ity without such
votes and (2) that they should not be counted for or against any
proposal to amend the Imperial constitution. The revised bill was
passed in the Reichstag, May 26, 1911, and in accordance with a decree
of August 26 the new constitution was put in operation September 1.

*311. The Governmental System To-day.*--Supreme executive authority is
lodged, as before, in the Emperor. It is exercised, in the main, by
the Statthalter, who is appointed by, and holds office at the pleasure
of, the Emperor. In the Statthalter are vested all the rights and
privileges in Alsace-Lorraine that hitherto have been held and
exercised by the Imperial Chancellor. He appoints and instructs the
plenipotentiaries in the Bundesrath, and Imperial orders and decrees
have legal effect only when signed by him. All laws require the assent
of the Emperor and the two chambers of the diet, and the budget of the
year must be laid first before the lower chamber and must be accepted
or rejected in its entirety by the upper one. The Emperor has the
right to summon, to adjourn, and to dissolve the chambers
simultaneously. Members of the popular branch are elected by direct
and secret ballot and majority vote by all male German citizens
twenty-five years of age who have resided in Alsace-Lorraine at least
three years; except that a residence of one year qualifies teachers
and occupants of official posts. The plural voting proposal contained
in the Government bill of 1910 was abandoned. The first chamber
elected under the new system--that chosen in October, 1911--contained
twenty-five Centre members, eleven Socialists, ten members of the
National Alsace-Lorraine group,[418] eight Liberal Democrats, and (p. 287)
six Independents. The independent attitude promptly assumed by the
body elicited from the Emperor, in May, 1912, a threat that the new
constitution might be abrogated and Alsace-Lorraine incorporated with
Prussia. The incident provoked a storm of criticism, and, outside the
rabid Pan-German press, the Imperial pronouncement was commented upon
everywhere adversely.[419]

[Footnote 418: The party which had contended most
vigorously for Alsatian autonomy.]

[Footnote 419: On the organization of
Alsace-Lorraine prior to 1911 see Howard, The
German Empire, Chap. 10; Laband, Das Staatsrecht
des deutschen Reiches, Secs. 67-69; P.