th with a conservative veto! In
declaring war and making treaties, the consent of the Bundesrath is
required. The following articles also give the Bundesrath a very
complete control of the Reichstag. Article 7 reads: "The Bundesrath
shall take action upon (1) the measures to be proposed to the
Reichstag and the resolutions passed by the same; (2) the general
administrative provisions and arrangements necessary for the execution
of the imperial laws, so far as no other provision is made by law; (3)
the defects which may be discovered in the execution of the imperial
laws or of the provisions and arrangements heretofore mentioned."

The Reichstag, or lower house, is elected by universal suffrage in
electoral districts which were originally equal, but as we have noted
are far from equal now. This house has three hundred and ninety-seven
members, of whom two hundred and thirty-five are from Prussia. It sits
for five years, but may be dissolved by the Bundesrath with the
consent of the Emperor. All members of the Bundesrath, as well as the
chancellor, may speak in the Reichstag. Nor the chancellor, nor any
other executive officer, is responsible to the Reichstag, nor can be
removed by its vote, and the ministers of the Emperor are seldom or
never chosen from this body. This Reichstag is really only nominally a
portion of the governing body. It has the right to refuse to pass a
bill presented by the government, but if it does so it may be
summarily dismissed, as has happened several times, and another
election usually provides a more amenable body.

Of the various political parties in the Reichstag we have written
elsewhere. It is, perhaps, fair to say that such powerful parties as
the Socialists and the Centrum must be reckoned with by the
chancellor. He cannot actually trample upon them, nor can he disregard
wholly their wishes in framing and in carrying through legislation. It
would be going much too far in characterizing the weakness of the
Reichstag to leave that impression upon the reader. None the less it
remains true that it is the executive who rules and has the whip-hand,
and who in a grave crisis can override the representatives of the
people assembled in the Reichstag, and on more than one occasion this
has been done.

It seems highly unnecessary to announce after this description of the
imperial constitution that there is no such thing in Germany as
democratic or representative government. But this fact cannot