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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3.194
Guest Editorial
'PR' Is Effective In Cities
(Editor's note: Proportional representation has been widely criticized lately as a method of election. Here is a defense of 'PR.')
On November 5 New York City voted to abolish the proportional representation system of electing councilmen and to return to the single member district plan. This decision is of interest to University students because elected representative on $ \textcircled{*} $
On November 5 New York City representation system of electing a member district plan. This decision because elected representative on All Student Council are chosen by "PR" (Proportional Representation). What were the objections to the system, students may ask and do those objections hold for campus politics as well as for city politics?
Major Parties Repealed PR
Concern over the objections to PR may be whetted by the fact that the most publicized defenders of the plan were the Communists, while both Republican and Democratic party leaders campaigned for its repeal. The campaign for repeal was carried on as an anti-Communist campaign, and for that reason it was successful.
Any concern over this apparent link between PR and Communism, however, should be eased by a reminder that Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the most conservative of our large cities, voted to retain its 22-year-old plan of electing councilmen by proportional representation.
In Cincinnati too, the opponents tried to appeal to the fear of communism, but they could do so only by citing the experience of New York. Voters of Cincinnati apparently were more impressed by their own experience, for the margin in favor of PR was larger than it had been on earlier attempts at repeal. PR A Boon To Minor Parties
In New York proportional representation has been a boon to the minor parties. The Communists, the American Labor Party and the Liberal Party, which is anti-communist but left of center, have all elected members to the present city council, although the Democrats have had a safe working majority. It was against these third party successes that both major parties took their stand, and the electoral decision was largely an expression of popular opposition to Communist representation on the council.
Was Adoptcd To Check Machine
Yet to understand the full significance of the New York decision, a brief review of the history of PR in that city seems called for.
The system was adopted as a way to check machine control, and repeal comes at a time when the machine appears to be on its way back into the saddle. In 1930 and 1931 the Seabury investigation disclosed extensive corruption in New York City politics, and the absence of minority representation was cited as one of the causes. Of the 70 members on the city council at that time the Republicans had but one—far less than their voting strength would warrant. The city charter provided that the minority party should be represented on every committee of the council, but the machine councilsmen easily arranged committee meetings so that the minority member could attend very few.
Seabury and others agreed that more adequate minority representation was a necessary step in the prevention of corrupt machine control. With this object in view the PR amendment to the city charter was proposed and adopted in 1935.
In New York as in Cincinnati the old party leaders have sought repeatedly to do away with PR. Repeal proposals lost overwhelmingly
If the sole object were to exclude Communists from the city council a reduction in the number of representatives from each PR district might have been as effective as the abolition of PR. It is not assured that communists will be deprived of representation under the district plan, for they, together with the American Labor Party, have elected a Congressman from New York.
in 1938 and by a lesser margin in 1940. Only by the appeal to anticommist sentiment were the advocates of repeal successful in 1947. Abolition May Not Exclude Commies
If the purpose of the politicians was to reestablish the machine control that had been so effective in New York City during the 'Twenties' the repeal of proportional representation was undoubtedly a necessary first step.
PR is a system of election designed to insure the representation of minority parties on governing bodies (an objective which we have tried hard to maintain for Romania, Bulgaria and Poland). The amount of support that any group must have in order to be represented depends entirely upon the number of members elected from each PR district. If three representatives are to be chosen, more than one-fourth of the vote is required to elect one; if five are to be elected one-sixth of the vote may be sufficient; and if nine are chosen on one ballot (as in Cincinnati), ten per cent of the voters may succeed in winning representation.
Plurality Elections Undesirable
Thus large districts with several representatives each may tend to encourage minor parties-although this does not seem to have occurred in Cincinnati. Yet the return to single-member districts and plurality election is not the only alternative, and in New York it may prove to be an undesirable alternative.
The use of proportional representation as a method of electing Congressmen or state legislators might be of doubtful merit. Over a large area the district system tends to produce minority representation. In Congress the major parties are represented in approximate proportion to their voting strengths, and in state legislatures the same situation holds
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The University of Kansas symphony orchestra of 90 players, directed by Russell L. Wiley, will present an all-Brahms program at its annual fall concert Dec. 8 in Hoch auditorium. The program is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.
Fall Concert To Be Dec.8
The soloist will be Prof. Jan Chiapseus, concert pianist and member of the University piano faculty. Professor Chiapseus will play the Brahm's "Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major" with orchestral accompaniment. This is Professor Chiapseus's first appearance with the University Symphony orchestra.
The major orchestral work of the evening will be the Brahm's "Symphony No 1. in C minor." This symphony ranks among the great orchestral works of all time. It is an extremely challenging work for any orchestra and most particularly for a group of university musicians, Professor Wiley said.
Professor The overture on the program will Brahms's "Academic Festival Overture."
to a lesser extent.
In cities it is not uncommon to find one-party representation on the governing body, even where there is strong electoral support for the minority. In compact communities, such as cities—or student bodies—proportional representation is an effective way of insuring against the complete exclusion of the minority, and against the consequent tendencies toward machine control and corruption.
Edwin O. Stene
Associate Professor
Of Political Science
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