itique, 187-197.]

*276. The House of Representatives.*--The Abgeordnetenhaus, or House of
Representatives, consists of 443 members--362 for the old kingdom, 80
added in 1867 to represent the newly acquired provinces, and one added
in 1876 to represent Lauenburg. Representatives are elected for a
five-year term, and every Prussian is eligible who has completed his
thirtieth year, who has paid taxes to the state during as much as
three years, and whose civil rights have not been impaired by judicial
sentence. Every Prussian who has attained his twenty-fifth year, and
who is qualified to vote in the municipal elections of his place of
domicile, is entitled to participate in the choice of a deputy. At
first glance the Prussian franchise appears distinctly liberal. It is
so, however, only in the sense that comparatively few adult males are
excluded from the exercise of it. In its actual workings it is one of
the most undemocratic in Europe.

*277. The Electoral System.*--Representatives are chosen in electoral
districts, each of which returns from one to three members--as a rule,
two. There has been no general redistribution of seats since 1860
(although some changes were made in 1906), so that in many districts,
especially in the urban centers whose growth has fallen largely within
the past fifty years, the quota of representatives is grossly
disproportioned to population. Until 1906 the entire city of Berlin
returned but nine members, and its quota now is only twelve.[381] The
enfranchised inhabitants of the district do not, moreover, vote (p. 259)
for a representative directly. The essential characteristics of the
Prussian electoral system are, first, that the suffrage is indirect,
and, second, that it is unequal. The precise method by which a
representative is elected[382] may be indicated as follows: (1) each
circle, or district, is divided into a number of Urwahlbezirke, or
sub-districts; (2) in each Urwahlbezirk one Wahlman, or elector, is
allotted to every 250 inhabitants; (3) for the choosing of these
Wahlmaenner the voters of the sub-district are divided into three
classes, arranged in such a fashion that the first class will be
composed of the payers of direct taxes, beginning with the largest
contributors, who collectively pay one-third of the tax-quota of the
sub-district, the second class will include the payers next in
importance who as a group pay the second third, and the last class
will comprise the r