CHAPTER III

RULERS AND OFFICERS

20. Anarchy. When a large number of people live together in a community they must either live under government or in anarchy, for the word anarchy means having no government. There are some people who think it is possible for people to work together in communities without rules or rulers. Such persons are called anarchists. Some only pretend to believe in anarchy because they wish to destroy self-government that they may have their own selfish way. Despots, criminals, and anarchists are alike in one important respect. They are not willing to obey the law which is made by a majority of their fellows. You will find in your athletic association and other school organizations some members who come very near to being anarchists. Some of them may be influential pupils who want their own way all the time and so are not willing to discuss self-government with a majority. These are most like despots. Others are merely selfish and wish to take advantage of being in a school without helping to make it useful through the rules that all will obey. Because of such persons it is necessary in all government to have rulers and officers whose duty it is to watch for the violation of rules and to correct the violators.

21. Government. If we take the trouble to think about it we find that government is a very simple and reasonable thing. It is largely a means of finding out what most of

us want and then of requiring the others to play fair and not be selfish. In the last chapter we had a discussion of the making of rules by a majority. Now we come to a selection of the rulers or officers whose duty it is to enforce the rules.

22. Two Methods of Choosing Officers. There are many ways of classifying rulers; but there is one mode of division which we should understand at the beginning and should think about all through our study of self-government. This is the classification of officers into those which should be elected and those who should be appointed. In all governments in America we elect a great many officers; we elect so many that the voters often pay but little attention to the names of the people they vote for. You will be tempted to do the same thing in your athletic association and in other experiments in self-government. Let us illustrate this idea. Would it be better to elect the members of the baseball team or to let the coach appoint them? If we elect them the popular fellows will have the places on the team. If the coach appoints them he is likely to try to have a good team under him and so will generally ap point the ones who can play best. But we must elect some of our rulers for the association. If we do not we shall not have self-government. Which officers should be elected and which appointed is a question for you to consider when you write your constitution.

23. The Work of a Judge. Since you are practising self-government it is well for us to refer here to one kind of officer whom you may not have in your athletic association, but whose work some one in the association must do. When rules are made they are generally brief and simple. But it is difficult to tell in some cases whether they havę

been violated or not. If we make a rule that any member of a team who does anything discreditable to the school shall not be allowed to play again, it is not always easy for all to agree upon what is discreditable. It will therefore be necessary to hold a trial when any one seems to have violated such a rule and to hear witnesses in order to judge how serious the offense against the school has been. The holding of such a trial is a fair and reasonable act of self-government and no member of the team who wishes to obey the rules will object to being tried when his fellowplayers think he has done wrong.

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24. Supporting Our Rulers. It is clearly impossible to maintain self-government unless most of us support the officers whom we have chosen. If the coach of the basketball team orders a player to come to practice at a particular. time, and if he then refuses to let the player go into a game because he has not come to the practice, we must support the coach. He is our servant, we have selected him because we intend him to control the team. cannot do this unless the members know that the association will support him when he has to discipline players. When some people practise self-government in a city or State they are too likely to forget this important duty to help and support the police and other public servants. They elect officers and demand that they enforce the law, and then take the side of those who violate the very laws they have helped to make. This is one reason why selfgovernment is so difficult sometimes.

25. Selecting Officers. We have already referred to the fact that many officers should be appointed rather than elected, but that some must be elected. Before the election comes the nomination of candidates. The word nomination

comes to us from the Latin and means to name or to point out. Candidates are often nominated carelessly because an election must finally decide who is to be chosen. But if all of the nominations are carelessly made, then the election will not be a success, since only those candidates will be voted for who have been thus carelessly nominated. The best way to nominate candidates in the association is by petition. A rule may be made that any one may be nominated whose friends present a petition signed by ten per cent of the members. If this method is used no one will be nominated who is not supported by at least one-tenth of the association; at least one-tenth of the members believe each nominated candidate to be the best person for the office.

26. Election. If candidates are nominated by petition more than two will probably run for each office. The question then must be answered, shall the association be satisfied with officers elected by a plurality or shall it try to find a plan by which a majority is required to elect? An election is decided by a plurality vote when the successful candidate receives more votes than any other candidate, but not more than all others combined; it is decided by a majority vote when he receives more than all the others combined. If five candidates are running in an association with one hundred members the one elected by a plurality may receive only twenty-one votes, seventy-nine having been cast for the other candidates. One of the best methods yet found for avoiding the election of plurality candidates is called preferential voting. There are several methods of conducting an election with preferential voting, but we need describe only the simplest.

27. The Ballot. On the ballot are written or printed the

names of all who have been nominated by petitions. Space is left for the voter to write in the name of another candidate if he wishes to do so, but this is a mere form and may be safely ignored. Only three choices are provided for on many ballots, but it is possible to provide for more. When the ballot is completed it is like the following, the names of the candidates being represented by A B C D E F:

The voter makes a cross in the first column opposite the name of the candidate whom he wishes to elect; a second cross in the next column opposite the name of his second choice; and so on.

28. Counting the Ballots. After all have voted the committee in charge of the election counts the ballots. The ballots giving candidate A as first choice are put in one pile; those giving candidate B as first choice in another, and so on. After all the ballots have been classified, the result may be found to be somewhat as follows: A has 20 votes, B 31, C 15, D 26, E 5, and F 3. That is, some who signed a petition for E or F decided to vote for another candidate when the time for election came. Now what shall be done with these piles in order to find out who is the majority candidate? B already has a plurality of the votes. We first take the ballots on which F is given as first choice. It is clear that he cannot be elected. Therefore his ballots are