or who
fulfilled various other conditions, should be entitled to two votes;
and (4) electors who had completed the course of secondary instruction,
or who paid a direct tax of 100 crowns (approximately $21), should (p. 496)
be possessed of three votes. As before, voting was to be oral and
public. In the preamble of the measure the cynical observation was
offered that "the secret ballot protects electors in dependent
positions only in so far as they break their promises under the veil
of secrecy." It was announced that the passage of the bill would be
followed by the presentation of a scheme for the redistribution of
seats.

[Footnote 699: Equivalent to the completion of
one-half of the course of secondary instruction.]

*548. Rejection of the Bill.*--According to calculations of the _Neue
Freie Presse_, the effect of the measure would have been to increase
the aggregate body of electors from 1,100,000 to 2,600,000, and the
number of votes to something like 4,000,000. The number of persons
entitled to three votes was estimated at 200,000; to two votes, at
860,000; to one vote, at 1,530,000; to no vote, at 1,270,000. An
aggregate of 1,060,000 persons in the first two classes would cast
2,320,000 votes; an aggregate of 2,800,000 in the last two would cast
1,530,000 votes. The number of persons participating in parliamentary
elections would be more than doubled, but political power would remain
where it was already lodged. The measure would have operated, indeed,
to strengthen the Magyar position, and while the Germans would have
profited somewhat by it, the Slavs would have lost largely such power
as they at present possess. Based as the scheme was upon a curious
elaboration of the educational qualification, it was recognized
instantly, both in the kingdom and outside, as an instrument of
deliberate Magyar domination. Among the Slavic populations the
prevalence of illiteracy is such that the number of persons who could
attain the possession of even one direct vote would be insignificant.
By the Socialists, and by the radical and Slavic elements generally,
the scheme was denounced as a sheer caricature of the universal,
equal, and direct suffrage for which demand had been made.

Upon the introduction of the bill parliamentary discord broke out
afresh, and through 1909 there was a deadlock which effectually
prevented the enactment of even the necessary measures of finance. In
January