e bill providing for (1)
the reduction of the voting age to twenty-five; (2) the increase of
the number of deputies to 132; and (3) the extension of the suffrage
in national elections to women, together with eligibility for seats in
both of the legislative chambers. This measure likewise failed; but at
the opening of Parliament in October, 1912, fresh proposals upon the
subject were introduced.

*620. The Rigsdag: Sessions and Powers.*--The Rigsdag is required to
meet in regular session on the first Monday in October of every year.
Each house determines the validity of the election of its members;
each makes its own regulations concerning its order of business and
the maintenance of discipline; each elects its own president,
vice-presidents, and other officers. Each has the right to propose
bills, each may present addresses to the king, and the consent of each
is necessary to the enactment of any law. By provision of the
constitution the annual budget must be laid on the table of the
Folkething at the beginning of each regular session, and no tax may be
imposed, altered, or abolished save by law. Each house is required to
appoint two salaried auditors whose business it is to examine the
yearly public accounts and to determine whether there have been either
unrecorded revenues or unauthorized expenditures. For the adjustment
of conflicts between the two chambers there is provided a method
whereby there may be constituted a joint conference committee similar
to that employed under like circumstances in the American Congress.[796]
Sessions are public, and a majority of the membership constitutes (p. 565)
a quorum. With the consent of the house to which he belongs, any
member may propose subjects for consideration and may request
explanations from the Government concerning them. Ministers are
entitled to appear and to speak in either chamber as often as they may
desire, provided they do not otherwise infringe upon the order of
business. By reason of the uncertain status of ministerial
responsibility the right of interpellation means as yet but little in
practice. The minister may or may not reply to inquiries, and in any
case he is not obliged by unfavorable opinion or an adverse vote to
retire.

[Footnote 796: Art. 53. Dodd, Modern Constitutions,
I., 274.]

*621. Political Parties: the Ministry of Estrup, 1875-1894.*--Prior to
1848 the preponderating public issues of Denmark were