recent years, especially since the Austrian electoral
reform of 1906-1907, there has been in Hungary an increasingly
insistent demand that the Magyar parliamentary hegemony be overthrown,
or at least that there be assured to the non-Magyar peoples something
like a proportionate share of political influence. As early as 1905
the recurrence of legislative deadlocks at Budapest influenced Francis
Joseph to ally himself with the democratic elements of the kingdom and
to declare for manhood suffrage; and in the legislative programme of
the Fejervary government, made public October 28, 1905, the place of
principal importance was assigned to this reform. Fearing the swamping
of the popular chamber by the Slavs and Germans, the Magyars steadily
opposed all change, and for the time being the mere threat on the part
of the Government was sufficient to restore tolerable, if not normal,
parliamentary conditions. The Wekerle coalition cabinet of 1900
announced electoral reform as one of its projected tasks, but as time
elapsed it became apparent that no positive action was likely to be
taken. During 1907 and 1908 riotous demonstrations on the part of the
disappointed populace were frequent, and at last, November 11, 1908,
Count Andrassy, Minister of the Interior, introduced in the Chamber
the long-awaited Franchise Reform Bill.

The measure fell far short of public expectation. It was drawn, as
Count Andrassy himself admitted, in such a manner as not "to
compromise the Magyar character of the Hungarian state." After a
fashion, it conceded manhood suffrage. But, to the end that the Magyar
hegemony might be preserved, it imposed upon the exercise of the
franchise such a number of restrictions and assigned to plural voting
such an aggregate of weight that its concessions were regarded by
those who were expected to be benefited by it as practically
valueless. The essentials of the measure were: (1) citizens unable to
read and write Hungarian should be excluded from voting directly,
though they might choose one elector for every ten of their number,
and each elector so chosen should be entitled to one vote; (2) every
male citizen able to read and write Hungarian should be invested, upon
completing his twenty-fourth year and fulfilling a residence
requirement of twelve months, with one vote; (3) electors who had
passed four standards of a secondary school,[699] or who paid yearly a
direct tax amounting to at least twenty crowns ($4.16),