Assuming, then, that in all ordinary cases, guided by reason and self-interest, the majority will support but two candidates, the question remains, In which one of the two ways above mentioned shall they vote for them? It will be quite possible for the majority to divide their votes territorially or otherwise into two equal or nearly equal divisions and use two forms of ticket at the election. Half their voters giving A two votes and B one, and the other half giving B two and A one, the whole strength of the party will be economized and distributed equally to the two candidates. No strength will be wasted or misapplied. But this plan will be inconvenient to the majority even when the proper result shall be secured, which will not always be entirely certain. We think, therefore, that this particular mode of majority voting will be found much less satisfactory in practice than the other, above referred to, which involves the use of halfvotes. When every majority voter shall divide his three votes equally between two candidates, giving a vote and a half to each, there can be no doubt that the object aimed at the full and economical use of party power in the election-will be reached, and reached too without trouble or inconvenience. preparation of a ticket reading as follows: John Jones, 1 votes,

William Brown, 1 votes,

The

will be within the competency of any person who can read and write, and its intelligent use by voters a matter of course. As to counting such votes, (as elsewhere explained in the present volume,) the question of convenience is equally clear. The elec

tion officers can copy upon their tally-papers from the first ticket drawn from the box, the names of the candidates with the figures attached (it will be convenient to enclose the latter in small circles with a pen) and will then take down that and successive tickets in scores of five towards the right according to the common practice. The figures 1 will thus constitute a sign of value for the strokes which follow, and after summing up the latter, fifty per cent. will be added to make up the true total of votes. Thus, if eighty such tickets are counted to a candidate, the score will be carried out-80 + 40 120 votes, which will be placed to the credit of such candidate upon the return.

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CHOICE OF DIRECTORS AND MANAGERS OF INCORPORATED COMPANIES.-The Third Section of the Eleventh Article is one of the most important ever introduced into a constitution, and is as follows:

“The General Assembly shall provide by law, that in all elections for directors or managers of incorporated companies, every stockholder shall have the right to vote, in person or by proxy, for the number of shares of stock owned by him, for as many persons as there are directors or managers to be elected, or to cumulate said shares and give one candidate as many votes as the number of directors multiplied by his number of shares shall equal, or to distribute them on the same principle among as many candidates as he shall think fit; and such directors or managers shall not be elected in any other manner."

There are, probably, several thousand corporate companies in Illinois to the elections of which this important amendment will apply; for it searches out all such bodies in the State, without exception,

and applies to them the hand of reform. Hereafter, a mere majority, a clique or a combination of stockholders in an Illinois corporation, will not be allowed to exclude their co-stockholders from all voice in the management of the corporation, nor will a minority of stockholders holding a majority of stock be allowed to do so. The mismanagement of corporate bodies, and secresy, intrigue or corruption in the proceedings of their officers, will receive an important and necessary check. All the stockholders will be able to represent themselves in the board of managers, thus securing to themselves at all times full knowledge of the corporate proceedings and of the administration of the funds which they have invested. They will be enabled more perfectly to protect their own interests in the corporations and to prevent the growth of abuses.

ELECTION OF JUDGES IN COOK COUNTY.-BY the twenty-third section of the sixth article of the Constitution, as amended, the Circuit Court of Cook County (in which Chicago is situate) was made to consist of five Judges, who are to hold their offices for six-year terms. This provision required the election of three new Judges, and their first election was provided for in the seventh section of the schedule to the amendments, upon the plan of the limited vote. That section contained the injunction "That at said election in the County of Cook no elector shall vote for more than two candidates for Circuit Judge." The election held under this provision on the first Saturday in July, 1870, resulted in the choice of two Judges by the political majority and one by the political minority of Cook County. The

provision was found to be satisfactory on trial, and the Judges elected under it were all competent and fit men.

The men of the Illinois Convention and the people of Illinois deserve the thanks of the whole country for their action in behalf of electoral reform. But special credit is due to Mr. Medill, (formerly of the Chicago Tribune and now Mayor of Chicago,) who, as Chairman of the Committee on Electoral and Representative Reform in the Convention, took the lead in argument and labor to secure the passage of those propositions of amendment to which we have referred. He had the cordial assistance of Mr. Browning, former Secretary of the Interior in the Government of the United States, and of other able and worthy colleagues in the Convention; but to him above others the principal honor is due of the good and timely work accomplished in his State.

WEST VIRGINIA AMENDMENTS.

The Constitutional Convention of West Virginia, which met January 16, 1872, agreed upon two amendments for the introduction of electoral reform into that State, which were subsequently adopted by the people, along with other amendments of the Convention. One of these was borrowed from Illinois, and constitutes section four of article eleven of the new Constitution of the State. It is exactly like the Illinois provision, already given, for the

free vote in all elections of directors or managers of incorporated companies.

The other amendment referred to is section fifty of article six of the new Constitution, and is as follows:

"The Legislature may provide for submitting to a vote of the people at the general election to be held in 1876, or at any general election thereafter, a plan or scheme of proportional representation in the Senate of this State, and if a majority of the votes cast at such election be in favor of the plan submitted to them, the Legislature shall at its session succeeding such election rearrange the Senatorial Districts in accordance with the plan so approved by the people."

Utah Amendment.-In the new Constitution of Utah, adopted March 18, 1872, (preparatory to her application for admission into the Union as a State,) appears the following provision:

ART. iv., SEC. 25: "At all elections for Representatives each qualified elector may cast as many votes for one candidate as there are Representatives to be elected in the county or district, or may distribute the same among any or all the candidates, and the candidates receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected."