A place was given to the representatives of consumers; unwisely, according to some critics. For one can understand the adding of the consumers to the assembly of the producers of some one single industrial group, that of coal, for example, which grows always at the expense of the consumers. But in the Economic Council, all industries and vocations are by definition represented; the producers in one industry are the consumers in all the others and it is unnecessary to add to them, in order to represent the interests of consumers, additional representatives, who by hypothesis are only consumers.
The 326 members of the Economic Council are allotted as follows:
68 representatives of agriculture and forestry. 6 representatives of market industries and fisheries. 68 representatives of general industry. 44 representatives of commerce, banks and insurance. 34 representatives of transport enterprises. 36 representatives of small business and small industries. 30 representatives of consumers (municipalities, consumers’ associations and organizations of women). 16 representatives of civil servants and the professions. 24 other persons named by the government.
II.--There then followed the question of how the delegates of each group are to be appointed. The discussion reverted to the question whether these delegates should be appointed by vocation or region. Where employers and workers were grouped, the principle of parity was naturally adhered to. Agriculture, for example, which is entitled to 44 delegates, was represented by 22 land owners and 22 agricultural workers. On the other hand, the mode of nomination in all groups representing workers offered but few problems, for--at least until the Factory Workers Councils have united and become organized geographically over the whole Reich--the only labour organizations are those of the Trade Unions; that is to say, organizations almost exclusively vocational, and the labour delegates to the Economic Council cannot be elected except by means of these organizations. But the problem became much more complex in the case of the election of representatives of employers and property owners. These had, in addition to their industrial associations, organs of regional representation, such as chambers of commerce, chambers of agriculture, boards of trade, etc. Should their delegates throughout be elected by regional organs or by associations? The Reichsrat replied, by chambers of commerce; and the National Assembly declared for associations.