The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-28
bers allotted to that district by absolute

bers allotted to that district by absolute
majority vote.
The result Is that two or three large
landowners or capitalists constituting the
first class in a given district may have as
potential voice in the selection OF the
member or members belonging to given
district az have ten thousand OF the poorer
inhabitants pertaining to the third class
This three-class system OF indirect cleo
tlon has been praised by some foreigners
on the ground that 1t Is an attempt to
represent social interests as well as mere
numbers but 1t Is open to the serious
objection that it arrays the different classes
in sharply defined groups and accentuates
the antagonism between rich and poor. 1t
! also appears, in view Of the recent rejection
Of the Canal bills that the three-class sys-
tenn can be used by the landowners to keep
up the prices OF breadstuffs in the teeth
OF the non-rural population, which mainly
belongs to the lowest class Of taxpayers.
This system has always been regarded as
| favoring the Conservatives at the expense
Of the Liberals, and 1t is undoubtedly true
! that the Social Democrats. who are mainly
workingmen in the cities, and who have
| secured a large number of seats in the pres
ent Reichstag, hold scarcely any in the
Prussian Chamber Of Deputies. Inasmuch,
however, as the voting in the case OF the
Prussian Chamber is oral while, for the
Reichstag, it is conducted by secret ballot,
the Government has much greater oppor-
tunities OF exerting pressure at the cleo
tons OF members OF the former body.
Neither is there any restriction upon the
frequency with which this pressure may be
exerted, for the sovereign's power Of dis
solution is unlimited, and it has happened
several times. when the elections have been
, unfavorabe to the Government, that the
new Chamber of Deputies has been dis
solved before it met
That the influence OF the Government
may suffice to turn the scale under the oral
three-class system Of elections has been
repeatedly proved during the last half CEN
fury. Thus, from 1870 to 1873. when the
Government was allied with the Moderate
Liberals, they actually had an advantage
over the Conservatives in the elections to
the Landtag, as compared with the elec
tions to the Reichstag. On the other hand,
after 1879, when the favor of the Govern
ment was definitely transferred to the
tllc pIOIoiuioh vi lhtSt III
the Landtag was decidedly larger than in
the Reichstag.
Notwithstanding the large maiorities
given against the Canal bills. it is possible
that the Kaiser could carry them through
new Chamber of Deputies merely by tho
exercise Of pressure at the elections and by
a recourse to his unlimited power Of disso-
luton. His success would. doubtless, be
assured, If he should tempt the second
class and third-class electors to combine
against those Of the first class by prom
Using to substitute direct method Of
election by secret ballot for the present
oral, indirect and three-class system.
That change OF the Prussian Constitution
can be effected by a bare majority vote in
the two houses Of the legislature, except
that there must be two separate votes
between which an interval of three weeks
must elapse. The Kaiser may shrink, how
ever from estranging definitely the Con-
servatives upon whom the Prussian Gov
eminent has leaned for twenty years.