THE FINAL SOLUTION?

In the communication entitled "A Sensible Suggestion" there is offered a plan, which while not adequately outlined there, is well worth consideration in connection with the recent election farces. Let us ramify this suggestion with some details. Instead of the small requirement of twelve names for nomination, a petition signed by twenty-five men, including the provision that no name could appear on any two petitions, would prevent any groups from monopolizing the nominations by presenting complete tickets. It would assure the minority candidates a freer field; stipulating twenty-five names for nomination would make certain that the nominee would have some qualifications for membership on the Class Committee.

To include on this class committee all men receiving thirty-five votes is obviously unpractical, because of the danger of the body's being entirely too unwieldy. The committee might well be limited to the ten or twelve receiving the highest number of votes, while a minimum number of nominations should be set at fifteen, empowering the Student Council to supplement this number if the class does not fulfill the quota by petitions. The two men with the highest numbers of votes would become President and Vice-President. To award the office of Secretary-Treasurer to the third man has its dangers; he might very conceivably be totally unfitted for the position. To have the class committee elect both the Secretary-Treasurer and Student--Council members would be a more satisfactory method--every member of the committee having one vote on this occasion. The other committee men would be utilized for the various sub-committees which are necessary at times.

It now remains to point out the advantages of such a system. First! all nominations being made by petition, each candidate will be on an equal basis with the other nominees. Second: because all groups can be represented on the ballot, interest will change from a luke-warm sixty per cent to an active eighty or ninety per cent at least. Third: since anyone has an equal opportunity for nomination no one can give as a reason for not voting that he does not know the nominees. With such a system not only would practically everyone know at least one or two candidates, but every group would feel, when the elections were over, that they were represented on the committee.

Probably this editorial does not cover all the possibilities which may arise. On the whole we feel that the plan has has greater possibilities than any thus far suggested; for this reason it should receive the serious consideration of the class officers, the members of the three first classes, and the Student Council.