Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/57

 THE CATHOLIC SOCIAL-REFORM MOVEMENT 43

Most of the Catholic social-reform leaders are opposed to the modern "parliamentarianism," on the theoretic ground that it does not represent the real man of history, but the fictitious man of Rousseauism ; and on the practical ground that it has proved itself a failure, and, far from being a truly representative system, is the most ingenious instrument of irresponsible tyranny that has ever been devised. They advocate corporative suffrage ; that is, the division of the electors into professional groups, each of which shall choose its own representatives in the legislative bodies, so that one house of parliament, at least, will be a min- iature counterpart of the community at large, containing as nearly as possible the same proportion of professional men, manufacturers, merchants, agriculturists, laborers, etc. This constitutional change is not only on the program of the Catholic union of social studies in Italy and of the Catholic circles of France, but in two countries, Belgium and Austro-Hungary, it has become one of the live political issues of the day. For the most perfect success this system of "representation of inter- ests " requires the complete reorganization of the " economic families;" but, as a committee of the Belgian parliament said in 1893, in a report favorable to the change, "the proposed parlia- mentary representation of business interests is precisely the most efficacious means of accelerating the economic reorganization of society." The advocates of this "institutional decentralization" claim that it is the only safeguard against the despotic sway of " the plutocracy ;" the legislators under the present system rep- resenting nobody but themselves, and being, in the very nature of things, the most ready tools of the money interest, so far as this considers it worth its while to make use of them.

The initiative, referendum, and minority representation are generally favored by publicists of the Catholic school, and in Belgium the Catholic party aided in the establishment of the system of plural voting now in force, which recognizes wealth, learning, and other elements of intrinsic or extrinsic superiority, by granting to their possessor one or more additional votes over and above that to which he is entitled by right of his citizenship.

The Catholic party holds that, as rights and duties and needs