Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-26

In 81 pie that constitution will be
W ls4sN promulgated in 1917, and the
In prince regent almost daily
ElszslseAA issues edicts urging his of
ficials to further the work of
preparation for the new system and
reprimanding those who are but luke
warm I'm their support of constitutional
ism. Official heads are constantly fall
ing into the basket because they have
not shown zeal for representative gov
ernment. Open opposition on the part
of officials to the proposed constitution
is promptly punished-a paradoxical
fashion of setting up a system of gov
ernment which will give all the people
a chance to express any views they
may have concerning the conduct of
government.
Turkey, Persia, and in a qualified de-
gree, India, are now In the throes of o
struggle for constitutional reform.
Japan had a constitution for almost
twenty years. Now China, the citadel
of oriental conservatism, is all agog
over the same question. Asia, the source
of all modern systems of religion and
morals, is at the point of adopting
European systems of government. Per-
haps ii would be better to say adapt
ing" for constitutionalism does not
mean in Asia what westerners impute
to the word. Even In occidental coun-
tries there is wide and varied sig
nificance to the phrase constitutional
government" but in all of them its
essential feature is the provision of a
fundamental law which protects in-
diVidual life. liberty and property from
the unlawful acts of other individuals
or of the government at the same time
giving the people the whip hand over
the government by vesting in them the
power, through their representatives,
ne
penditures. The power of the people
over purse strings is the one absolute
essential to a constitutional form of
government as conceived by western
peoples
In Asia "constitutionalism' may
mean something entirely different. In
China there is reason to believe that
the very object of the constitution is
not to create a system which will en-
able the government to derive its just
powers from the consent of the gov
erned," but on the contrary to form one
which will enable the government to
accomplish things in contravention of
the will and wishes of the people.
The power of the essential democ-
racy Of China is so formidable that
the government would not dare to do
anything against the wishes OF the peo-
pie. For centuries this has been true,
and when the government has gone
contrary to public opinion it has been
only because of ignorance. The sys-
tenn of memorials and censorial re-
ports by which the beliefs and desires
of the public have been made known
to Peking is absurdly inadequate in this
day of quick action, and the Chinese
government recognizes that fact, But
1t is even more inadequate in another
sense in that there is practically no
machinery whatever by which the gov
ernment may make its wishes known
to the public, present its arguments
and reasons for its position and en-
deavor to convince the people of the
soundness of its attitude. This is the
essential weakness of the Chinese form
of government, the centripetal forces
of democracy not having the necessary
balancing effect of centrifugal au-
thority.
The Chinese constitution will be
formed, according to the plan promul-
gated, along lines more nearly ap-
preaching the Japanese system than
that of any other country. In theory,
at least. the method of its formation
is a paradoxical mixture of the Orient
and the Occident. Occidental consu-
tutions have been wrested by the
force of bloody rebellion from the
hands of unwilling monafcnS. III Japan
and China the constitutions have
been forced upon an Indifferent peo-
pie by anxious monarchs possessing
the theoretical attribute of absolute
power.
In China the people are to be edu-
Gated up to the usages of representa-
tive government by forming local par
liamentary bodies. which in turn grad
uate into a system of provincial par
liaments which in their turn Will de-
velop material for the great national
parliament But this education in con-
stitutionalism will be purely pro forma
in one sense, as the elimination of the
scheme. the imperial parliament, will
have no word in the formation OF the
constitution itself. That will come, as
of grace, from the throne of the son
of heaven. AS IN Japan, there prob
ably will not be one to question the
soundness of this theory. The throne
surrenders what it pleases, the con-
stitution is the gift of the emperor. To
claim the constitution as matter of
right is ages beyond the development
of a Chinese politician. OF course
there are agitators who parrot the ar