One cannot say after an interview with Chen Chiung-ming, or after a week's residence in Canton that China's future depends upon the success or failure of his endeavours; but it is possible to say that in no other part of China is there a movement that promises so much.
Chen Chiung-ming is driven out, the Military Government and the old Parliament will have their fling and will eventually register the usual humiliating failure.
If Chen works free-handed in Kuangtung he too may fail; but it will not be without having tried something worth while, and it will only be through experiments such as he proposes that China can poss-ably progress.
Everyone hoped last spring that Hunan, freed of the Northern soldiers, was going to be the model province. While Hunan has been somewhat of a disappointment, her example has started progressive movements which are making perceptible headway in every province where the military incubus is not too heavy to be slightly dislodged. If Canton is given a fair trial, even though the Cantonese fail to evolve a model province, the at tempt will be inspiring to those who have similar plans for other provinces. Kuangtung will not have a fair trial, however, if Chen Chiung-ming's influence is eliminated and the Military Government blossoms forth in its old glory. A Great President in Canton will present a more ridiculous spectacle than that of the Great President in Peking. China wants no morel self-appointed governments. She would do much better with none at all.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.