The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-07
MAY LET PROVINCES DECIDE MONARCHY This Is Said to Be Latest Plan of Chinese President PRIMARIES TO BE HELD Delegates Will Be Elected to Citizens Conference, Which Will Act on
 Constitution-Yua Army
 Controls Capitals

Peking. october 20.-(Correspendence of the Associated Press. .)-President Yuan Shi-kais latest plan is to have the prov inces decide whether China is to be re- public or monarchy. Primaries prob ably will be held soon to select dele gates to the citizens conference which will act upon new constitution, and the men named by the districts of the various provinces will be utilized to decide the form of government China is to have be- fore they come to Picking and actually ratify the completed constitution.
 Government officials explain that about 1860 delegates will be selected at the primaries. These are scatterd among the various provinces according to their population. In addition the Manchus and Mehammedans will be given special representation and Picking has extra dele gates This special representation, it is explained by government officials, will amount to about 200, so the total number of men who will pass on the form of gov ernment will be about 20O0
 Election Machinery Involved
 Chinese election machinery is involved in such tangle of mandates and de- crees that foreigners are unable to un- derstand it, and the press, which is op- posed to the government, repeatedly de- clares nobody really understands it. How ever, the claim of President Yuan Shi- kai and his supporters is that the pri- maries will be held under absolutely fair conditions which will give the public a chance to select men representative of public sentiment.
 After the delegates have been selected they will be given two slips One regis ters approval of the republic and the other favors a monarchy. They will vote for their favorite form of government and the results will be tabulated in Picking. It was at first rumored the delegates in each province would select one of their number to come to Picking and register his vote as representing the delegation from his province, but President Yuan Shi-kai and his advisers have abandoned that plan, saying they wish to keep the delegates free from Peking influence. and will probably have the voting on form Of government in the provincial capitals.
 Army Controls Capitals
 With Yuan's army in control of all the provincial capitals, the enemies of the monarchial plan insist there is no chance that majority vote will be counted against the monarchy. There is also widespread criticism of the qualifications tentatively agreed upon lOI dSltSdttS lO tnt ClllZenS COnlcr- ence Only men who have $20,000 worth of personal property or $30,O00 worth of real property may qualify. They must also be men who have served the gov ernment as magistrates or in higher official position for at least five years, and must have the equivalent of high school education.
 As the republic has been in existence less than five years the provision that 6a1n tnS of hoxrn hA1l ,ff far |, longer period assures the choice of men who were in favor under the monarchy, few progresSives having held office un- der the Manchus Special representa- tion to the Manchus and to Picking, it is also pointed out by supporters of the republic, will not endanger the cause of the monarchists.
 But the President and his support CTS urge it is necessary to adopt the requirements agreed upon to insure the intelligence and integrity of the men entrusted with decision upon the future form of state. After the dele- gates have voted upon the monarchia1 question the constitution drafting com mittee, which is now at work in Picking, will proceed with its work, following out the will of the delegates. When the drafting committee shall have com pleted it's work the provincial delegates will be summoned to Pe6ing to sit as the citizens conference and ratify the constitution. This conference, unless present plans be altered, will probably be summoned by the President about January l of next year.
 Censorship of the press and telegraph has been instituted by the government and foreign correspondents are protest ing vigorously against delay in their messages. No official announcement has been made of any censorship and up to the present time the work has been carried on under cover and in such a manner that it is highly unsatisfac- tory to correspondentS.