The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03
SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE CALL

VIENNA, June with the intro
6uction Of universal suffrage into Aus
tria. VIII disappear one Of the most
cumbersome, complicated and unequal
electoral. systems in. Europe. Many of
its features recall the days of rotten
boroughs-. and political corruption in
Great Britain before the reform. bill
Of 1892. But now almost in an in
slant these conditions Of antiquated
feudal injustice are brought to an end
and the Austrian people enter into a
heritage OF a free, universal and equal
franchise. The Socialists hail it-as 2
great victory won after twenty years
of ceaseless agitation.
Perhaps the best illustration OF tho
extraordinary inequalities of. the ole
franchise was afforded by the inscrip-
uOns en- the banners carried in the
immense Socialist suffrage reform
demonstration held in Vienna in No
vember last. These translated run as
1ol4oWs-
Nine aristocratic .loafers elect ons
deputy (representative).
Twenty. capitalistic freebooters
elect one deputy.
-Four thousand two hundred city in
habitants elect one deputy"
Twelve thousand three hundred
peasants can elect one deputy"
Five hundred thousand workmen
are permitted the charity of electing
one representative"
These banners showed the FIVE
Scuriae" or classes into which the
electorate E is divided and which to-
gether return 425 members to the
Reichsrath or Lower House of the Aus
trian Parliament First comes the
landed .proprietors' class, electing IS
deputies; second, chambers of COM
merce. with 21 deputies; third. resi-
dents Of cities and towns. with lis
deputies: fourth, rural districts, with
129 deputies. and lastly fifth class
created by the law of 1895. and hav-
ing y deputies.
The greatest abuses and most rank
injustice from the elective standpoint
are TO be found in the first curia of
landed proprfetors," 5000 of whom
elect IS members, or exactly a fifth
Of the Lower House. The voting quail
i1cations Of "a landed proprietor vary
somewhat in the different provinces OF
Austria. but as a rule they have little
10 do with the extent or value OF the
property. In most cases the franchise
is a historic right belonging to all
estates inscribed in the "Landtafel,'
or official register
s The constituencies Of this class also
vary greatly in size. In one instance
IN Bohemia seven great mobiles, includ-
ing Prince Schwarzenberg and Prince
Jobkowitz. elect one deputy, all tc
themselves. In ano.ner case in the
Tyrol a great convent and church es-
tate controlled by twelve prelates
elects a representative. But in other
cases the landlords constituency may
number anywhere from 20 TO 800 OF
400.
Comparing this state of things with
the fifth. class of electors. where fol
example, in .Krain, 100000 workrner
have bat one Representative, gave tho
Socialists a striking argument in car
'ryEng on their agitation for universal
suffrage.
The second ,curia, composed Of cham
60 bers Of commerce, also contained man,
abuses. as the deputies were not elect
ed blythe general body Of members IL
the abanber.. but by the small bod,
of councillors numbering sometimes
less than a score.
The third and fourth cufia, that il
the voters IN :the tewns and rural dis
tr1ets. approaches much more nearly