A GENERAL ELECTIONS IN PRUSSIA.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3648, 26 January 1899, Page 2

A GENERAL ELECTIONS IN PRUSSIA.

, A CURIOSITY IN FRANCHISE // ■\-r SYSTEMS. 7 • ■■■■■■■; Prussia is again in the turmoil of a general election. No sooner had settled down after the excitement., of choosing members for the Reichstag than she must bestir herself to choose members for-the Landtag. And the Landtag (says the “ Pall Mall: Gazette ”), it. is well to remember, 'although of scant esteem among foreigners, is, in the eyes of true Prussians, especially Prussian Junkers, a much more ,important and interesting Assembly than the Reichstag. It is in the Landtag that the control of their national affairs is vested; it is the Landtag that makes their laws, that decrees what taxes they must pay, and how their children must be educated. Then the Landtag is their own private possession ; no one but Prussian subjects may sit there; whereas the Reichstag opens its doors to all, comers, even to the hated Bavarian—rand upon just the same terms, as to them. The former is ah eminently select Parliament, the most select; indeed, in all - Europe; while for the. Junker would tel! you—the. less • said, about its character the better. No socialist has ever yet held a seat in the' Landtag; and at the last general election only 20 Democrats i were returned, the other 413 successful candidates being either. Conservatives; or Reactionaries—, mostly the latter. , . The Prussian Lantag enjoys the distinction. of being elected on the very ■ worst franchise system ever yet invented,, on one, indeed, that is quite a curiosity . in its way. The law on which it is, founded was passed in 1849, just when, the King of Prussia’s nerves had re-, covered from the shocks they had received in the “ Year of Revolutions,” that mad yehr, ’4B. His subjects, after revel-, ling in chaos for a season, had.conceived a violent passion for law. arid order, , and; were rending the heavens with thein gries i that no price was too heavy to pay for ai settled government, and in reply. they' were endowed with the three-class voting system: This system was the .late Prince' 1 Bismarck’s special bete-noife ;i, never was 1 there a system at once so, absurd and so unjust, he used to declare; and he would certainly have mad e short work of ■it years ago had. he not known that; if he did,' he would bring into the field against him the whole of the Junker tribe. Again and again he held, three-class voting; up to ridicule as a thing that really must be got rid of;. and Herr Hcrrfurth, when Home Secretary, announced publicly that its- grave was already dug.. Hitherto, however, the Junkers, the _ only section of the community that views 1 it with election is'regarded by them.with special anxiety is the fear lest, should even a fair number of Democrats win seats,, an agitation will'be started in the Landtag itself in favour of the reform of the franchise. And; if this wore done, the Government could hardly; in face of their former declarations, refuse to take the; matter in hand.

Not only is voting in Prussia, on the three-class system, but it is indirect,.and, needless to say, not - by ballot. By no possible device can*you conceal the name of the candidate for whom you vote. All Prussian subjects who are 25 years old have the right to vote, unless, indeed, they be criminals, paupers, lunatics, or women. But the value of a vote depends upon whether the voter does or does not pay direct taxes; and, if he does,, upon tho amount. All the electors in any district are divided into three classes. In the first-classes are placed the rich men ol tho .district,, they, who together pay one-third of the taxes levied there. Tb e number of them varies of course according to the locality; but in the country is rarely above half a‘dozen, and'may be but one man. In the second-class are the men of moderate means, whoso united incomes represent one-third of tho wealth of the district, and who therefore pay onethird of the taxes; and in the Hurd-class aro the rest of the electors, whether rate-

payers or not. Each of these three classes has allotted to it an equal number of votes, or rather the right to elect an, equal number of Wahlmaner—that is, electors who, as the representatives of the original electors, choose the members of the Landtag. Thus wherever onethird of the wealth of a district is in possession of one man that man is also in the possession of one-third of the votes ; and, if he has two-thirds of the wealth, he has also two-thirds of the votes. In this case ho . can elect the majority of the Wahlmanner. and send to Parliament whom he chooses. Baron Stum, for instance, does actually thus send a member to the Landtag, who represents there no one but himself; and there are several large landowners who do practically the same thing. Oh the other hand, General Caprivi, the ex-Chancellor of the Empire, who, as comparatively a poor man, is in the second franchise class, has only about one-tenth of the voting power possessed by one of his servants, who is rich.

The value of the vote of an elector belonging to the third franchise class is practically nil, as even supposing that in a district where there are 10,000 of them they all support the same man, they could not secure his election unless they could induce the majority of either the second-class or the first-class voters to support him, too ; and of this being done thero is rarely'any chance. In these circumstances wo can hardly wonder that very few third-class electors should ever take the trouble to vote at all, especially as, under the three-class system, the-process of voting is a lengthy business, All who wish to vote must assemble in the voting-booth as soon as it is open and wait 1 there until their names are called, and that may be at 8 a.m., or not till several hours later. Then in ■sight and hearing of their neighbours, ;and—what is of course more trying—also ■of their employers, they must state for whom they wish to record their votes. Hitherto the Social Democrats as a party have stood entirely aloof from the Landtag elections, refusing to have part or lot in them, on.the score that to give men votes that have "no value is an insult. This, year, however, they have changed ; their tactics : and with a view to harrying their opponents, even although they may have no hope at all of defeating them, they are taking an active part in the contest. In"most cases, however, they have agreed to give their support to the Democrats, rather than bring forward candidates' of their own, a manoeuvre on their part that has excited both dismay and indignation in Junker circles.