One of the most interesting of the developments arising from the extensive legislative program which faced the first British Parliament under the Franchise Act of 1918 was the drastic amendment in February, 1919, of the rules of procedure of the house of commons. The address from the throne stated the necessity and the purposes of the proposed changes, declaring:

“A large number of measures affecting the social and economic wellbeing of the nation await your consideration, and it is of the utmost importance that their provisions should be examined and, if possible, agreed upon and carried into effect with all expedition. With this object in view, My Government will invite the consideration of the House of Commons to certain proposals for the simplification of the procedure for that House which, it is hoped, will enable delays to be avoided, and give its members an increasing opportunity of taking an effective part in the work of legislation.”

The Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic was proclaimed by the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets in November, 1917, shortly after the Bolshevist party had overthrown the Kerensky government by the force of arms. Eight months later, the Fifth All-Russian Congress adopted a constitution. Since it was the party of Lenin and Trotzky that had invented the slogan “all power to the Soviets” and changed Russia from a prospective democracy to a soviet republic, American public opinion came to identify the soviet form of political organization with bolshevism and all the policies it stands for, including the dictatorship of the proletariat, and nationalization all along the line of economic life.

The Swiss referendum of May 16 on the League of Nations was the most important vote of its kind in the history of the republic. All other countries entering the league thus far have done so by parliamentary and executive action, that is, through purely representative means. Switzerland alone referred the question to the direct decision of her electorate. To Americans her action is of interest, not only beoause of its thoroughly democratic character, but also because we are confronting the same question as the paramount issue of our domestic and foreign politics at the present time.

In January, 1919, a successful trial of proportional representation was made in the municipal elections of Sligo, and in the following July a local government (Ireland) act extended the system to all Irish municipal elections. The form employed is the Hare plan, the “single transferable vote,” as it is usually called in the United Kingdom. On January 15, 1920, the first general trial of the new scheme was made, when elections were carried out in 127 Irish municipalities.

Unusual interest attaches to all of the continental elections of recent months—the first to be held after the long postponements caused by the war; but the elections in France derive special importance from the new electoral law of July 12, 1919, under which they were held.

After a nine-year contest, the elements which have demanded scrutin de liste, or election on a general departmental ticket, instead of scrutin d'arrondissement, or election by small districts, have come off victorious. Each of the two systems prevailed at various times during the Restoration, the Second Republic, and the Second Empire.