emainder; (4) each of these classes chooses, by
absolute majority, one-third of the electors to which the Urwahlbezirk
is entitled; finally (5) all the electors thus chosen in the various
Urwahlbezirke of the district come together as an electoral college
and choose, by absolute majority, a representative to sit in the
Abgeordnetenhaus at Berlin.[383]

[Footnote 381: Prior to 1906 the Berlin
representatives were chosen in four electoral
districts, but in the year mentioned the city was
divided into twelve single-member constituencies.]

[Footnote 382: As stipulated in articles 69-75 of
the constitution. Robinson, The Constitution of the
Kingdom of Prussia, 42-44.]

[Footnote 383: In the event that, between
elections, a seat falls vacant, a new member is
chosen forthwith by this same body of Wahlmaenner
without a fresh appeal to the original electorate
of the district.]

*278. Origins and Operation of the System.*--The principal features of
this unique system were devised as a compromise between a
thoroughgoing democracy based on universal suffrage and a government
exclusively by the landholding aristocracy. The three-class
arrangement originated in the Rhine Province where, by the local
government code of 1845, it was put in operation in the elections of
the municipalities. In the constitution of 1850 it was adopted for use
in the national elections, and in subsequent years it was extended to
municipal elections in virtually all parts of the kingdom, so that it
came to be a characteristic and well-nigh universal Prussian
institution. It need hardly be pointed out that the scheme throws the
bulk of political power, whether in municipality or in nation, into
the hands of the men of wealth. In not fewer than 2,214 Urwahlbezirke
a third of the direct taxes is paid by a single individual, who
therefore comprises alone the first electoral class; and in 1703
precincts the first class consists of but two persons. In most cases
the number of the least considerable taxpayers who in the aggregate
pay the last third of the tax-quota is relatively large. Taking the
kingdom as a whole, it was estimated in 1907 that approximately (p. 260)
three per cent of the electorate belonged to the first class, abou