REPRESENTATION in politics (ante). It is one of the faults of representative government that, from the usual division of the people into two political bodies divided by strict party lines, the governing power rests in the hands, not of the whole mass of voters, but of a partisan majority. That questions purely political should be settled in this manner is perhaps free from objection; bet there are many subjects of legislation in which great injustice must follow the abandoning of the rights and interests of the minority to the arbitrary decision of the majority. Thus, members of both parties are equally affected by the burdens of taxation, and both should have power in determining the amount of taxes to be laid and the application of the funds. To remedy the evils of majority tyranny, various systems of minority or proportional representation have been proposed. Two of these have been tried in this country. The "cumulative" or " free" vote is applicable in case where several officers of the same grade are to be elected. The voter is allowed to cast as many ballots as there are offices to be tilled, and may concentrate or distribute them as he chooses on one or more candidates. The principle, with certain modifications, was first applied in this country to the local elections in Bloomfield, Penn., by a statute passed by the legislature of that state in 1870, and has subsequently been adopted for many other towns. The constitution of Illinois of the
same year applies the method to the election of state representatives, and also to the choice of directors or managers of incorporated companies by the stockholders. In the latter particular it has been followed by the constitutions of West Virginia (1872), Penn sylvania (1873), Missouri (1875), and 'Nebraska (1875). The second method is known as the "limited vote," where the voter is not allowed to vote for the entire number of per sons to be chosen, but must cast his votes singly for a limited number. This has been applied to the election of members at large to the constitutional conventions of New York (1867) and of Pennsylvania (1872). By the constitution of Pennsylvania of 1873, judges of the supreme court (when two or more are to be chosen for the same term), county commissioners and auditors, inspectors of election, and Philadelphia magistrates, are elected by the limited vote. By an amendment to the New York constitution it was provided that at the first election for judges of the court of appeals, each voter might vote for the chief-justice and four only of the six associates. The result was that two were elected by the minority party.