POLITICS IN PRUSSIA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 193, 4 May 1918, Page 6

POLITICS IN PRUSSIA

TtiK Prussian l.'iel, ,'nrording to a report by way of Amsterdam, him rejected h,Y 220 voles to IMO tin , iiiueh-la'lki'd-i'f proposal to substitute equal franchise [or llio most illiberal and undemocratic electoral p.vbfiHti surviviim in I'hirop". Taking account of tlio I'unstiUilioti of the Prussian Lower llmi.se, lhe volu v.ivA for refoi'iii is LUirpriwingly largo, but the slaleinent thai; the rejection of the equal franchise proposal bus given rise to a most wriouu political crisis must noveiilioless bo accepted with a grain of wilt. "Political crisis" has been hitherto a term of almost nominal inclining in Germany, and still more in Prussia, which ranks even in the (senium Empire as (he very homo and centre of autocracy. The revolutionary proposal to institute equal franchise in Prussia has tho unqualified support of Count Hehti.ino, the Imperial Chancellor—indeed, he is wiid to have declared that the Uoveniment will not accept.any modification of universal equal suffrage. It is impossible, however, to believe tlmt the K.usKH and his junker, , ! are disingenuous in the matter, for the adoption of oqual franchise in Prussiawould strike .'it the very foundations of their power. At present the .Prussian Lower Hoirw is elected indirectly, and the indirect electors are divided info three- classes, according lo tho amount o[ taxes they pay. Those who p,ay tho heaviest; taxes, to Ih<; airgro'gate amount of one-third of (ho Slate revenue collected from (heir doctoral group, constitute the first class; those who pay the next highest taxes, lo the amount of a second third of tho revenue, eonslitute (lie second class, and the third class consists, of the lowest-taxed, who contribute the remainder of' the revenue,. It is a system under which some hundreds ■of citizens exercise no more voting power than a single individual or a few individuals who pay high taxes. I\ 7 o doubt the constitution of the Chamber accounts for the confidence with which the ruling powers in Prussia and in the Empire have tolerated and even pretended to I support the reform which has now I been rejected. The attitude of the j dominant parties in the Chamber was made manifest a couple of months ago, when , the Franchise Bill was being dealt with in Committee On that occasion the Conservatives and Free Conservatives, with the holp of four National Liberals, substituted by 20 votes to 15 an artificially mjxed franchise for the equal franchise proposed in the Bill. As. the facts were set out in the London Times, the Conservative motion provided that every voter should have one vote, but that any voter might have one or more additional votes by five special qualifications. As regards the first qualification, every voter who is over 50 years oi' age, and has or has had no fewer than three legitimate children who have reached their fourteenth year, would have an additional vote. The second qualification gave an additional voteto every elector who paid property j tax. Thirdly, an additional- vote was given'to every voter whose income tax exceeds the average amount of income tax paid by the residents in the same parish, or who alterna- ! tivcly has an income of more than £150. Fourthly, an additional vote was given to all employers of labour and all independent farmers or peasant farmers. Finally, an 'additional vote was given to all electors who have reached.one of, the upper classes of a secondary school. There arc. bore some signs of an attempt to apportion voting power with an eye to the real qualifications of voters, but tho main purpose obviously is to fortify privilege under a semblance of alternative reform. Following upon the action of this Committee, the, Berlin \Lokdl Anzcit/er observed:

It was all along quite obvious to everybody who linnwj our party conditions that the Diet would not simply accept (he abrupt transition from, the threeclass franchise to the Reichstag , franchise. Rather is this fad surprising that so considerable a minority voted in Committee for the equal franchise. But, after nil, the minority is a. minority.

No doubt a similar spirit of complacent confidence was felt by the ruling powers in Prussia, but such feelings will be rudely disturbed by the very considerable minority vote cast in the Chamber for equal franchise. It is true that "the minority is a minority," but the presence of such a minority favouring reform in a Chamber constituted as is the Prussian Lower House may easily mean that a big majority in the country at large is of the same mind. Further developments from the position now reached should be interesting, and incidentally ought to throw some light' on tho attitude of the people of the dominant Gorman State towards the war. If the position of tho Imperial Chancellor has been correctly defined, he may presently find himself compelled to resign. The junkers, of course, will fight as determinedly against internal reform as against the Allies, but the evidence now afforded of the forces rising against them in their own stronghold is distinctly impressive. WJiat follows will no doubt be' determined by the course of the war, but it is decidedly to the 'good that so powerful a vote has been cast

fur reform in a legislative assembly designed mid constituted to buttress aiilixTaey.