"Stover, do you know that for years these elections have gone on with just three candidates offered, one each from your three sophomore societies? And how have they been run? By putting up your lame ducks."
"Oh, come."
"Not always. But if you think you can elect a weak member instead of a strong one, you trot out the lame duck. Why? Because at the bottom you are not really social, but political; because your main object is to get as many of your men into senior societies as you can."
"Well, why not?"
"Because you're doing it at the expense of the class—by making us bolster up the weak ones with an office."
"I don't think that's entirely fair."
"You'll see. Look at the last candidates the sophomores put up. You haven't answered my questions. Why shouldn't we non-society men, six-sevenths of the class, have the right to put up our candidates and elect them?"
"You have," said Stover; "but, Gimbel, you're not doing it for that. You're doing it to knock us out."
"Quite true."
"That means the whole class goes to smash—that we're going to have nothing but fights and hard feelings from now on. Is that what you want?"