food from a tiger's mouth! Once they are injured, sick, or die, or are abandoned by the mines like worn-out shoes, their whole family is plunged into despair. They have no land to cultivate and no skills to survive. They can only sit and wait for death. Such a tragic situation is far beyond what ordinary landless tenant farmers can be compared to."

"The social ills arising from such a rapid concentration of industrial and mining wealth are likely ten times greater than those caused by land annexation!"

After reading the article, Su Ze exclaimed, "Wow!"
He Xinyin was indeed sharp; he directly pointed out the biggest problem in industry and commerce: the distribution of wealth.

If the contradictions in wealth distribution cannot be resolved, then the monopoly of the means of production by these industrial and commercial owners will be more thorough than the monopoly of land by landlords.

Ordinary people can still buy land and fields, but the investment in factories and mines is huge. It is the start-up capital that an ordinary person cannot earn in several lifetimes. A business owner can continue to invest in production through high profits, thereby monopolizing a large amount of wealth in society.

Every competent dynasty, except for the Yuan Dynasty, understood the importance of curbing annexation.

As expected, the article in the "New Yuefu Daily" was published, and the people of the capital city gave it their support. Su Ze was also very impressed after reading it. He Xinyin was indeed amazing; he was just one step away from proposing the theory of means of production.

Upon seeing this, the Business Daily immediately wrote a counter-article.

Fan Kuan, the editor-in-chief of the Commercial Daily, personally wrote a rebuttal in the newspaper, quoting Su Ze:

"Businessmen have business ethics. Shanxi is a region that levies commercial taxes. Paying commercial taxes is a way of fulfilling the four classes of morality."

"The contracts for the factories and mines were all signed and sealed by these workers. It was not the mine owners who forced them to work here. The mine owners were just doing what they were supposed to do. So how did they violate the four basic moral principles?"

“The poverty of workers in factories and mines is not caused by the mine owners, so how can the blame be placed on the mine owners?”

"But factories are different from land. There is a limit to the amount of land in the world, but there is no limit to the number of factories. And no one will restrict others from setting up factories, so how can we talk about mergers?"

After reading it, Luo Wanhua angrily said:

"Shameless merchant! He actually uses Brother Zilin's words to defend himself!"

Luo Wanhua was a very righteous person. In the beginning, he wanted to criticize the phenomenon of child labor in the Yuefu Xinbao newspaper.

However, Su Ze stopped him and only allowed him to report the facts.

Luo Wanhua was already seething with anger, and seeing the Commercial Daily's shameless sophistry only fueled his rage.

He said to Su Ze:

"Brother Zilin, if we allow these merchants to continue to misinterpret your words, wouldn't that be ruining your reputation?"

"Brother Zilin, it's time to fight back!"

Looking at the Business Daily, Su Ze could only lament the vast gap between ideas and books.

The original meaning of the sages' words is probably no longer something anyone cares about. People quote the words of sages simply to provide evidence for their own viewpoints.

Not long after Wang Yangming died, his philosophy of mind had already been drastically modified by his disciples into so many branches. There was even a school within his philosophy of mind that was colluding with the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism, which Wang Yangming criticized most vehemently.

While Su Ze was still alive, the Commercial Daily dared to use his words to argue, misinterpreting the virtue of merchants in their "Four Classes of Morality" as "merchants have fulfilled their moral obligations as long as they pay taxes." This is clearly a merchant using his own words to evade social moral responsibility.

Su Ze smiled and said:

"Why should Yifu be in such a hurry? Anyone with a little common sense knows that their absurd words are sophistry. How could they possibly ruin my reputation?"

Su Ze said:

“Once this matter is published and the entire government and public begin to discuss it, many issues will become clear. Look at this report.” Su Ze then took out the “New Gentleman’s Daily” and handed the newspaper to Luo Wanhua.

After reading it, Luo Wanhua nodded repeatedly. He hadn't expected the "New Gentleman's Daily" to have such insightful views.

This time, the New Gentleman's Daily also has a unique perspective. The chief editor criticizes the phenomenon of child labor, saying that child laborers working in factories with high intensity will affect the physical health of the entire nation.

The New Gentleman's Journal wrote with great passion:

"If the youth are weak, the nation will be weak!"

“Children are not adults; their bodies are not yet fully developed, and their minds are not yet mature. Forcing them into hellish mines and factories will cause harm that extends far beyond one generation.”

"Crushing their bones and muscles, destroying their future pillars of society!"

“A ten-year-old child is still young and fragile, and should be developing and strengthening his body. Now he is forced to bear an excessive burden, inhale foul air, and be in a dangerous situation. In a few years, he will either be injured or become weak and sick.”

"How will they defend the country in the future? Won't the future soldiers of our Great Ming become a sick and weak army? The ancients said, 'Cultivating the land and fighting will pass down the family tradition,' but now child laborers are ruining their lives, which is to destroy the foundation of our Great Wall!"

"Blinding minds and severing the roots of our nation's talents!"

“Children should enter schools to learn poetry and books, understand the principles of things, and become useful talents. Now they are trapped in dark mines, spending their days swinging hammers to move coal, illiterate and deaf.”

"If this continues, craftsmen will lack ingenuity, soldiers will lack courage, and officials will lack vision—the nation's wellspring of talent will be strangled in childhood by mining owners!"

This article is in the consistent style of the "New Gentleman's Daily," starting with a grand discourse on national prosperity and strength, which is also its favorite topic these days.

However, Luo Wanhua still felt something was off after reading it.

Su Ze said:

"This article talks about protecting child labor throughout, but it treats today's young children as future soldiers, which is actually a utilitarian view."

Luo Wanhua nodded hurriedly. Su Ze had hit the nail on the head. The New Gentleman's Daily was the loudest in advocating for child labor protection, but their protective measures were simply "bans." It was as if the imperial court could simply issue a decree and all the factories and mines in the world would stop employing child laborers.

Su Ze pulled out a completed memorial to the throne and said:

"Since there has been discussion in the court and among the people, I can now submit my memorial."

Luo Wanhua quickly took the memorial and began to read it carefully.

Memorial Requesting the Clarification of Prohibitions and Restrictions on Child Labor

Su Ze began by clearly defining what child labor is.

Child laborers were the same as workers in the past.

Su Ze then divided himself into two parts.

First, children under ten years old are strictly prohibited from entering the country.

"Children under the age of ten are strictly prohibited from being employed in factories, mines and any place of profit."

Then there's the period from ten to sixteen years old.

"Those aged 10 or above but under 16 are strictly prohibited from engaging in high-risk and heavy labor such as mining, high-temperature smelting, and long-distance heavy lifting."

Su Ze then emphasized that for all those already enrolled in government-run schools, whether primary, preparatory, or otherwise, "their families must not force them to drop out of school under the pretext of hiring laborers. The prefectures and counties must verify the students' enrollment records, and those who violate this rule will be held accountable, including the parents and employers."

Su Ze also proposed that an "educational fee" be levied on institutions that employ large numbers of child laborers. This money should be used to provide the government with after-work training classes so that these child laborers can receive basic education in literacy and arithmetic.

Next, Su Ze refuted several mainstream viewpoints.

The first is "contract theory".

In his memorial, Su Ze explained that signing a contract does not automatically make it legal.

The buying and selling of people was prohibited by the laws of the Ming Dynasty, but there were still transactions conducted by signing contracts in private households. Does that mean that was legal?

Employing child laborers and having them work in dangerous mines is itself a violation of public order and good morals, as well as Confucian traditional ethics. How can one be exempted from responsibility simply because a contract has been signed?
Not to mention that many child laborers were illiterate and did not understand the contents of the contracts.

Therefore, Su Ze further advocated that all contracts signed between factories and mines and child laborers should be automatically invalidated, and that in the future, any contracts to employ child laborers should be signed with an official contract.

Then Su Ze refuted the "theory of business ethics".

Su Ze first emphasized that the "four classes" in "four classes of morality" are not static, but dynamic and changing.

Being a merchant is just a profession. Aside from being a merchant, a merchant is also a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, a scholar, a farmer, a retired official, or a member of the imperial family or a noble family.

Therefore, there is no single group of businessmen in this world.

The saying "businessmen have business ethics, and paying taxes has ethics" only applies to businessmen.

However, this does not mean that merchants are exempt from other ethical obligations after paying taxes.

Respecting the elderly and caring for the young are virtues established by our ancestors. Merchants are also citizens of the Ming Dynasty and should abide by these virtues as well!

Upon seeing this, Luo Wanhua was about to cheer!
happy!

Su Ze continued in the article:

"In addition, merchants have their own ethics, and they pay taxes to contribute to the court. Similarly, officials have their own ethics, and they need to protect the territory and its people and ensure local development and stability."

“If the government does not intervene in the exploitation of child laborers by workshops, it will eventually lead to instability in the local area and corrupt the local social atmosphere, which would be a disservice to the virtues of scholars.”

“When one is in office, one should naturally benefit the local people. Local officials should not allow these merchants to pursue profits excessively. Therefore, the government should also manage the local factories and mines, abolish contracts with obviously low wages, and protect the rights of employees.”

After reading Su Ze's memorial, Luo Wanhua immediately said:

"Brother Zilin! May I co-sign this memorial?"

Su Ze smiled and said:

"Of course, it was Brother Yifu who published the issue of child labor in the newspaper, which sparked such a huge wave of discussion."

Luo Wanhua signed his name, while Su Ze stuffed a copy of the memorial into the "Portable Ming Dynasty Court".

As expected, the memorial encountered little resistance and was passed directly.

Not only that, Su Ze also gained 500 prestige points.

(End of this chapter)