ACQUIRED CHARACTERISTICS

The promptness with which the Class of 1927 has completed its balloting for class officers inspires one to examine the records of other classes, with the result that Freshman Class in general must be cleared of a great deal of blame which properly belongs only to Sophomores and Juniors. Each year, or at least for the past three which may be considered representative, the Freshmen have elected their officers in two days or less, while the other classes have been forced to keep the polls open for days of desultory rounding-up of negligent students in order to obtain the required 60 per cent.

It is strange that the same classes, which in their first year, complete their voting so expeditiously, should require each succeeding year a longer period. The Class of 1925, for example, after a successful two-day campaign in the Freshman year, found itself still short a hundred votes after five days' balloting in its Sophomore year; this experience proved instructive, however, and the postal ballot system was used to great advantage this year. Similarly, the Class of 1924 required over four days as Sophomores, and quite as long as Juniors. At that time, it was seriously discussed whether class officers were, after all, worth the trouble their election seemed to cause the members of the classes; the conclusion, one remembers, was that certain activities and functions of each class could not conveniently be carried on without officers.

Novertheless, this whitewashing of the Freshman classes makes it necessary to account for the negligence or indolence of the other classes in this regard; and of course, the time-honored traditions of "Harvard indifference" can be over-worked to fit any occasion. But whether or not such a thing exists, the true explanation is probably that that the duties of class officers, except in the first and last years, are mostly perfunctory, routine duties and that naturally enough, a realization of this circumstance does not inspire heated electioneering or eager voting. On the other hand, it ought to be equally clear that however mechanical these tasks may be some one must perform them. But the answer appears to have been found by the Class of 1925 in the postal ballot.