FOR FRESHMEN ONLY

The Freshmen vote on March 1. They will probably finish in one day. They will get their 60 percent quota without difficulty: They have yet to learn of the Harvard tradition, "Don't vote unless you feel like it. What's the use?" But unless "something is done about it", the class of 1925 will go down on record with the other three classes now in college as "Just another example of Harvard indifference." When the newness has worn off, when the Freshman becomes that worldly-wise gentleman, the Sophomore, the ghost of the voting question will rise again.

The Freshmen of this year's class (and the classes that come after) will have to change this state of affairs. If they will make an honest attempt to clear it up, class elections will cease to he popularity contests. They will begin to mean something. The difficulty with the present system is traceable to two causes. First, the officers, with the possible exception of the secretary-treasurer, are hardly more than figure heads. Their duties are almost negligible. They require no particular qualifications. The second reason for this attitude is the opinion among a large part of the class that the officers do not represent and that they mean nothing more than a name to them. This is occasioned by the faulty system of nomination. A great part of the candidates are nominated either by the Student Council or by the officers of the previous year Additional men may be nominated by petition, but this is subject to the same criticism as the former. The candidates still mean little to a majority of the voters.

The Freshmen will have to decide whether they want their class to be run this way or not. Nothing can be accomplished by boycotting the polls. The nomination of additional men always helps in securing more direct representation. But when the elections are over, the constitution may be amended so as to make what officers it is decided to keep really useful. Other forms of nomination, reduction in the number of officers should be seriously considered. But whatever is done it should be remembered that there is everything to gain and nothing to lose in making a change.