ootnote 760: The Nyssens scheme was brought to
the attention of the Belgian people through the
medium of a pamphlet entitled "Le suffrage
universel tempere."]

*596. The Franchise To-day.*--By the terms of the law of 1893, one vote
is allotted to every male Belgian citizen who has attained the age of
twenty-five years, who is in unrestricted enjoyment of his civil and
political rights, and who has been resident at least one year in a
given commune. There is nothing whatsoever in the nature of either an
educational or a property qualification. Having conferred, however,
upon the mass of male citizens the right to vote, the law proceeds to
define the conditions under which a citizen may be entitled to two
votes, or even three. One supplementary vote is conferred upon (1)
every male citizen over thirty-five years of age, married or a
widower, with legitimate offspring, and paying to the state as a
householder a tax of not less than five francs, unless exempt by
reason of his profession, and (2) every male citizen over twenty-five
years of age owning real estate to the assessed value of 2,000 francs,
or possessing income from land corresponding to such valuation, or who
for two years has derived a minimum interest return of one hundred
francs a year from Belgian funds, in the form of either government
bonds or obligations of the Belgian government savings-bank. Two
supplementary votes are conferred upon citizens over twenty-five years
of age who (1) hold a diploma from an institution of higher learning,
or an indorsed certificate testifying to the completion of a course of
secondary education of the higher grade; or (2) occupy or have
occupied a public office, hold or have held a position, practice or
have practiced a profession, which presupposes the knowledge imparted
in secondary instruction of the higher grade--such offices, (p. 542)
positions, and professions to be defined from time to time by law.[761]

[Footnote 761: Art. 47. Dodd, Modern Constitutions,
I., 132-133.]

What, therefore, the law of 1893 does is, broadly, to confer upon
every male citizen one vote and to specify three principal conditions
under which this basal voting power may be augmented. As the head of a
family, the citizen's suffrage may be doubled. By reason of his
possession of property or of capital, it likewise may be doubled. On
the basis of