"The powers of the central government should be thoroughly defined and those of the provinces should be comprehensive and inclusive. Let the central government have the power to appoint and dismiss officials in the central government. Let the people elect their own civil governors and officials. Relieve the militarists of their power. There will thus be no quarrelling over appointments. There will be no necessity for militarists demanding the appointment of their own cronies. There will be no question of commandeering provincial funds. And all political intrigues will be disposed of, as practically every politician is out for himself.
"Provincial constitutions should then be settled, here again the people being allowed to draw up the constitution themselves. When the citizens gain control over their own provinces, no militarist can claim that "this is my province." This will be a step towards the abolition of the tuchunate and the reduction of troops.
"The fate of the southwestern government must be settled by sacrifice. In fact that is the key to the whole problem. If everybody will be willing to sacrifice something, there will be a speedy solution, not for the southwest alone, but for all of China."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.