MINORITY RULE AT HARVARD.

The small number of ballots cast in the elections of last Tuesday are a sad commentary on the spirit of the three upper classes in the College. From a registration of 276 in the Senior Class, only 56 votes were cast, showing that four-fifths of the members of that class either take no interest whatever in their representation on the Student Council or are too lazy to go to the polls. In 1921, with a total registration of 553, only 126 ballots were cast, and in 1922, with a class enrolment of 672, only 207 ballots. Added to these numbers the 272 unclassified and the 180 out-of-course students in College, only 389 men out of a total of 1955 eligible voters took part in the elections.

The ballots presented to the voters in the Sophomore and Junior Classes did not conform with the requirements laid down by the constitutions of those classes; for in the case of the President and Vice-President of 1921, and the President and Secretary-Treasurer of 1922, only two candidates were up for election where three were required.

Such a disgraceful lack of interest in class affairs must surely arouse the indignation of all undergraduates. Whether the fault lies in the method of nomination by outgoing class officers and supplementary nominations by petition, or inherently in Harvard students, let it be remedied immediately. If nominations in a general class convention would be better, let the change be made; if a system of having candidates named and seconded in primaries, thinned out by direct voting on the convention ballot, and four or five successful names placed on the final, ballot, would prevent such a shameful showing as on Tuesday, let us adopt that system. But whatever the means, let us take steps to put an end to the alarming indifference exhibited in the recent elections.