success in the presidential campaign.  The provision in the constitution, as well as the golden casket in which the names of the three candidates are kept which you have mentioned, are nothing but nominal measures.  Moreover there is no man in China who answers the description of a suitable successor which I have just given.  Here arises a difficult problem; and what has been specified in the Constitutional Compact is a vain attempt to solve it.  It is pertinent to ask why the law-makers should not have made the law in such a way that the people could exercise their free choice in the matter of the presidential successor?  The answer is that there is reason to fear that a bad man may be elected president by manipulations carried out with a masterly hand, thereby jeopardizing the national welfare.  This fear has influenced the constitution-makers to settle upon three candidates from among whom the president must be elected.  Then it may be asked why not fix upon one man instead of upon three since you have already deprived the people of part of their freedom?  The answer is that:  there is not a single man whose qualifications are high enough to be the successor.  As it is, three candidates of equal qualifications are put forward for the people to their selection.  No matter how one may argue this important question from the legal point of view, there is the fact that the law makers fixed upon three candidates for the presidency, believing that we do not possess a suitable presidential successor.  The vital question of the day setting aside all paper talk, is whether or not China has a suitable man to succeed President Yuan Shih-kai.  Whether or not the constitutional compact can be actually carried out in future I do not know; but I do know that that instrument will eventually become ineffective.

Mr. Ko:  I desire a true picture of the chaos which you have hinted will ensue in this country.  Can you tell me anything along that line?

Mr. Hu:  In a time of confusion, the soldiers play the most important part, virtuous and experienced and learned statesmen being unable to cope with the situation.  The only qualification which a leader at such a time needs to possess is the control of the military, and the ability to suppress Parliament.  Should such a person be made the president, he cannot long hold his enviable post in view of the fact that he cannot possess sufficient influence to control the troops of the whole country.  The generals of equal rank and standing will not obey each other, while the soldiers and politicians, seeing a chance in these differences for their advancement, will stir up their feelings and incite one another to fight.  They will fight hard among themselves.  The rebels, who are now exiles in foreign lands, taking advantage of the chaos in China, will return in very little time to perpetrate the worst crimes known in human history.  The royalists who are in retirement will likewise come out to fish in muddy waters.