ABSTRACT
The present coup d’état has startled the merchants, who have persistently ignored politics, and made them suddenly look up and pay attention to politics. This is most welcome news! On June 14, the Shanghai General Federation of Merchant Street Associations 1 put out a declaration calling for the convening of a national assembly to deal with national affairs. The Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce, 2 in accordance with a resolution passed by its membership at a general meeting on June 23, has issued a declaration to the whole nation which reads in part:
We venture to proclaim with sincerity to the Chinese and to the foreigners that from the fourteenth of this month, the people of our nation do not recognize any of the various actions, whether in domestic or in foreign affairs, that have been taken by Cao Kun, 3 Gao Lingwei, 4 et al., since their usurpation of political power as being the actions of qualified representatives of the state. In addition to sending telegrams to all top provincial military and civilian officials asking them to maintain peace and order and the status quo within the areas under their jurisdiction, we shall seek, together with the people of the whole nation, to devise an appropriate solution to the problems of reconstruction and of planning a better future.
