e. The size of constituencies varies from 188 people in
Obwalden and 250 in Inner Appenzell to 1,500 in St. Gall and Zuerich
and 2,500 in Bern. The electors include all males who have (p. 419)
completed their twentieth year and who are in possession of full civil
rights. The term of members varies from one to six years, but is
generally three or four. There are, as a rule, two meetings annually,
in some cantons a larger number. Beginning with the canton of Ticino
in 1891, there has been introduced into the governmental systems of
several cantons and of the two cities of Bern and Basel the principle
of proportional representation. The details vary, but the general
principle is that each political party shall be entitled to seats in
the Greater Council in the closest practicable proportion that the
party vote bears to the entire vote cast within the canton. Those
cantons where this principle is in operation are laid out in
districts, each of which is entitled to two or more representatives,
and the individual elector, while forbidden to cast more than one vote
for a given candidate, casts a number of votes corresponding to the
number of seats to be filled.[609]

[Footnote 609: For an excellent account of the
introduction of proportional representation in the
canton of Ticino see J. Galland, La democratie
tessinoise et la representation proportionnelle
(Grenoble, 1909). The canton in which the principle
has been adopted most recently is St. Gall. In
1893, 1901, and 1906 it was there rejected by the
people, but at the referendum of February, 1912, it
was approved, and in the following November the
cantonal legislature formally adopted it. For a
brief exposition of the workings of the system see
Vincent, Government in Switzerland, Chap. 4. An
important study of the subject is E. Kloeti, Die
Proportionalwahl in der Schweiz; Geschichte,
Darstellung und Kritik (Bern, 1901). On the
proposed introduction of proportional
representation in the federal government see p.
433.]

*462. The Referendum: Origins and Operation.*--The most interesting if
not the most characteristic, of Swiss pol