riioto by Dmil P. Albrecht 



the; dogs are; weli. cared for by their owners 



Note how longingly__the two dogs which cannot reach the water look at it. The methods 

 of attaching the dogs to the cart are peculiar — one in the shafts, the other "hitched" on at 

 various points. 



tween the influence of the individual in 

 government matters and his qualifications 

 to exercise that influence. However, it 

 has not satisfied the Socialist element in 

 the Belgium electorate, which demands 

 "one man, one vote." 



PROPORTIONAE representation 



In addition to having plural voting, 

 the Belgians also have plural represen- 

 tation. Here, for instance, is a district 

 entitled to eight representatives in the 

 House. Under our system, if there were 

 four parties in the race, the eight candi- 

 dates getting a plurality of the vote 

 would be elected. But under the Bel- 

 gian system parties rather than persons 

 are voted for, and each party gets repre- 

 sentation in proportion to the number of 

 votes cast in the district. To illustrate 

 this a case in point might be mentioned. 

 The district in question casts 32,000 votes, 



divided between the candidates of four 

 parties. The result of the vote shows 

 16,000 Catholic Conservatives, 9,000 Lib- 

 erals, 4,500 Socialists, and 2,500 Catholic 

 Democrats. The eight seats of the dis- 

 trict, under this distribution, would go, 

 four to the Catholic Conservatives, two 

 to the Liberals, one to the Socialists, and 

 one to the Catholic Democrats. 



Belgium is divided into nine provinces, 

 which correspond largely to our terri- 

 tories ; 342 cantons, corresponding some- 

 what to our counties ; and 2,623 com- 

 munes, which are fairly comparable with 

 our magisterial districts. The governors 

 of the provinces are nominated by the 

 King, just as the governors of our terri- 

 tories are nominated by the President. 



CHEAP LIVING 



Living is cheap in Belgium. The peo- 

 ple have thoroughly mastered the art of 



229 



