Chapter 74 Merit

Jiang Menglin himself stated that he relied on the "three sons" in his life: "Be a man with Confucius, conduct yourself with Lao Tzu, and handle things with devils. The so-called devils, foreign devils, refer to doing things with a scientific and pragmatic spirit." When he first came to study in the United States, Jiang Menglin studied agriculture.He feels that since China is based on agriculture, only by improving agriculture can the majority of Chinese people be happy and have enough food and clothing.Moreover, he grew up in the countryside when he was young, and he had a strong interest in flowers, plants, trees, birds, animals, insects and fish.Besides, he had been in poor health as a child, and it would certainly do him good if he could get more exposure to the fresh air in the fields.

In 1947, Jiang Menglin went to London to participate in an international society. The British historian Toynbee (Toynbee) spoke at the conference: "There are two problems in the world now, one is the problem of social justice, in other words, it is the problem of people's welfare. The other is the issue of national defense, that is, the cost of maintaining armaments in a country. These two issues often conflict with each other. If you focus on social justice or social welfare, you have to sacrifice the funds for national defense. Conversely, if you focus on national defense, you have to Sacrifice the interests of the majority of the people." Since then, national defense and social justice have often silently shouted in his ears, constantly reminding him.In the future, Jiang Menglin changed "national defense" to "science and technology" production, determined to resolve the contradiction between "social justice" and "science and technology".

On August 5, 1948, the 63-year-old Jiang Menglin accepted the appointment of Chiang Kai-shek and took over the "China Rural Rejuvenation Joint Committee (referred to as the Rural Rehabilitation Association)" in Nanjing. The members included Jiang Menglin, Yan Yangchu, Shen Zonghan and the American side. There are five experts, RT Moyer and JE Baker, with Jiang Menglin as the chairman. After Jiang Menglin agreed to take charge of the Agricultural Restoration Conference, Chiang Kai-shek asked him what his opinion was. Jiang Menglin replied: "If rural construction does not start with land reform, but just maintains the status quo, it will not succeed." He proposed to Chiang Kai-shek: "I hope to draw a Experiment in the area and carry out land reform. I want to set aside Wuxi, because Wuxi is a semi-industrialized county, where there are capitalists and landlords, and the landlords in Wuxi do not necessarily live on the land, so their land is brought here They will not strongly oppose the land reform." After Chiang Kai-shek agreed, Jiang Menglin added: "I designated Wuxi for another reason, because the land reform is to take out the land. Although Wuxi is already quite industrialized, the landlords must Taking out land always seems to be seeking skins from tigers, which is not an easy task. It is possible to use troops to fight tigers. Wuxi is close to Nanjing, so it is easy to send troops. When we do experiments in the future, if we need to use troops, I don’t know if the chairman is right. Can you send troops?" Chiang Kai-shek said decisively: "Yes, when you need to use troops, of course send troops. You can send whoever you want, and you don't need to tell me. Please take full power to do this matter."

After obtaining Chiang Kai-shek’s consent and financial support, the Rural Restoration Association launched a series of pilot programs. The first step was to implement the “Twenty-Five Rent Reduction” in various places, that is, to directly reduce the existing rent by 25%. , Guangdong, Yunnan, Sichuan and other places to set up offices.Jiang Menglin and others visited rural areas across the country to publicize the Kuomintang's agricultural and land policies.However, due to the defeat of the Kuomintang, the pilot projects in Wuxi and other places have not been implemented. Jiang Menglin and others actively advocated land reform. Some members of the Kuomintang criticized them: "Oh, those people are crazy. They only know about land reform all day long." Jiang once said at the Guangdong Central Political Conference: "You landlords in Guangdong If you refuse to carry out land reform now, in the future not only your land will be taken away, but your heads will also be killed." Immediately someone criticized Jiang and said, "Oh no, this old man has changed too." Jiang Menglin and others During the local inspection, I also saw the slogan "Pseudo land reformers, kill".

Sichuan Provincial Chairman Wang Lingji supported the "Second Five" rent reduction, saying: "Okay, let's do this. I will implement the "Second Five" rent reduction on my more than 1,000 mu of land first, but the problem lies with a certain giant. He has thousands of acres of land." He thought for a while, and continued: "I have a solution, and after I implement it myself, I will tell him, let's do it first, brother, please do it. Otherwise, I will help you The tenant, I ask you to reduce the rent. He doesn’t have a gun now, so he dare not disapprove.” Jiang Menglin and others felt very happy when they heard these words.

Chen Guofu told Jiang Menglin that he tried his best to advocate that all the land in Nanjing, especially the land where no houses were built, should be purchased by the government for land reform.But after he proposed this plan at the meeting, he hit a wall on both sides, and most people did not agree.He later learned that most of the land in Nanjing had been bought by high-ranking government officials at a very cheap price.Jiang Menglin said: "Mr. Guofu! The land in Nanjing is the skin of a tiger. You have to use force to knock down the tiger and peel off its skin! If you want to pass the bill of skinning the tiger after discussing it with the tiger, what will you do? I can't." Chen sighed, "Really, I didn't understand at first, but then I understood."

Before liberation, Jiang Menglin visited Taiwan for a time, and discussed with the then Taiwan Provincial Chairman Chen Cheng and the Minister of Finance Yan Jiagan about the relocation of the Agricultural Restoration Association to Taiwan.Chen Cheng promised to comprehensively promote land reform in Taiwan.Chen Cheng, who held the military and political power, said to the Provincial Assembly: "I follow the public opinion in everything. Only the '37' rent reduction bill and related bills must be passed." Therefore, this proposal was successfully passed by the Taiwan Provincial Assembly. pass.

After the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan, in order to win the support of grassroots farmers, Jiang Menglin obtained the authorization of Chiang Kai-shek to carry out land reform in an all-round way, advocating "equal emphasis on production and distribution" and "balanced development of agriculture and industry"; the basic idea is the goal of "equal wealth" proposed by Sun Yat-sen. In 1952, Jiang Menglin launched the land restriction method emphasizing that "the tiller has his land".According to this method, the landlord can retain the second-grade paddy fields at most, and non-owner farmers are not allowed to retain them.Jiang Menglin pointed out that China's land issue has been disputed for two thousand years, and it has the greatest relationship with the rise and fall of the past dynasties.Therefore, Sun Yat-sen first put forward the concept of land to the tiller, that is, "land is owned by the state", but "ownership is owned by the people" and belongs to the tiller.

That year, the Taiwan government discussed the "Field to the Tiller Act" at the Ministry of the Interior.Among them was a question about whether the tenant farmers could transfer their land rights after they obtained the land rights. Jiang Menglin and others had been discussing from eight o'clock in the morning until three o'clock in the morning the next day. .Both the supporters and the opponents fought so hard that they almost broke up. In the end, it was Jiang Menglin who reconciled the opinions of the two sides before reaching an agreement.During the debate, although Jiang Menglin thought it could be transferred, he maintained order all the time, did not interfere with any party, and watched coldly.He seldom speaks, expressing his opinion only at critical moments.Huang Jilu breathed a sigh of relief and said to Jiang, "This clause should be named the Jiang Menglin Clause to commemorate your compromise efforts."

With the assistance of the United States, Jiang Menglin established an organization in 1954 that imitated the American "Four Health Association" to train the health of the brain, body, mind, and hands of rural youths, and train them to master advanced science and technology and experience. The number of members is close to 10,000.These people have also become Taiwan's agricultural technology and seed troops to promote agricultural diplomacy and promote advanced agricultural technology to third world countries. They are called "grassland ambassadors."Jiang Menglin asked these agricultural experts not to sit in the office and think about problems, but to take time to communicate directly with farmers and understand their needs.

In order to promote agricultural information, Jiang Menglin also established a magazine "Harvest Years". According to the actual situation in Taiwan, he broke the ban of the Kuomintang government and published it in a Chinese-Japanese joint publication. As a result, it was gradually changed to be published entirely in Chinese.In order to make farmers interested in reading, "Harvest Years" not only has a larger font, but also invites famous painters to draw cartoons. A reporter interviewed Jiang Menglin and wrote: "Although Dr. Jiang is more than seventy years old, he is vigorous and elegant. His eyes are bright and reveal wisdom behind a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. He talks eloquently and reveals an infinite bookish air. When he talks about happiness, The excited and happy expression is full of vitality and interest. Dr. Jiang is shrewd and prudent in handling affairs, showing admirable talents everywhere; he is knowledgeable, and all his works have superb theoretical foundations and profound insights. "Although he is over seventy years old, he has the same enthusiasm as a young man, is full of energy, and has a wide range of research interests in everything. He is not a student of agriculture, but his agricultural knowledge is richer than any expert. He lives in the Rural Rehabilitation Association and gained the knowledge and experience gained from ten years of research.... He usually spends a few minutes in the car and before and after meals, and never lets it go easily, either for business or for reading books and newspapers.” Jiang Menglin is also concerned about water conservancy construction. At the age of 70, he went to the United States several times to fight for the US aid budget for the Shimen Reservoir. On July 7, 1956, construction of Shimen Reservoir, the largest water conservancy project in northern Taiwan, was started, one of the two important constructions related to the development of Taiwan. In June 1964, shortly before Jiang Menglin's death, the Shimen Reservoir was completed.On the day of the completion of the project, Chen Cheng and Jiang Menglin, the former chairmen, handed over 105,000 yuan in transportation expenses saved over the past eight years to the state treasury under Jiang's signature. In 1956, Chiang Kai-shek went to Jiang Menglin's dormitory on Dehui Street in Taipei City in person to celebrate Jiang Menglin's birthday.In the same year, Taiwan's Ministry of Education awarded Jiang Menglin the plaque of "Contemporary Confucianism". In the last ten years of Jiang Menglin's life, he walked out of the ivory tower and often ran on the country roads in Taiwan.According to himself, he has been to every backcountry in Taiwan. In 1958, Jiang Menglin won the "Messey Award" issued by the Philippine government. Jiang Menglin emphasized: "Look at the stars in the sky, step on the grass roots on the ground, learn from the farmers, don't use your own fantasy to teach the farmers, go from the ivory tower to the vast countryside, and work hard to promote democracy and science, so that people can grow from the grass roots. .” In 1994, the Agricultural Committee of the Executive Yuan of Taiwan was very troubled: First, there was a storm of dead pork sales, and then a strong typhoon caused severe mudslides in mountainous areas. The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease had to kill tens of thousands of pigs. The development of golf courses caused controversy over soil and water conservation. …After researching, the officials believed that the problem was due to the poor Feng Shui of the Council of Agriculture, and decided to carry out the bronze statue of Jiang Menglin, the founding father of the Council of Agriculture, from the dusty warehouse, and sit in it. The gate on the first floor of the Council of Agriculture, I hope that this scholar who has made the most contributions to Taiwan's land and agriculture can change the bad luck of the Council of Agriculture.