74 



BELGIUM. 



which 138,000,000 francs come from railroads, 

 41,792,580 francs from excise duties, 24,647,700 

 francs from the direct property tax, 23,604,149 

 francs from customs, 20,000,000 francs from reg- 

 istration duties, 19,560,000 francs from succes- 

 sion duties, 19,180,000 francs from personal taxes, 

 12,915,100 francs from the sinking fund and oth- 

 er securities and the national bank, 10,919.300 

 francs from the post-office, 6,800,000 francs from 

 trade licenses, 6,050,000 francs from stamps, 

 8,449,000 francs from other indirect taxes, 4,100,- 

 000 francs from telegraphs, 3,490,999 francs from 

 repayments, 2,700,000 francs from navigation and 

 pilotage dues, 1,380,000 francs from domains and 

 forests, and 1,000,000 francs from mines. The 

 total ordinary expenditure is estimated at 340,- 

 712,265 francs, of which 103,462,487 francs are 

 for railways, posts, and telegraphs, 103,218,773 

 francs for the interest and sinking fund of the 

 national debt, 46,801,152 francs are allotted to 

 the Ministry of War, 23,142,570 francs to the 

 Ministry of the Interior and Public Instruction, 

 18,484,427 francs to the Ministry of Justice, 17,- 

 077,668 francs to the Ministry of Public Works, 

 15,540,525 francs to the Ministry of Finance, 

 4,705,900 francs to the civil list and dotations, 

 4,254,400 francs to the gendarmerie, 2,495,363 

 francs to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and 

 1,529,000 francs represent repayments. 



The capital of the public debt in 1892 was 2,314,- 

 854,124 francs, nearly the- whole of which was 

 raised for railroad construction and other iiseful 

 works. Of the total debt, 1,296,935,757 francs 

 bear interest at 3J per cent., 543,333,350 francs 

 pay 3 per cent., 250,192,000 francs consist of rail- 

 road annuities paying 4 per cent., 219,959,632 

 francs represent the share of Belgium in the old 

 debt of the Netherlands, on which 2| per cent, is 

 paid and no sinking fund is provided, and 4,433,- 

 235 francs consist of various unfunded liabilities. 

 Electoral Reform. In the Constituent As- 

 sembly, elected to revise several articles of the 

 Constitution, and especially to extend the fran- 

 chise, the Government majority was smaller than 

 in the preceding Chamber. A two-third majority 

 was necessary for any amendment to the Consti- 

 tution, and this could only be obtained by a coa- 

 lition of the Ministerial party either with the 

 Moderate Liberals or with the Advanced Left. 

 Under the existing law the right of suffrage was 

 restricted to citizens twenty-one years of age 

 paying at least 40 francs annually in direct taxes. 

 The qualifications for Deputies, the number of 

 which must not exceed 1 to every 40,000 in- 

 habitants, were that they should be Belgians by 

 birth or naturalization, residing in Belgium, and 

 at least twenty-five years of age. The Deputies 

 are elected for four years, elections taking place 

 every two years to replace half the number, and 

 those who do not reside in the capital receive an 

 allowance of 423 francs a month. The Senators 

 have been chosen by the same electors. There 

 are half as many of them as of Deputies, and they 

 serve for twice the period, and are chosen from a 

 more restricted class, men forty years old or over 

 who pay 2.116 francs of direct taxes, except that 

 in districts where not 1 in 6,000 of the popula- 

 tion has this qualification, those who pay the 

 next highest taxes are added to make the list of 

 eligible persons 1 to every 6,000 inhabitants. 

 The franchise under this electoral system is prac- 



tically confined to the middle and upper classes. 

 The working people of the towns and mining dis- 

 tricts, in anti-Clericalism standing by the "Rad- 

 icals, but generally devoted to an extreme type of 

 socialism, while only a small proportion of the 

 Radicals were but mildly socialistic, had no votes. 

 The great mass of the agricultural population, 

 loyal Catholics, and upholders of religious edu- 

 cation, was likewise excluded from the franchise. 

 The Belgian plutocracy, owning and directing all 

 the resources of this wealthy and distinguished 

 above similar classes elsewhere for its collective 

 opulence, has under the Constitution possessed 

 the right to elect the lawgivers and dictate the 

 legislation of the country. The same Constitu- 

 tion grants unusual freedom of speech, printing, 

 assemblage, and association, and the industrial 

 laborers, proportionately more numerous than in 

 the neighboring countries where they possess 

 votes, more poorly paid than in most countries, 

 but not less educated or intelligent, have not only 

 imbibed socialistic theories without hindrance, 

 but are filled with the conviction that their mas- 

 ters have deliberately excluded them from a voice 

 and representation in the Legislature for the pur- 

 pose of selfishly exploiting their labor and with- 

 holding the advantages and protection which the 

 labor vote and working-class representatives have 

 secured from the legislatures of other countries. 

 This situation has been prolonged for years be- 

 cause the politicians of both parties feared that 

 any extension of the franchise would be followed 

 soon by universal suffrage, under which the pros- 

 perity of the country would be swamped by so- 

 cialistic legislation. Before socialism was rife, 

 when the Liberals were in power, they would not 

 lower the property qualification, because that 

 would admit agricultural voters who would ele- 

 vate their opponents to office. The Clericals 

 could promise any kind of an extension in this 

 direction, for it would perpetuate their tenure of 

 office and prevent the anticipated return of the 

 Liberals, and the latter desired to qualify the 

 plan so as to admit enough urban voters to coun- 

 terbalance the enfranchised Catholics of the rural 

 districts. When the question was once opened 

 the agitation for universal suffrage attained such 

 dimensions that the politicians foresaw the ne- 

 cessity of giving some degree of representation 

 to the working class in order to avert a revolu- 

 tion. The Radical party adopted the principle 

 of universal suffrage, pure and simple. 



The first project submitted to the Constituent 

 Assembly by the Government was purely a party 

 measure, though it would have the effect of in- 

 creasing the electorate from 135,000 to 600,000. 

 It was denounced as such by the Liberals, and 

 the Labor party replied with a threat to proclaim 

 a universal strike as a protest in favor of man- 

 hood suffrage. On Jan. 2, 1893, the ministry laid 

 before the special committee of Parliament a 

 fresh set of proposals, providing for a less liberal 

 extension of the franchise in order to effect a 

 compromise with the Moderate Liberals and di- 

 vide the new franchises with a show of fairness 

 between the small landholders and those pos- 

 sessing intellectual qualifications. The franchise 

 would be granted to owners of houses worth 2,000 

 francs and to tenants of houses worth 3,000 francs 

 in towns of 20,000 and over, 2,700 francs in small- 

 er towns, and 1,800 francs in places of less than 



