The Washington times., 1914-05-30
THE IRISH CONSTITUTION

There are some things in the Irish
home-rule act that deserve to be bet
ter understood than they are now.
Pretty nearly everybody knows,
rather vaguely. that the Protestants
in Ireland are all anti-home rule,
while the Protestants in Great Brit
ain are just as strongly for home
rule; that the Catholics in Ireland
are all for home rule, while the
Catholics in Britain are almost all
against home rule. There is just as
general an understanding that Ul-
ster, commonly set down as an over
whelmingy anti-home rule province.
has more population and more mem
bers Of the house of commons who
favor than who oppose home rule.
In fact, the whole situation is full of
strange and impossible contradic-
tions that at this distance place it
quite beyond the intelligent compre-
hension of people who are not famil-
lar with the history and the utmost
detail of the whole affair.
But these details are quite beyond
our ken, anyhow, just as the III
wardness of American politics is ut
terly without the understanding of
the average Britisher. On the 9TH
er hand, there are some things about
the home rule measure that Ameri-
cans could understand, but have not
taken the trouble to inquire about.
They are details, too, that ought to
be known about in this country,
where we are trying to devise means
to improve our scheme of govern
ment.
Under the home rule act, for ex-
ample, constituencies having three or
more Representatives in the house of
commons will have proportionate
representation. That is, the minor
ity will have the chance to compound
its voting strength and get show
ing at the ballot box. A constituency,
say, has $4,000 liberals and 10000
conservatives. Under the system of
majority rule, the liberals would
elect all three of their candidates,
and $4,000 voters would have three
representatives while 10000 people
would have no representation at all.
Under the plan Of proportionate
representation, the $4,000 liberals
would elect two representatives, and
the 10000 conservatives would
choose one. This makes the distri-
button much more intimate and rep
resentative than it is now.
How it will work is a question in
which Americans are entitled to take
q good deal of interest. One State
in this country has the same plan.
Illinois elects its legislature under
it. In that State the scheme has
worked on the whole badly, accord
ing to the opinion of most students.
For instance, if there is a county
with three representatives, the Re-
publican machine makes two nomi-
nations, the Democratic machine
makes one, and all three are elected.
Then it turns out that under the BIZ
partisan machine system all three
represent the same masters, and
they work together-under the rose
on all machine propositions. That
is the real explanation of how Lee
O'Neill Brown was able to lead off a
half hundred Democratic legislators
TO vote for Lorimer. Broadly, the
system leads to intimacies and un-
derstandings between the machines
Of the two parties, and the people,
between the two millstones, are
ground to the powder so familiar as
a product of the old machine system
in Illinois.
A system of proportional repre-
sentation is in effect in Australia,
and with better results. There is on
the whole much in favor of the plan.
provided it is safeguarded by meas
ures that give the people. and not
the allied bipartisan bosses, the
chance to make the nominal tions and
determine other preiiminaries.
Another detail about the new Irish
parliamentary plan is borrowed from
the South African union. 1t is pro-
vided that when the two houses Of
the parliament are unable to agree
on a measure, it may be submitted
to them in joint ession, and the ma
jority of the JOINT convention shall
determine its fate. This plan is
credited with most excellent results
in South Africa. II was proposed to
the Australians when they were
planning their confederation. but
was rejected in favor of our system
giving an absolute veto to either
house. The Australians, or a good
many of the progressives among
them at least, have latterly come to
believe they made a mistake in re-
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