The Washington times., 1918-10-23
POWER
NOT YET SHORN

Establishment Of actual RESPONSE
bility of the German chancellor to the
Reichstag, instead of to the Kaiser.
and the vesting OF the power OF de-
elaring war and peace in the Reich
stag and the Bundesrath, while i'm
portant steps in the -democratiEation
Of the empire, will not in themselves
be sufficient to overthrow autocracy.
according to officials here who are
thoroughly acquainted with Ger
many's form OF government.
Although these reforms will give
the German people a large say in the
conduct of their affairs, the Kaiser
will still retain virtual control Of the
Bundesrath, Germany's federal coun-
Gil, and consequently. in the last an
alysis, sovereignty will remain in his
hands. Not until the Bundesrath is
made truly representative OF the peo-
pie of the various states composing
the empire, officials point out, will
autocracy really be overthrown.
KnIser Controls Votes.
The Bundesrath is composed of rep
resentatives of the twenty-six states
(including Alsace-Lorraine) that form
the empire These delegates are
appointed by the rulers of the mo
narchical states and by the senates of
the three free cities. These delegates
are virtually diplomatic officers, who
vote only upon instructions from their
state governments and who are given
no freedom Of deIiberation and action.
The German constitution sets forth
the number of votes each state thai
is represented in the Bundesrath is
entitled to. The representatives of
each state cast their votes in a block
as instructed by their sovereign;
there is never any divided vote.
There are sixty-one votes in the
Bundesrath- The greatest number,
seventeen, is granted by the constitu-
ton to Prussia The next greatest
number, six, is granted to Bavaria.
While under the constitution Prussia
is entitled to only seventeen votes,
she really controls twenty. waldeck's
vote having been acquired by contract
and Brunswick's votes having been
obtained through the establishment
Of permanent Prussian regency in
that state.
Prussia Controls Third.
Prussia alone thus controls a third
OF the votes, and she is nearly always
able to command the support OF some
Of the smaller states that are over
awed by her or are economically de-
pendent upon her. AS all laws have
to be passed by a majority vote of
both the Reichstag and the Bundles
rath, Prussia nearly always is able to
command a majority in the Bundes-
rath and to defeat whatever legisla-
tion she chooses.
Prussia still would maintain an alb
solute veto upon all constitutional
amendments. Under the constitution
fourteen votes in the Bundesrath are
sufficient to defeat any proposed
AS Prussia controls
twenty votes, her power OF veto is
absolute. Prussia's power is synony-
nous with the Kaiser's power, for the |
Kaiser, as King of Prussia, names the
Prussian delegates to the Bundesrath,
and they act solely at his bidding.
AutOcracy Not Overthrown.
German autocracy will not be en-
tirely overthrown, officials point out, |
until the Bundesrath IS composed OF |
state delegations elected by the peo-
pie OF the various states, allowed |
freedom OF deliberation and action, |
and made responsible to the eIector- |
ate. And before any such delegation |
can be truly representative of the |
Prussian people, officials say, there I
must be radical changes in the ar
chaic Prussian electoral system.
which Bismarck himself called "the |
most miserable and absurd election |
law that has ever been formulated in |
any country"
Under this Prussian system, the
electorate in each subdistrict is d.
vided into three classes, based upon /
the amount of taxes paid by the
persons. each class choosing an equal
number Of electors, who in turn |
meet and elect the given number Of
As a result, in more
than 2.200 subdistricts single indiv-
lduals compose one of the three
classes. and in more than LOO sub
two individuals compose one
Of the three classes. The most