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This, multiplied 1,000 times, was China's lot last week, from which neither military nor economic recovery—much less a stable democracy—was possible without U.S. help.
"Who Shall Speak for Me?" The elections which Nationalist China held, like the Chinese military situation, left much to be desired. All men & women 21 and over, literate or illiterate, were eligible to vote, provided they had never been convicted of treason, political corruption or opium smoking. But since the election was the first of its kind in Chinese history, and since no polls were open in Communist areas, the turnout was rather small. Finally, since more than 95% of the Chinese people can neither read nor write, many a voter had to accept help in marking his ballot from friendly fellows who hung around the polls. It was going to take a week or ten days to tabulate the results.
Shanghai's Shun Pao distributed an unusual circular "To Our Dear Readers." It said: "Since all readers of our newspaper are excellent, refined citizens, we are willing to recommend our leader Mr. Pan Kung-chan. . . . Our slogan is: Every reader of Shun Pao in Shanghai will please vote for the editor of Shun Pao, Mr. Pan Kung-chan."
One Shanghai woman asked her college-educated daughter to explain what elections were all about. She was told: "For instance, the alley is dirty. You elect a man who will speak of it before the National Assembly and have it cleaned up."
"But whom shall I ask to speak for me before the National Assembly?" the woman persisted. Several names were suggested. She shook her head: "Oh, leave it. I'm not going to vote for anybody I don't know." Right away, it appeared, Chinese voters were having the kind of trouble Western voters had known since elections got beyond town-meeting stage.
At some polling places children presented the proxies of their parents, servants those of their masters. Premier Chang Chun himself had to scold the curious who pressed around to watch him write his choice: "This isn't right. We must vote in secret." But, as the Premier added, it was "the first time." Chinese hoped for improvement. Said scholarly, bespectacled Tseng Chi, head of the Chinese Youth Party: "Perhaps six years from now, at the next general election, we'll know more."
The catch was that, if the Communists won the war, there would be no more free elections.