从“公推”到“票举”:近代天津商会职员推选制度的曲折演进

From "Public Recommendation" to "Election":The Torturous Evolution of the Staff Election System of the Tianjin Chamber of Commence

近代中国具有现代意义的投票选举制度虽然率先在清末的民间工商社团商会中实行,但各地商会的具体实施过程却并非同步进行。上海、苏州等商会正式成立后即开始制订并实行这一制度,天津商会则在清末坚持采用"公推"的方式推举总理、协理和会董,没有真正实施"票举"。到民国初期,天津商会依然认为"公推"优于"票举",直至明定商会必须实行投票选举制度的《商会法》公布之后,天津商会还希望政府"准予特殊办法,仍行公推"。但实施"票举"在当时已是大势所趋,1918年天津商会也在章程中拟订了投票选举制度,并由此进入"票举"会长和会董的新时期。自清末至民国时期天津商会从"公推"到"票举"的曲折演进历程,说明在选举制度的建设中,天津商会的领导人在思想认识和实践操作两个方面都偏向于保守,不仅自身缺乏创造性的举措,而且很少主动借鉴和学习其他商会已有的投票选举制度,这种现象也表明了清末民初各地商会对现代投票选举制度的认识并不完全一致。

Though election systems in the modern sense were first put into practice in China in chambers of commence—civil industrial and commercial societies—in the late Qing Dynasty,the specific voting processes of chambers of commerce in different places were not the same.After the chambers of commerce in Shanghai and Suzhou were formally established,they immediately began to work out and implement election systems,but the Tianjin Chamber of Commence insisted on choosing general managers,assistant managers and directors by public recommendation.The Chamber did not implement an 'election' system.In the early Republican period,the Tianjin Chamber still thought that 'public recommendation' was better than 'election'.Even after the promulgation of the Law of Chambers of Commerce,which clearly regulated that the chambers of commerce must implement a system of election,the Tianjin Chamber still hoped the government would give it special permission to continue using 'public recommendation'.Nevertheless,implementing 'elections' was the trend of the times,and in 1918 the Tianjin Chamber also established an election system in its bylaws,and entered a new era of electing its chairman and directors by vote.The torturous evolution of the Tianjin Chamber of Commerce from 'public recommendation' to 'election' illustrates that the leaders of the Chamber during the process of establishing the election system were conservative both in thought and action.They not only lacked creative measures,but also showed scarcely any initiative to learn the existing election systems of other chambers of commence.This phenomenon also shows that the understandings of modern election systems differed between chambers of commerce in different places.