The Governments of Europe Part 41

The elections of 1911 were hotly contested. The 516 seats to be filled were sought by 2,987 candidates, representing no fewer than fifty-one parties and factions, and second ballotings were required in almost two-thirds of the const.i.tuencies. The Czechs returned with undiminished strength, and the German Radicals and Progressives realized substantial gains. The most notable feature, however, was the victory of the Social Democrats over the Christian Socialists, especially in the capital, where the quota of deputies of the one party was raised from ten to nineteen and that of the other was cut from twenty to four. The Christian Socialists, it must be observed, are not socialists in the ordinary meaning of the term. The party was founded by Dr. Luger a few years ago in the hope that, despite the establishment of manhood suffrage in the Empire, the Social Democrats might yet be prevented from acquiring a primacy among the German parties. It is composed largely of clericals, and in tone and purpose it is essentially reactionary. By maintaining an active alliance with the German Clerical party it contrived to hold in check the Social Democracy throughout the larger portion of the period 1907-1911. But it was handicapped all the while by internal dissension, and the defeat which it suffered at the last elections has relegated it, at least for the time being, to a subordinate place.[681]

[Footnote 681: On Austrian party politics see Lowell, Governments and Parties, II., 94-123; Drage, Austria-Hungary, Chaps, 1, 3, 12; K.

Schwechler, Die osterreichische Sozialdemokratie (Graz, 1907); S. Marmorek, L'Obstruction au parlement autrichien (Paris, 1908); and E. Benes, Le probleme autrichien et la question tcheque; etude sur les luttes politiques des nationalites slaves en Autriche (Paris, 1908). Among valuable articles in periodicals may be mentioned: W.

Beaumont, La crise du parlementarisme au Autriche; les elections legislatives et la situation politique, in _Annales des Sciences Politiques_, March 15, 1901; K. Kramer, La situation politique en Autriche, ibid., October 15, 1901; G. L. Jaray, L'Autriche nouvelle: sentiments nationaux et preoccupations sociales, ibid., May 15 and Sept.

15, 1908, and La physionomie nouvelle de la question austro-hongroise, in _Questions Diplomatiques et Coloniales_, Dec. 16, 1910; Kolmer, La vie politique et parlementaire en Autriche, in _Revue Politique et Parlementaire_, July 10, 1911; and G. Blondel, Les dernieres elections en Autriche-Hongrie, in _La Reforme Sociale_, Aug. 1 and 15, 1911.]

V. THE JUDICIARY AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

*535. General Principles: the Ordinary Tribunals.*--All judicial power in the Austrian Empire is exercised, and all judgments and sentences are executed, in the name of the Emperor. Judges are appointed for life, by the Emperor or in his name, and they may be removed from (p. 484) office only under circ.u.mstances specified by law and by virtue of a formal judicial sentence. On taking the oath of office all judicial officials are required to pledge themselves to an inviolable observance of the fundamental laws. The Law of December 21, 1867, concerning the Judicial Power withholds from the courts the power to p.r.o.nounce upon the validity of statutes properly promulgated, though they may render judgment on the validity of Imperial ordinances involved in cases before them.[682] With some exceptions, fixed by law, proceedings in both civil and criminal cases are required to be oral and public; and in all cases involving severe penalties, as well as in all actions arising from political crimes and misdemeanors and offenses committed by the press, the guilt or innocence of the accused must be determined by jury.

[Footnote 682: Art. 7. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 86.]

By the law of 1867 it is stipulated that there shall be maintained at Vienna a Supreme Court of Justice and Ca.s.sation (_Oberste Gerichts-und Ka.s.sationshof_) for all of the kingdoms and countries represented in the Reichsrath, and that the organization and jurisdiction of inferior courts shall be determined by law. Of inferior tribunals there have been established 9 higher provincial courts (_Oberlandesgerichte_),[683]

74 provincial and district courts (_Landes-und Kreisgerichte_), and 96 county courts (_Bezirksgerichte_). The provincial and district courts and the county courts, together with a group of jury courts maintained in connection with the provincial and district tribunals, are courts of first instance; the higher provincial courts and the Supreme Court exercise a jurisdiction that is almost wholly appellate. There exist also special courts for commercial, industrial, military, fiscal, and other varieties of jurisdiction.

[Footnote 683: Located at Vienna, Graz, Trieste, Innsbruck, Zara, Prague, Brunn, Cracow, and Lemberg.]

*536. The Imperial Court.*--In Austria, as in France and other continental countries, cases affecting administration and the administrative officials are withheld from the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts and are committed to special administrative tribunals.

By law of 1867 provision was made for an Imperial Court (_Reichsgericht_), to exercise final decision in conflicts of jurisdiction between the two sets of courts and, in general, in all disputed questions of public law, after the manner of the Court of Conflicts in France. The Imperial Court was organized by law of April 18, 1869. It sits at Vienna, and it is composed of a president and deputy president, appointed by the Emperor for life, and of twelve members and four subst.i.tutes, also appointed for life by the Emperor upon nomination by the Reichsrath. It decides finally all conflicts of competence (p. 485) between the administrative and the ordinary judicial tribunals, between a provincial diet and the Imperial authorities, and between the independent public authorities of the several provinces of the Empire. Very important in a country so dominated by a bureaucracy as is Austria is the power which by fundamental law is vested in the Imperial Court to pa.s.s final verdict upon the merits of all complaints of citizens arising out of the alleged violation of political rights guaranteed to them by the const.i.tution, after the matter shall have been made the subject of an administrative decision. The purpose involved is to afford the citizen who, believing himself deprived of his const.i.tutional rights, has failed to obtain redress in the administrative courts, an opportunity to have his case reviewed by a tribunal const.i.tuted with special view to permanence, independence, and impartiality. High-handed administrative acts which are covered by statute, however, are beyond its reach, for, like all Austrian tribunals, it is forbidden to question the validity of a duly promulgated law.[684]

[Footnote 684: Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 84-85.]

*537. The Provincial Governments: Composition of the Diet.*--Each of the seventeen political divisions of the Empire has a government of its own, established on the basis of its Landesordnung, or provincial const.i.tution. The executive, for affairs that are considered strictly divisional, consists of a provincial council, the _Landesausschuss_, composed of the president of the diet (nominated by the Emperor) as _ex-officio_ chairman and from four to eight members variously elected within the province. Imperial interests are specially represented in the province, however, by a _Statthalter_, or _Landesprasident_, appointed by the crown, and independent of local control.

Functions of legislation are vested in a Landtag, or diet. The provincial diet of the modern type came into being under the operation of the Imperial diploma of October 20, 1860 (superseded by that of February 26, 1861), replacing the ancient a.s.sembly of estates which in most provinces had persisted until 1848. From 1860 onwards diets were established in one after another of the provinces, until eventually all were so equipped. Originally the diets were substantially uniform in respect to both composition and powers. Aside from certain _ex-officio_ members, they were composed of deputies chosen for six years by four electoral curiae: the great proprietors, the chambers of commerce, the towns, and the rural communes; and, until 1873, one of their princ.i.p.al functions was the election of the provincial delegation in the lower house of the Reichsrath. Each of the seventeen provincial diets as to-day const.i.tuted consists of a single chamber, and in most instances the body is composed of (1) the archbishops (p. 486) and bishops of the Catholic and Orthodox Greek churches; (2) the rectors of universities, and, in Galicia, the rector of the technical high school of Lemberg and the president of the Academy of Sciences of Cracow; (3) the representatives of great estates, elected by all landowners paying land taxes of not less than 100, 200, 400, or 500 crowns, according to the provinces in which their estates are situated; (4) the representatives of towns, elected by citizens who possess munic.i.p.al rights or pay a stipulated amount of direct taxes; (5) the representatives of boards of commerce and industry, chosen by the members of these bodies; and (6) representatives of the rural communes, elected in eight provinces directly, in the others indirectly, by deputies (Wahlmanner) returned by all inhabitants who pay direct taxes to the amount of 8 crowns yearly. In a few of the provinces there is, besides these, a general electoral cla.s.s composed of all qualified male subjects of the state over twenty-four years of age;[685] and there are some other variations, as for example, in Moravia, where, by a law of November 27, 1905, the proportional system of representation was introduced. The diets vary in membership from 26 in Vorarlberg and 30 in Gorz and Gradisca to 151 in Moravia, 161 in Galicia, and 242 in Bohemia. The deputies are elected in all cases for a period of six years, and the diets a.s.semble annually. But a session may be closed, and the diet may be dissolved, at any time by the presiding officer, under the direction of the Emperor.

[Footnote 685: When the cla.s.s system of voting for members of the Reichsrath was on the point of being abolished by the law of January 26, 1907, there was raised the question as to whether a similar step should not be taken in respect to provincial elections. It was generally agreed, however, that the absence of an aristocratic upper chamber in the provincial diet renders the cla.s.s system within the province not wholly undesirable. The provinces were encouraged to liberalize their franchise regulations, but not to abandon the prevailing electoral system. The province of Lower Austria led the way by increasing the membership of its diet from 79 to 127, to be elected as follows: 58 by manhood suffrage throughout the province, 31 by the rural communes, 16 by the large landholders, 15 by the towns, and 4 by the chambers of commerce. Two bishops and the rector of the University of Vienna were continued as members.]

*538. Functions of the Diet.*--The powers of the diets are not enumerated, but, rather, are residual. By fundamental law of 1867 it is stipulated that "all matters of legislation other than those expressly reserved to the Reichsrath by the present law belong within the power of the Provincial Diets of the kingdoms and countries represented in the Reichsrath and are const.i.tutionally regulated by such Diets."[686] In certain matters, naturally those of an (p. 487) essentially local character, the diet may act with absolute freedom, save that it is within the competence of the Emperor to veto any of its measures. In other matters, such as education and finance, which fall within the range of the Reichsrath's competence, the powers of the diet are limited and subsidiary. A policy very generally pursued has been that of formulating at Vienna general regulations for the entire Empire, leaving to the diets the task of devising legislation of a local and specific character for the execution of these regulations; though it can hardly be maintained that the results have been satisfactory. The diets are not infrequently radical, and even turbulent, bodies, and it has been deemed expedient ordinarily by the Imperial authorities to maintain a close watch upon their proceedings.

[Footnote 686: Law of December 21, 1867, concerning Imperial Representation, -- 12. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 79.]

*539. The Commune.*--Throughout the Empire the vital unit of local government is the commune. As is true of the province, the commune is an administrative district, and one of its functions is that of serving as an agency of the central government in the conduct of public affairs. Fundamentally, however, the commune is an autonomous organism, rooted in local interest and tradition. As such, it exercises broad powers of community control. It makes provision for the safety of person and property, for the maintenance of the local peace, for the supervision of traffic, for elementary and secondary education, and for a variety of other local interests. Except in respect to affairs managed by the commune as agent of the Imperial government, the local authorities are exempt from discipline at the hand of their superiors, and, indeed, an eminent Austrian authority has gone so far as to maintain that the communes of Austria possess a larger independent competence than do the communes of any other European state.[687]

[Footnote 687: J. Redlich, Das Wesen der osterreichischen Kommunalverfa.s.sung (Leipzig, 1910).]

Except in the case of some of the larger towns, which have special const.i.tutions, the rural and urban communes of the Empire are organized upon the same pattern. The executive authority is vested in an elective committee, or council, presided over by a _Vorsteher_, or burgomaster, chosen from the members of the committee. The _Vorsteher_ is not removable by the central authorities, and over his election they possess no control. In certain of the towns the place of the communal committee is taken by a corporation. In every commune there is an a.s.sembly (the _Gemeindevertretung_), the members of which are elected for three (in Galicia six) years by all resident citizens who are payers of a direct tax. For the purpose of electing a.s.semblymen the voters are divided into three cla.s.ses, very much as under the (p. 488) Prussian electoral system, and this arrangement, indeed, comprises virtually the only non-democratic aspect of the communal const.i.tution.

In Galicia, Styria, and Bohemia there exists also a district a.s.sembly, elected for three years (in Galicia six) and made up of representatives of great estates, the most highly taxed industries and trades, towns and markets, and rural communes. A committee of this body, known as the _Bezirksausschuss_, administers the affairs of the district.

CHAPTER XXVI (p. 489)

THE GOVERNMENT AND PARTIES OF HUNGARY

I. THE CONSt.i.tUTION

*540. Antiquity.*--By reason of both its antiquity and its adaptability to varying conditions, the const.i.tution of the kingdom of Hungary deserves to be considered one of the most remarkable instruments of its kind. Like the fundamental law of England, it is embodied in a maze of ancient statutes and customs, and it is the distinctive creation of a people possessed of a rare genius for politics and government. On the doc.u.mentary side its history is to be traced at least to the Golden Bull of Andrew II., promulgated in 1222; though that instrument, like the contemporary Great Charter in England, comprised only a confirmation of national liberties that were already old.[688] Under Hapsburg domination, from the early sixteenth century onwards, the fundamental political system and the long established laws of the Hungarian kingdom were repeatedly guaranteed. Much of the time they were, in practice, disregarded; but the nationalistic vigor of the Hungarian people invested them with unlimited power of survival, and even during the reactionary second quarter of the nineteenth century they were but held in suspense.

[Footnote 688: There is an interesting comparative study of the _Bulla Aurea_ and the Great Charter in E. Hantos, The Magna Carta of the English and of the Hungarian Const.i.tution (London, 1904).]

*541. Texts: the "March Laws."*--In large part, the const.i.tution to-day in operation took final form in a series of measures enacted by the Hungarian parliament during the uprising of 1848. Thirty-one laws, in all, were at that time pa.s.sed, revising the organization of the legislative chambers, widening the suffrage, creating a responsible cabinet, abolishing feudal survivals, and modernizing, in general, the inst.i.tutions of the kingdom. The broad lines which remained were those marked out in the ancient const.i.tutional order; the new measures merely supplemented, revised, and imparted definite form to pre-existing laws, customs, and jealously guarded rights. Not all of these inherited const.i.tutional elements, however, were included in the new statutes; and to this day it is true that in Hungary, as in (p. 490) Great Britain, a considerable portion of the const.i.tution has never been put into written form. The fate of the measures of 1848 was for a time adverse. The Austrian recovery in 1849 remanded Hungary to the status of a subject province, and it was not until 1867, after seven years of arduous experimentation, that the const.i.tution of 1848 was permitted again to come into operation. The Ausgleich involved as one of its fundamentals a guarantee for all time of the laws, const.i.tution, legal independence, freedom, and territorial integrity of Hungary and its subordinate countries. And throughout all of the unsettlement and conflict which the past half-century has brought in the Austro-Hungarian world the const.i.tution of kingdom and empire alike has stood firm against every shock. The doc.u.ments in which, chiefly, the written const.i.tution is contained are: (1) Law III. of 1848 concerning the Formation of a Responsible Hungarian Ministry; (2) Law IV. of 1848 concerning Annual Sessions of the Diet; (3) Law x.x.xIII. of 1874 concerning the Modification and Amendment of Law V. of 1848, and of the Transylvanian Law II. of 1848; and (4) Law VII. of 1885 altering the organization of the Table of Magnates.[689]

[Footnote 689: The texts of all of the fundamental laws of Hungary at present in operation are printed in G. Steinbach, Die ungarischen Verfa.s.sungsgesetze (3d ed., Vienna, 1900). English translations of the more important are in Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 93-111. The standard treatise on the Hungarian const.i.tutional system is S. Rado-Rotheld, Die ungarische Verfa.s.sung (Berlin, 1898), upon which is based A. de Bertha, La const.i.tution hongroise (Paris, 1898). In both of these works the Magyar domination in Hungary is regarded with favor. A readable book is A. de Bertha, La Hongrie moderne de 1849 a 1901; etude historique (Paris, 1901). An older treatise, in three volumes, is A. von Virozil, Das Staatsrecht des Konigsreichs Ungarn (Pest, 1865-1866). Valuable works of more recent publication include G. Steinbach, Die ungarischen Verfa.s.sungsgesetze (Vienna, 1906); A. Timon, Ungarische Verfa.s.sungs-und Rechtsgeschichte (2d ed., Berlin, 1908); H. Marczoll, Ungarisches Verfa.s.sungsrecht (Tubingen, 1909); and especially G. von Ferdinandy, Staats und Verwaltungsrecht des Konigreichs Ungarn und seiner Nebenlander (Hanover, 1909). Worthy of mention is P. Matter, La const.i.tution hongroise, in _Annales de l'ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques_, July 15, 1889, and April 15, 1890. Excellent discussions for English readers will be found in J. Andra.s.sy, The Development of Hungarian Const.i.tutional Liberty (London, 1908); C. M. Knatchbull-Hugessen, The Political Evolution of the Hungarian Nation (London, 1908); and P. Alden (ed.), Hungary of To-day (London and New York, 1910). The celebration, in 1896, of the thousandth anniversary of the establishment of the Magyars in Europe was made the occasion of the publication of a mult.i.tude of more or less popular books devoted, as a rule, to a review of Hungarian national development.

Among them may be mentioned: A. Vambery, Hungary in Ancient and Modern Times (London, 1897); R.

Chelard, La Hongrie millenaire (Paris, 1906); and M. Gelleri, Aus der Vergangenheit und Gegenwart des tausendjahrigen Ungarn (Budapest, 1896).]

II. THE CROWN AND THE MINISTRY (p. 491)

*542. The Working Executive.*--The const.i.tutional arrangements respecting the executive branch of the Hungarian government are set forth princ.i.p.ally in Law III. of 1848 "concerning the Formation of a Responsible Hungarian Ministry." The king attains his position _ipso jure_, by reason of being Emperor of Austria, without the necessity of any distinct act of public law. Within six months of his accession at Vienna he is crowned monarch of Hungary at Budapest, in a special ceremony in which is used the crown sent by Pope Sylvester II. upwards of a thousand years ago to King Stephen. The new sovereign is required to proffer Parliament an "inaugural certificate," as well as to take a coronation oath, to the effect that he will maintain the fundamental laws and liberties of the country; and both of these instruments are incorporated among the officially published doc.u.ments of the realm.

The entire proceeding partakes largely of the character of a contractual arrangement between nation and sovereign.

As in Austria, the powers of the crown are exercised very largely through the ministry. And, by reason of the peculiar safeguards in the Hungarian laws against royal despotism, as well as the all but uninterrupted absence of the king from the dominion, the ministry at Budapest not only const.i.tutes the Hungarian executive in every real sense, but it operates on a much more purely parliamentary basis than does its counterpart at Vienna. "His Majesty," says the law of 1848, "shall exercise the executive power in conformity with law, through the independent Hungarian ministry, and no ordinance, order, decision, or appointment shall have force unless it is countersigned by one of the ministers residing at Budapest."[690] Every measure of the crown must be countersigned by a minister; and every minister is immediately and actually responsible to Parliament for all of his official acts.

[Footnote 690: Law III. of 1848, -- 3. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 94.]

*543. Composition and Status of the Ministry.*--The ministry consists of a president of the council, or premier, and the heads of nine departments, as follows: Finance, National Defense, Interior, Education and Public Worship, Justice, Industry and Commerce, Agriculture, the Ministry for Croatia and Slavonia, and the Ministry near the King's Person. The last-mentioned portfolio exists by virtue of the const.i.tutional requirement that "one of the ministers shall always be in attendance upon the person of His Majesty, and shall take part in all affairs which are common to Hungary and the hereditary provinces, and in such affairs he shall, under his responsibility, represent Hungary."[691] All ministers are appointed by the king, (p. 492) on nomination of the premier. All have seats in Parliament and must be heard in either chamber when they desire to speak. They are bound, indeed, to attend the sessions of either house when requested, to submit official papers for examination, and to give "proper explanations" respecting governmental policies. They may be impeached by vote of a majority of the lower chamber, in which event the trial is held before a tribunal of twelve judges chosen by secret ballot by the upper house from among its own members. Inasmuch, however, as the lower house has acquired the power by a simple vote of want of confidence to compel a cabinet to resign, the right of impeachment possesses in practice small value. The ministry is required to submit once a year to the lower house for its examination and approval a statement of the income and needs of the country, together with an account of the income administered by it during the past twelve months.[692]

[Footnote 691: Law III. of 1848, -- 13. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 94.]

[Footnote 692: Law III. of 1848, -- 37. Ibid., I., 97.]

III. PARLIAMENT--THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM

*544. The Table of Magnates.*--The Hungarian parliament consists of two houses, whose official designations are _Forendihaz_--Table, or Chamber, of Magnates--and _Kepviselohaz_, or Chamber of Deputies. The upper house is essentially a perpetuation of the ancient Table of Magnates which, in the sixteenth century, began to sit separately as an aristocratic body made up of the great dignitaries of the kingdom, the Catholic episcopate (also, after 1792, that of the Orthodox Greek Church), the "supreme courts," and the adult sons of t.i.tled families.

The reforms of 1848 left the Chamber untouched, though its composition was modified slightly in 1885.[693] At the session of 1910-1911 it contained 16 archdukes of the royal family (eighteen years of age or over); 15 state dignitaries; 2 presidents of the High Courts of Appeal; 42 archbishops and bishops of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches; 13 representatives of the Lutheran, Calvinist, and Unitarian faiths; 236 members of the hereditary aristocracy (i.e., those of the whole number of the n.o.bility who pay a land tax to the amount of at least 6,000 crowns annually); 3 members elected by the provincial diet of Croatia; and 60 life peers, appointed by the crown or chosen by the Chamber of Magnates itself--a total of 387.[694] The membership is therefore exceedingly complex, resting on the (p. 493) various principles of hereditary right, _ex-officio_ qualification, royal nomination, and election. In practice the upper house is distinctly subordinate to the lower, to which alone the ministers are responsible. Any member may acquire, by due process of election, a seat in the lower chamber, and the privilege is one of which the more ambitious peers are not reluctant to avail themselves. Upon election to the lower house a peer's right to sit in the upper chamber is, of course, suspended; but when the term of service in the popular branch has expired, the prior right is revived automatically.

[Footnote 693: Law VII. of 1885 altering the Organization of the Table of Magnates. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 100-105.]

[Footnote 694: The number is, of course, variable.

The old Table of Magnates was a very large body, consisting of more than 800 members.]

*545. The Chamber of Deputies: the Franchise.*--By law of 1848, amended in 1874, it is stipulated that the Chamber of Deputies, historically descended from the ancient Table of Nuncios, shall consist of 453 members, "who shall enjoy equal voting power, and who shall be elected in accordance with an apportionment made on the basis of population, territory, and economic conditions."[695] Of the total number of members, 413 are representatives of Hungary proper and 40 are delegates of the subordinate kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia. This kingdom possesses its own organs of government, including a unicameral diet which exercises independent legislative power in all internal affairs. Its forty deputies take part in the proceedings at Budapest only when subjects are under consideration which are of common concern to all of the countries of St. Stephen's crown, such as questions pertaining to finance, war, communications, and relations with Austria.[696]

[Footnote 695: Law V. of 1848 concerning the Election of Representatives, -- 5. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 105.]

[Footnote 696: On the status of the Croatian kingdom see p. 507.]

The election of deputies is governed by an elaborate statute of November 10, 1874, by which were perpetuated the fundamentals of the electoral law of 1848. In respect to procedure, the system was further amended by a measure of 1899. Qualifications for the exercise of the suffrage are based on age, property, taxation, profession, official position, and ancestral privileges. Nominally liberal, they are, in actual operation, notoriously illiberal. The prescribed age for an elector is twenty years, indeed, as compared with twenty-four in Austria; but the qualifications based upon property-holding are so exacting that they more than offset the liberality therein involved.

These qualifications--too complicated to be enumerated here--vary according as they arise from capital, industry, occupation, or property-holding. With slight restrictions, the right to vote is possessed without regard to property or income, by members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, professors, notaries public, (p. 494) engineers, surgeons, druggists, graduates of agricultural schools, foresters, clergymen, chaplains, and teachers. On the other hand, state officials, soldiers in active service, customs employees, and the police have no vote; servants, apprenticed workingmen, and agricultural laborers are carefully excluded; and there are the usual disqualifications for crime, bankruptcy, guardianship, and deprivation by judicial process. In an aggregate population of approximately 20,000,000 to-day there are not more than 1,100,000 electors.

*546. The Magyar Domination.*--The explanation of this state of affairs is to be sought in the ethnographical composition of Hungary's population. Like Austria, Hungary contains a _melange_ of races and nationalities. The original Hungarians are the Magyars, and by the Magyar element attempt has been made always to preserve as against the affiliated German and Slavic peoples an absolute superiority of social, economic, and political power. The Magyars occupy almost exclusively the more desirable portion of the country, i.e., the great central plain intersected by the Danube and the Theiss, where they preponderate decidedly in as many as nineteen counties. Cl.u.s.tered around them, and in more or less immediate touch with kindred peoples beyond the borders, are the Germans and the Slavs--the Slovaks in the mountains of the north, the Ruthenes on the slopes of the Carpathians, the Serbs on the southeast, and the Croats on the southwest. When the census of 1900 was taken the total population of Hungary (including Croatia-Slavonia) was 19,254,559. Of this number 8,742,301 were Magyars; 8,029,316 were Slavs; 2,135,181 were Germans; and 397,761 were of various minor racial groups. To put it differently, the Magyars numbered 8,742,301; the non-Magyars, 10,512,258. The fundamental fault of the Hungarian electorate is that it has been shaped, and is deliberately maintained, in the interest of a race which comprises numerically but 45.4 per cent of the country's population.[697] So skillfully, indeed, have electoral qualifications and electoral proceedings been devised in the Magyar interest that the non-Magyar majority has but meager representation, and still less influence, at Budapest.[698] Even in Hungary proper the electorate in 1906 comprised but 24.4 per cent of the male population over twenty years of age; and, despite the disqualifications that have been mentioned one-fourth of the men who vote are officials or employees of the state.