The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-05-03
ZONE MAN ONE VOTE" Many Thousands Strive for
 The Goal
GRAHAM TAYLOR


 Bureau.)
 The nation wide strike for manhood suffrage in Belgium, which paralyzed the industries and almost suspended the normal life of the people, and which seems to have made a. long stride toward gaining it's object, was foreshadowed in a spectacular demon stration in Brussels two years ago.
 On August 15, 1911, the streets of that gay, medieval capital witnessed scenes which every American who looked on knew were making history. Over 60,O00 men, from larger and smaller places throughout Belgium, took a day off without wages and paid their way to the capital of their coun- try, in order to voice their protest against the unjust inequalities of the suffrage. The show of force by the extraordinary police and military pre- cautions betrayed the furtive appre hension Of both the municipal and na- tional governments as to what might happen. With no sign of timidity or fntfmation of being overawed. this vast industrial army marched ten abreast for hours-silent, grim, deter mined, united, unarned-between long files of armed soIdiery which lined the curb, and past stronger attachments of all arms of the service massed at strategic centers.
 The great procession assembled at the EOC1dI1SL hSaOQudII0TSS d 'd11O impressive building bearing the signif- fcant name Maison de Peup1e, the House of the People. The permanent background of the stage in the assem- bly, hall Of that building is a colossal head of Jesus of Nazareth, the rever- ent work of a Belgian Socialist. The House of the people is the most prac- ttca1 expression, or perhaps demon stration, of the cooperative common wealth in miniature, which is to be found anywhere in the world. Start ing with 8, sack of potat toes and a bag of flour, these wage-workers in ten years erected a building costing $25o,- OOO Of this sum, which was loaned by the national bank, they had then paid $10O,OO0 and had assets worth three times as much as the balance due on the mortagage, which they continue to reduce by annual pay ments.
 In this four-story semi-circular building, at one of the principal busi- ness centers, ample accommodations are provided for great variety of practicao1 agencies. A cafe, which paid profit of S2,4O0 in three months, shares the front of the ground floor with a large cooperative department store, where dry goods, house furnish ings, clothing, meats, groceries butter and milk, hats, hosiery and shoes are1 sold. A bakery with capacity of 125, 600 Ioaves of bread a week, a coal depot with twenty-nine delivery carts, a laundry, and a clothing manufactory are among the business enterprises conducted here.
 The 19Oo0 cooperating families re- ceive as their share of the profits F per cent. of the money they pay for bread, per cent. Of what their gro ceries cost them, and per cent. of the purchase price of their clothing. Among the protective features are an aY1d men, a pharmacy and a corps of thir teen physicians rendering free service 1 to all members of one years standing, | and a sick benefit society with 5000 1 Singing and ethical classes l are maintained for children and a 1 for adults. Small halls adequately | provide for the meetings of the trade sections, and a, great auditorium, seat 1 ing 2,436 persons, rallies the festival gatherings and supplies room for pc | lftica1 mass meetings.
 From this national center the pro- i cession- of uid-August started it's line of march, carrying banners which | took the keynote of their inscriptions from the following figures emblazoned | everywhere:
 993,O7O have 1 vote;
 3S5, ,866 have 2 votes;
 704,5 voters, having two, three or l. four votes, cast 1,717,7S1 votes, a ma jority of 88,523 over those having fone vote;
 One man one vote!
 Tn Belgium a man over twenty-five | years of age gets an extra vote if he l owns property. He is granted an other vote if he has a university dipIo- ma. He casts a fourth vote if he is over thirty-five years of age, is the father of a family and pays taxes on more than certain amount of prop erty. The majority of the industrial population thus have only one vote, while the rural, well-to-do and richer people outvote each wage-earner by two. three or even four votes. The rural population thus controls the city industrial population and the church S charged by the Socialists with con trolling the rural vote.
 Against this rule of the minority, -h1s great demonstration of. 1911 was ]. protest But to the onlooker from abroad 1t then seemed to be patriotic of Belgium's one great nope of national evolution without evolution. The primary cause of the movement which has culminated in he present national strike was the lefeat of the liberal and Socialist coal tion in parliament by a combination ,f the government and clerical forces n the elections of 1912. The Socialist summoned to meet the issue to a crisis by that event de-
  -esort if all other means of obtaining manhood suffrage failed. But before .esorting to that measure a, general bill was introduced into par lament by the Socialists and support d bv the liberals. As serious con gdera ton of it was refused by the clerical and government authorities, general strike was voted on April 14.
 Whatever immediate effect this ma ionaI political strike may have those who are the keenest observers concede hat the making of history is in the movement of Belgian labor for one nan one-vote suffrage. It is even predicted that it portends the separa- ion of the WalIoon and Flemish prov nces, or a dynastic crisis, short of which, however, it is believed the new ,oung king will stop the too rapid .ourse of events by his interpositfon.
 Certain 1t is that movement of the people capa ble of main taining and in- ,reasing for. so many years a labor