To James Deitrick
Aug. 14, 1914

26, Reinanzaka Akasaka Tokyo, JapanDear Mr. Deitrick:
　Many thanks for your kind and welcome letter of July 10th.Undoubtedly you can be of great service to me and my cause inAmerica at this juncture.
　First of all, try your best to stop any loan which Yuan Shih Kaimay attempt to raise in America. At present he cannot get any moreloan from Europe, and I am told that he intends to give great in-ducements to American Capitalists to secure money which is hisonly power; and he is going to send his Minister of Finance, ChowTse Chi, to the United States for this purpose. So please be pre-pared beforehand in blocking every possible channel from whichhe may get the money, by telling the American, that Yuan ShihKai will surely fall before long, even with the support of money.So it is a great risk for anyone to support his Arch-Murderer, be-sides the people in China hate the Capitalists who ever did giveany support to their enemy, and will surely repudiate any conces-sion which might have been given by Yuan Shih Kai.
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Secondly, I want you to look for men who are honest andwilling to help me in the constructive work of China after the fight-ing is finished, i.e. when the Revolution is succeeded. The fightingpart of the Revolution is an easy matter but the constructive partis of real difficults. You can help me a great deal in that way. Andthe most important of these is the financial adjustment. For duringthe Revolution panic is surely to follow and all trades will be ata stand still for lack of money, and more so in China, for the med-ium of exchange in the commercial centre of the country is con-trolled by foreign banks. So foreign bankers, such as the Hong KongShanghai Banking Corporation, really hold the balance of powerin an internal struggle. If we cannot get rid of that money controlwe are never be independent and Yuan Shih Kai is but a mere toolof those foreign bankers.
　My way of getting rid of this curse is that the RevolutionaryGovernment must prepare to control the trade, so we can use anykind of money we please and thus we can do away with foreignbankers and be our own master.
　In order to do that the Government must (1) organize depart-ment stores to conduct distribution; (2) control both the land andwater traffic, i.e. to conduct transportation; and last but not leastby manufacturing some of the most important goods which hitherto,depend upon foreign supply, i.e. to conduct production.
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Thus China can be independent both politically and econom-ically. For this reason, I want you to look for expert men in dif-ferent lines for me. The most important of all is to look for expertorganizers and managers of department stores. For I want to putup a system of such stores all over the country. This will followthe step of the Revolutionary Army. At such time goods can begotten very easily by the government in form of taxation, contri-bution and exchange for other goods, the people will be only tooglad to dispose of their over-productions or stagnant goods. So wecan run a government without asking the people for money.This will be a great blessing to all the people. Now you see whyI lay such emphasis on the department stores. In a former letterI mentioned this to you, but I am not sure whether you have re-ceived it or not.
　The department store is a common thing in America but inChina we have none and no one knows how to organize it and noone knows how to manage it. If it is organized I think it will notbe difficult for you to pick out such experts, but they must be menof honesty, great energy and ability.
　It would be splendid if you can make arrangement with someof the most influential department store trust and get them to co-operate with this scheme of our's.

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In that case we should like them to advance us a sum of at leastten million dollars as initiative war fund, for the franchise given.Is it possible to make such an arrangement? If you think your suc-cess in this particular matter is possible, I will appoint you as myagent with full power to negotiate. You may draw up forms of yourappointment and conditions of the arrangement for my approval,by return mail.
　General Hwang's trip is for pleasure and observation. I did notadmit him in the next movement, for his last flight from Nankingduring the second Revolution disappointed me bitterly. But as afriend and an old revolutionist, for he did a good deal during andbefore the first Revolution, I still regard him friendly, so I orderedmy followers in America to give him welcome, and I hope you willdo the same if you should happen to meet him.
　I am busily preparing for another movement. This time I shallconduct the whole affair personally. As you know the first Rev-olution broke out before I could reach China. And when I arrivedthere everything was developing in such a stage that I deemed itwise to accept things as they were. I was only too glad to have itconcluded in a peaceful way. But there I committed my mistakeby entrusting a wrong man, the arch murderer Yuan.In the second Revolution I did not take part, for I thought that
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many there were quite competent to carry out the work to a suc-cessful end, for means were more than sufficient for any under-taking of that kind. But too many cooks spoiled the broth! Now thecountry is in greater danger than ever, and Yuan's absolutism ismuch worse than the former Manchu rule. Thus I am compelledto take the lead again. You may be pleased to hear that I possessgreater confidence than ever before and I am convinced that I canoverthrow Yuan's power much easier than I did with the Manchus,and that may come very soon too.
　By the way, please find out a certain Henry Clifford Stuart ofWashington for me. He wrote me an open letter about paper cur-rency which in a general way I quite agree with him. But we can-not circulate paper currency without department stores. Please findout what sort of a person he is, and, if advisable, get him to co-operate with you in my department store scheme.Whenever you hear of my success in occupying a foothold inChina, you must come to see me at once in order to map out aconstructure plan for the industrial and commercial development.In regard to the Boy & Girl Scout Movement I fully agree withyou in its necessity and importance, and I will surely carry it outafter I succeed in my undertaking.

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With best regards, and hoping for an early reply, I am, Yours sincerely, Sun Yat-sen
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