PROBLEMS OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 585 



therefore, the same reason for making concessions to the line 

 of local government or administration as states with systems of 

 federal government. The extremes in the senatorial representation 

 are the Departement of the Hautes Alps and the Departement of the 

 Seine. From the point of view of population, the mountaineers of 

 the former district are about six times more strongly represented 

 in the Senate than the inhabitants of the highly civilized city of 

 Paris. The average discrepancy, however, is not at all so great. 

 Nevertheless it is true that a minority of the population of France 

 is represented by a majority of the seats in the Senate. It is a minor- 

 ity not far removed from the middle line, but still always a minority. 

 It may also be said that the advantage lies, on the whole, rather 

 with the Departements which are moderately populous, although the 

 greatest advantage lies with the least populous, and the greatest 

 disadvantage with the most populous. While there is here a problem 

 for the French statesmen, it is not of a very serious nature. More 

 serious is the problem for them of regulating the weight of the com- 

 munes in the senatorial electoral college for each Departement. 

 Here the smaller communes are, as a rule, much over-represented. 



When now we turn from France to the states with federal govern- 

 ments, we become immediately aware that, in the distribution of the 

 senatorial seats, other considerations than the modern doctrine of dis- 

 tribution according to population have been in all cases determinant. 



In the first place, in democratic Switzerland, we find the Canton 

 Uri about thirty times more strongly represented in the Standerath, 

 or Senate, than the Canton Bern, and that the population in the 

 twelve least populous cantons, not amounting to quite one third of 

 the population of the whole of Switzerland, is represented in the 

 Senate by a majority of the voices. 



Secondly, in the leading state of South America, Brazil, and in the 

 leading state of Central America, Mexico, we find about the same 

 conditions. The Brazilian commonwealth of Matto Grosso is, from 

 the point of view of population, about thirty-four times more strongly 

 represented in the national Senate than the rich and populous 

 commonwealth of Minas Geraes, and the population of the eleven 

 least populous commonwealths of the Brazilian Republic, numbering 

 about 3,000,000 of souls, are represented by a majority of the voices 

 in the national Senate, while the other ten commonwealths with 

 a population of almost 12,000,000 of souls are represented by a 

 minority of the senatorial seats. Likewise in the Mexican Republic, 

 the commonwealth of Colima is, from the point of view of population, 

 about eighteen times more strongly represented in the national 

 Senate than the commonwealth of Jalisco, and the population of 

 the fifteen least populous commonwealths, numbering less than 

 3,500,000 of souls, are represented in the Senate by a majority of 



