The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-03-26

winch chooses two representatives each
TO the assembly of the district. each
province being divided up into a num-
Der of districts, each a replica. On a
small scale, of the provinces, or gov
ernments' as they are usually called
I'm Russia, of which they form n part
These district assemblies choose from a
list of candidates of their own number
who have right to be elected by the
ball system. the delegates to the pro-
VinCial congress. Three other ella sses
are represented in this provincial con-
gress, the land owners, the inhabitants
of cities which do not elect special Iep-
resentatives to the douma and the
wOrkmen of factories wherever rumer-
Gus enough to entitle them to special
representation.
Two Glasses of Land Owners.
The land owners are divided into two
classes, those possessing land In ex-
cess OF the amount required to qualify.
for vote and the smaller holders of
land. who through combination among
themselves have together enough 20
qualify, The basis, consequently, is
land holding. The amount of land &C
quired, however, varies according to
the quality of the land, from 725 decia-
tines teach about 2 1-2 acres), in the
north of 125 deciatines in the central
and Black Sea region There are only
two degrees in the elections of the land
owners. They assemble by districts
and choose delegates direct to the pro-
vincial congress, the number being ap-
poTtiOned in each case. In the cities
the inhabitants and the workmen elect
in the same fashion to provincial con-
crosses that they do in excepted cities,
like st. Petersburg, as described ABOVE.
in "a
gress, which is presided over by the
marshal of nobility, is similar to that
in the city congress, except that before
proceeding to the election of a number
of representatives to the douma to
which the province is entitled it is in
cumbent on the congress to choose
first a representative of the peasant
class. After that is accomplished the
congress proceeds to balloting by balls,
to elect other representatives. Perhaps
it should be specifically stated, so far
as the land owners are concerned, that
although it may be necessary for half
a dozen small farmers to pool their is
sues to secure a vote on the land basis.
the possession of an amount of land
greatly in excess of the requirement
does not entitle the large land owners
to more than one vote.
Great Possessions Do Not Count.
The great land owners in Russia,
therefore, some of whom possess tens
of thousands of acres can exercise no
pTepondeTating influence on account of
their holdings. In this respect the sys-
tenn is much more democratic than that
i'm Prussia, for instance, where the cleo
tors, according to their stations and
land holdings, are divided into thirds.
the votes of half a dozen men compris-
ing the highest third offsetting the votes
Of either of the other thirds. the low
est including usually three-fourths of
the population.
Special regulations apply to Poland.
the Caucasus and other outlying re-
gions, in that a certain number of rep
resentatfves are allotted, but the gen
eral system and qualifications Of the
purely Russian provinces are applica-
BILE. Poland elects thirty-six represen-
tatives to the douna, and Siberia, di-
vided into four provinces for elective
purposes, chooses fourteen. The whole
system is imperfect in many particu-
lars. but this is largely attributable to
the haste with which it was prepared
and put into operation and will TN
doubleday be greatly changed as the
time goes on. even if the whole basis
of suffrage should not be altered to
meet the demands of the radical par
ties.