New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-18
HOW GERMANY VOTED
Notes and Dissertations ON the Re.
cent Election.
Berlin. January 2O

nifaI
States. The campaign is conducted with era.
zeal. far as newspapers and speechmak,n-
are concerned. Nowhere are press and platfo-,
more vigorously used. Banners posters ava
parades. however are little known The anna,
is to the ear. not to the eye, and TO the resqo,
not TO the imagination. 1t is TO be assur,.,
therefore. that campaign expenses are rgbtsr g.
Germany than in America. candidate a
privileged to spend much as he pIeasas =,
promote his interests, long as he does ~.
buy votes. If he does the latter his eIacti,,
is invaldated. and he is liable TO be sent u,
prison for two years. As a matter OF fscs
bribery is probably very uncommon in Gernsr,,t
and So too. is official interference with eIeotion,
although in it's present campaign there havs
been charges of undue official influence. Tha-
CRITICALLY the German Empire Is pure denoc.
raCy, with one vote and no more for every man
who is twenty-five years old. and who is not a
soldier sailor in active service. a criminal IN
prison. q bankrupt. a ward under guardian or
the recipient of aims within year preceding tha
election. Theoretically, too, the representation
OF the people is based equitably on population,
with one member Of the Retchstag for every ore
hundred thousand persons.
But one of the first things that impresses the
observer is the gross inequality Of apportion.
ment. When the empire was organized. in 1871.
membership Of the Reichstag was fixed at se7
or one for every 100000. That was thirtv-str
years ago In that time the population has
increased more than 10 per cent but the mum.
Der of members of the ReichstaE remains tina
same. There must, therefore. be the average
at least 10000 persons in each constituency.
To that there might be no objection if the con.
stituences were equal or nearly equal in stzs
But they are not. There has been no reappor4
Torment of seats since 1871, but members ara
to-day distributed just as they were when tba
first Reichstag was chosen The result Is gross
inequality. Some districts have actually I,Ss
population in these thirty-six years while oths-s
have enormously increased. To-day YOU nav
find some provincial constituencies with less
than 10000 inhabitants. schaumberg-Iippe has
only $4,000, On the other hand. one district
here IN Berlin has nearly 100000 Thus ora
member represents more than sixteen times as
many people the other. Similar inequalities
are doubtless to be found in England. but IN
America. with reappOrtionment every ten years,
they are impossible.
This state of affairs explains why the Social
Democrats. in spite Of their enormous POPULAR
vote, succeed in electing few members. IN
the last election they cast more than three miIl>
ION votes. or half a million more than any other
party. Yet they elected only so members. whis
the CleTlCdlSs Win ElJle more LildQ LleIr
votes elected 100 If the Social Democrats had
secured a representation proportionate 70 their
vote they would have had 125 instead Of only
so members. In the present election they ara
increasing their vote. but are losing heavily In
representation. They will poll nearly one-thlrd
Of all the votes in the empire but Will have less
than one-eighth OF the members OF the Rsichss
tag. II seats were fairly appOrttoned. TOO. tbs
Clericals or Centrum would lose heavily. theirs
representation falling from 100 70 So or less Il
is not difficult 10 understand. then, why thera
has been no reapportionment since 1871. This
government has not wanted it. because II would
greatly Increase the power of the Social DerO-
Gratis. and that IS what the government moss
breads and seeks to avoid; ~and the Clerl-as,
who form the largest single party in the Relchs-
tag. have opposed ii because II would greatly
lessen their strength. Moreover. the Conserva-
tives and especially the Agrarians and JuH5ers.
have also opposed IL, because II would lessen
their strength. So. while It IS theoretically
democratic and fair. the electoral system is in
fact grossly unfair II IS perhaps a little better
than that OF the Kingdom OF Prussia. which has
been accurately described the worst IN tho
world. For while there IS noninally universal
suffrage In Prussia. the voting power OF each
man is conditioned upon the amount OF taxes hs
pays. The result is that while the Social Demos
ton. they have never yet in the history Of the
kingdom succeeded In electing "a single one oe
the 4SS Deputies In more than one district
single rich landowner himself casts q majority
OF all the votes. so that the Deputy elected rep
resents nobody but that voter u viii ba
recalled. too. that the gallant General Caprivi
who succeeded Bismarck as Chancellor OF ths
Empire. once whimsically complained that, as
he was a poor man. he had only one-teuth %
the voting power of one OF his own servants
who was comparatively rich.
But to return to the imperial election Tha
date was. OF course. fixed by the Chancellor
Immediately after the dissolution OF the Reichs@
tag Four weeks before that date lists OF ths
candidates in each district were publicly posted
for inspection by the voters Never before. say
old inhabitants. was much scrutiny bestowed
upon these lists as this year. That circuH''
stance was Indicative Of what has actually been
realized. namely. the polling of Unprece@
dentedly large vote. Germany has hitherto been
notorious for the number OF its stay-at-hons
voters. These have generally amounted tn
more than one-fourth of the whole electorate
This year not half as many refrained rom
voting as hitherto. That is one reason tor me
material changes in party strength shown IN tho
elections which have just occurred Just why
so many Germans have hitherto failed 10 No's
is not easily explained The process OF voting
is not difficult or veXatiouS. There IS no s'ao
crate blanket ballot. with confusing mulu'
tude of names. TO be marked in a matherna'i-
caIy precise fashion and folded just 50. Ins
ballot is a small slip of paper which may be OF
any color or style. and which bears only tl7
single name OF the candidate for whom mo
voter wishes to vote, The ballots arc noe
printed bv the government. but by the various