PAGE SIX
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1947
The Editorial Page
Airing Out A Political Closet
Dragging out skeletons is a nasty job, but sometimes they get so rank that things have to be aired. In glancing at the result of the recent freshman election, we inadvertently opened the closet door. Before replacing the skeletons, and at the risk of dwelling too long on a trivial subject, we'll air out the political closet. We're doing it for the benefit of those
who might make the mistake or getting into the clean, sportsmanlike game of campus politics.
Reciprocal Back Scratching
I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine. That's the tried and true trick of politics, and it was used neatly by the Pachacamac-N. O. W. and Progressive parties in the recent freshman election. The vote tallies tell the story so plainly that we're surprised there wasn't more camouflage used in the operation.
For the benefit of the student who entertains the quaint idea that academic studies are more important than campus political activities, a short briefing is necessary to understand the situation.
First There Were Two
In the fall of 1946 there were two campus political parties, P. S. G. L.- Independent Women and Pachacamac-N. O. W.The first named party was composed mainly of Independent students and the second was mainly Greek.
And Then There Were Three
There were a few students who crossed party lines at elections, but they were considered to be in about the same category that Henry Wallace is in national politics. And there were three
About the middle of the school year, six fraternities split off from Pachacamac. O. W. to form the Progressive party. They said their purpose was Greek-Independent cooperation, and all kinds of insults were exchanged between them and Pachacamac. N.
It wasn't long before John Rader, president of the Progressives, resigned with the declaration that the whole thing was a hoax and that the real reason of the apparent divorce was to split the Independent vote. He warned that come election they would get together secretly to elect each other's candidates to the A. S. C.
Rader Verified
(At that time we checked up with several insiders of both Pachacamac and Progressive. They verified Rader's accusation and said the "super wheels" of the two parties were attending each other's meetings.)
Let's look at the results of the recent freshman election. The figures are the number of votes each party got for the various offices.
| | Pach. | Prog. | Ind.
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Pres. | 312 | 31 | 141 |
| V. P. | 67 | 308 | 176 |
| Sec. | 336 | 34 | 177 |
| Treas. | 326 | 41 | 176 |
| A. S. C. (Men) | 39 | 173 | 99 |
| A. S. C. (Women) | 140 | 20 | 78 |
It shows that the Pachacamac-N.
O. W. candidate for president was
elected with 312 votes. Independents
got 141, and the Progressives 31.
Votes Migrate
Now look at the vice-presidential results. Where did all the Pachacamac votes go? Apparently all but 67 of them went to the Progressives, for the Independents polled about the same number as they did for president.
Then for secretary the votes came back to the Pachacamac candidate, and the Progressives got only 34.
When you reach the A. S. C. candidates the winning totals are about half the class totals, because
for A. S. C. positions the men vote for men and the women for women. But the scheme is still visible. The class office winners are conspicuously equal in their totals, 312, 308, 336, and 326.
Collusion Further Verified
Thus the Pachacamac-N. O. W. combination got three class offices and the women's A. S. C. representative, and the Progressives got one class officer and the men's A. S. C. representative. This four to two distribution would seem to refute our accusation of collusion until one remembers that the men's A. S. C. position is the most desirable one of all. Furthermore the Progressives, being the weaker of the two parties, were not in too good a pre-election bargaining position.
Such Amazing Unanimity
If anyone wants to contend all this was an accident, we'll go to bat with him on the law of averages. There's only one way they could have reached such unanimity—preelection instructions to the pledges.
As far as the outcome of the election is concerned, the Independents have no complaint. They didn't poll enough votes to win, no matter what the distribution.
It's A Hoax
But the Independents can legitimately point to the results and ask, "Why did you represent yourselves to be two separate parties when you combine your block votes in elections? Each of you presented pre-election platforms to the voters. Is it not a hoax to ask for votes, only to transfer them to another party with another platform?"
You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours.
Henry Wallace seems to be the gadfly in both the Republican and Democrat ointment.
Dear Editor
Why do Army, Navy, Notre Dame, Nebraska and other universities have creditable cheering sections? The answer is discipline and tradition—a disciplined student body and a tradition of excellent cheering.
Dear Editor,
Better Cheering
The University has neither but it does not have disciplined bodies which, if exploited, would create tradition.
These disciplined bodies I am referring to are fraternities. If our fraternities were spaced strategically as units throughout the student body and given the responsibility of improving the cheering, I feel certain the University would develop a cheering section second to none. The organized bodies would not fail to support a plan of such service to the University.
Since all organized houses are represented in the Ku Ku's, this organization could initiate and carry through such a program.
F. A. Spies, Engineering junior.
A haggard student was heard to mutter as he left Watson library, "It used to be chattering pledges across the table. Now it's nothing less than a machine gun outside the window."
The outside racket comes from a pneumatic paving breaker used to cut away an ornamental brace on the outside wall. The foreman told us the torture will last until the end of this week.
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