If two and not more choices for any one office are voted in the first-choice column on any one ballot, they shall both be counted as second choices, and all other choices voted on that ballot for that office shall be counted as other choices.

If three or more choices for any one office are voted in the first-choice column on any one ballot, all choices voted on that ballot for that office shall be counted as other choices.

If two or more choices for any one office are voted in the second-choice column on any one ballot, they shall be counted as other choices.

Except as herein before provided, all choices shall be counted and returned as marked on the ballot.

The city clerk shall then determine the successful candidates as hereinafter provided in this section.

The candidate for any office receiving a majority, as hereinafter in this section defined, of the first-choice votes cast for candidates for that office shall be elected to that office: Provided, That if no candidate shall receive such a majority, then the second-choice votes received by each candidate for that office shall be added to the first-choice votes received by each such candidate, and the candidate receiving the largest number of said first-choice and second-choice votes combined, if such votes constitute a majority, shall be elected to that office; And provided further, That if no candidate shall have a majority after adding the first-choice and second-choice votes, then the other choice votes received by each candidate shall be added to the firstchoice and the second-choice votes received by each such candidate, and the candidate having the largest number of first-choice, second-choice and other-choice votes combined shall be elected to that office.

A tie between two or more candidates shall be decided in favor of the one having the largest number of first-choice votes. If two or more are equal in that respect, then the candidate among them having the largest number of second-choice votes shall be elected. If this will not decide, then the result shall be determined by lot under the direction of the city clerk.

Whenever the word "majority” is used in this section it shall mean more than onehalf of the total number of first-choice votes cast at such election and counted and returned as herein before provided in this section for candidates for the office in question.*

QUALIFIED VOTER DEFINED.

SEC. 19. The term "qualified voter," wherever it occurs in this act, means a voter qualified by law to vote for candidates for the office named in the petition of nomination or acceptance of nomination in which their names occur, except that witnesses may be residents of any part of the city.

If more than one official is to be chosen from a group, "majority" should be defined, as in Nashua, as more than half the total number of valid ballots on which at least one first choice for the office in question is marked and returned; or less accurately, as more than one-half the total number of ballots cast at the election. Either safeguards the majority interest suitably, but the latter might sometimes bring the second or other choices into account as a result of counting nonparticipants in the election for that office, which is hardly logical.

HON. JOHN SHAFROTH, UNITED STATES SENATOR
FROM COLORADO

BY

OSCAR T. CROSBY

WARRENTON, VA.

PRESENTED BY MR. SHAFROTH

FEBRUARY 24, 1915.-Referred to the Committee on Printing

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

REPORTED BY MR. FLETCHER.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,

February 19 (calendar day, March 3), 1915. Resolved, That the manuscript submitted by Mr. Shafroth on February 24, 1915, entitled "International Arbitration," by Oscar T. Crosby, Esq., of Warrenton, Va., be printed as a Senate document.

Attest:

JAMES M. BAKER,
Secretary.

INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION.

VIEW TREE,

Hon. JOHN SHAFROTH,

Warrenton, Va., February 20, 1915.

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

SIR: I am informed that press of business will prevent a hearing during this session of Congress before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Senate on Senate joint resolution No. 233, recently introduced by you and referred to that committee.

If such be the case, may I have the privilege of laying before the members of the committee through this letter arguments in favor of the passage of the said resolution?

It aims to end international war by arming an international court and disarming individual States except as to their internal police forces.

It may be presumed that a large majority of our citizens desire any means, honorable and efficient, by which international wars may be avoided, if at the same time our national interests and ideals may receive at least as strong a guaranty as is now obtained by an international system resting in the last analysis upon competitive force exercised in war.

There are indeed men in all countries who believe that warlike contests work for the actual good of humanity. Such men would not, if they could, establish peaceful determinations for all international disputes. They believe that the sufferings incident to war and the sacrifices required of poor and rich in making war preparations are more than compensated by the development of virtues which would be lost to the race if we refrained altogether from military contests.

It can not be doubted that in spite of all its horrors war does make an appeal, war does arouse enthusiasms, which have caused men to seek the battlefield even when unconcerned about the merits of the strife in which they engage.

It is also true that the race must still admire that spirit of sacrifice which causes a man, understanding his nation's quarrel, to offer his life and his property in its defense.

In any complete discussion of the subject of war this phase of the matter must receive due attention. But in this communication it does not seem wise, considering the limitations of time and space, to dwell lengthily upon it. One must be content to remark that even if international wars be suppressed there will remain causes of dispute between groups within each nation which will arouse men to acts of violence. In these contests the fighting instinct may be gratified and to some extent the fighting virtues preserved. And