enoist, a Proportional
Representation League by which there has been carried on in recent
years a very vigorous and promising propaganda. The principal
arguments employed by the advocates of the proposed reform are (1)
that the effect of its adoption would be greatly to increase the
aggregate vote cast in parliamentary elections, since electors
belonging to minority parties would be assured of actual
representation; (2) that it would no longer be possible, as is now
regularly the case, for the number of voters unrepresented by deputies
of their own political faith to be in excess of the number of electors
so represented;[483] and (3) that a parliament in which the various
parties are represented in proportion to their voting strength can be
depended upon to know and to execute the will of the nation with more
precision than can a legislative body elected after the principle of
the majority system.[484]

[Footnote 482: The first English-speaking state to
adopt the system was Tasmania, where, after being
in partial operation in 1896-1901, it was brought
fully into effect in 1907. By an electoral law of
1900 Japan adopted it for the election of the
members of her House of Commons. The plan was put
in operation in Cuba April 1, 1908, and was adopted
in Oregon by a referendum of June 1, 1908.]

[Footnote 483: It is the assertion of M. Benoist
that this situation has existed unbrokenly since
1881. An interesting fact cited is that the notable
Separation Law of 1905 was adopted in the Chamber
by the votes of 341 deputies who represented in the
aggregate but 2,647,315 electors in a national
total of 10,967,000.]

[Footnote 484: Duguit, _op. cit._, argues
forcefully in behalf of the proposed change. For
adverse views, cogently stated by an equally
eminent French authority, see A. Esmein, Droit
Constitutionnel (5th ed., Paris, 1911), 253.]

*349. The Government and Reform.*--During upwards of a decade the
successive ministries of France have been committed to the cause of
electoral reform. In March, 1907, a special committee of the Chamber
of Deputies