Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-17
CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRATS
TO DRAFT ADDRESS SHOWING
WORK DONE BY THE pouMA
Ry Associated Press.

BY Associated Press.
ST. PETERSBURG, June 16.-The
Constitutional Democratic deputies to-
day held caucus and appointed a
committee to draft an address to their
constituents. setting forth the work
accomplished by the douma, emphasiz-
ing their devotion to their parlia-
mentary labors throughout the session
and criticising the Radicals for their
failure to cooperate.
In this address they will attempt to
throw the entire blame for the disso-
luton on the government, but it will
in no wise correspond in tone with the
Vfborg address-an error which the
Constitutional Democrats have no in
tention of repeating.
There was much talk of declaring
boycott on the new elections to the
douma, but no action was taken. The
new election law is regarded as a mas
terly piece of gerrymandering, avowed-
ly designed to a minimum, the repre-
sentation on the register of those
classes Of the population in which hos
tility to the government has been
chiefly evident. 1t arbitrarily reduces
the deputations from the four eastern
provinces, Viatka, PERM. Ufa and
Orenburg, and the Siberian provinces,
Tobolsk, Tomsky, Ukutsk and Yeni-
seisk, which returned Radical deputies
to the preceding doumas from fifty
four to forty. 1t decreases the Polish
contingent from thirty-six to twelve.
the Caucasians from twenty-nine to
ten, of which only seven represent
Indigenous races, and completely dis
enfranchises, until further orders, the
radical population of several districts
of Central Asia. On the other hand
| 1t selects Pekov, Kiev city and other
constituencies returning conservatives
| in the last election for an increase, and
provides for special representation of
conservative Russian population of
Wilma and Kovna provinces on the
Polish frontier. AS a result of these
various changes the new douma num-
bers 442 instead of 524.
Change in Representation
Out of twenty-four towns formerly
electing members directly to the
douma, only seven, st. Petersburg,
Moscow. Warsaw, Kiev, Lodz, Odessa
and Riga, retain their direct repre-
sentation. The electors in these cities
are divided into two classes, on basis
of property qualifications, each elect
ing its own representatives. the idea
being to assure the choice of at least
half by richer and supposedly more
To increase the representation of the
conservative land owners, the election
Of one land owner is made arbitrary.
It is specifically provided that peasant
deputies must be house-owners, per-
sonally engaged in" agriculture. The
extension of the suffrage to the work.
men, for which Witte was responsible.
is practically nullified, direct repre-
sentatives of the workmen being re-
tanned in only six provinces.
The official version states that the
new electoral law leaves the general
basis of the previous law unchanged;
that no single class or person possess
ing the franchise under the existing
laws loses it, the main difference be-
ing that under the new law, all the
different classes of the population,
namely land owners, peasants, citizens
and workmen, are assured of a mini
mum number of members among the
popular representatives. The new law
also gives the Intelligent classes an
advantage in the final elections, inas-
much as it increased the number of
their electoral assemblies as compared
with the representatives of the mon
intelligent classes"
While the effect of the present pre-
ponderance of ''non-inteligents" over
'intelligents'' has been to fill the
douma with deputies devoid of all
training for the comprehension of
matters Of state administration, con-
siderable portion of whom lacked even
elementary education. the new douma
promises to be composed of a class of
members with experience in local gov
ernment and accustomed to quiet and
peaceful work.
An important feature Of the law is
that each class or social grOup must
henceforth, elect deputies of its own
class, and the workmen cannot be rep
resented by inteIlectuals who are not
workingmen, as was the case in the
dissolved douma, M. Alexinsky repre-
senting the st. Petersburg working
men.