eorganization of
the army whereby were increased both the term of military service and
the taxes by which the military establishment was supported. Argument
to the effect that such an augmentation of public burdens ought to be
accompanied by an extension of public privileges was not lost upon the
members of the Conservative Government, and at the opening of the
Riksdag of 1902 the Speech from the Throne assigned first place in the
legislative calendar to a Suffrage Extension bill. March 12 the
measure was laid before the chambers. The provisions of the bill were,
in brief, (1) that every male citizen, already possessed of the
municipal franchise, who had completed his twenty-fifth year and was
not in arrears in respect to taxes or military service, should be
entitled to vote for a member of the lower national chamber; and (2)
that every voter who was married, or had been married, or had
completed his fortieth year, should be entitled to two votes. By
reason of its plural voting features the measure was not well
received, even though the plural vote was not made in any way
dependent upon property. It was opposed by the Liberals and the Social
Democrats, and members even of the Conservative Government which had
introduced it withheld from it their support. Amidst unusual public
perturbation the Liberals drew up a counter-proposal, which was
introduced in the lower chamber April 16. It contemplated not simply
one vote for all male citizens twenty-five years of age who possessed
the municipal franchise, but also a sweeping extension of the
municipal franchise itself. The upshot was the adoption by the Riksdag
of a proposal to the effect that the Government, after conducting a
thorough investigation of the entire subject, should submit, in 1904,
a new measure based upon universal suffrage from the age of
twenty-five.

*657. The Conservative Proposal of 1904.*--The issue was postponed, but
agitation, especially on the part of the Social Democrats, was
redoubled. February 9, 1904, the Government laid before the lower
chamber a new suffrage bill embodying the recommendations of a
commission appointed some months previously to conduct the
investigation which had been ordered. The principal provisions of the
measure were (1) that every male municipal taxpayer who had attained
his twenty-fifth year, and was not deficient in respect to his fiscal
or military obligations, should be entitled to one vote for a member
of the Chamber;