At the elections one week ago today democracy triumphed and the people's choice was ushered into office after weeks of cajoling, threatening, mud-slinging, and amateur theatrics. The people, that nebulous mass that determines the nation's fate, can now relax into complacent satisfaction for they have done their duty as citizens and placed in office men in whom they apparently have unbounded confidence.

It is useless to point out that many of the men elected by them have court convictions to their credit, powerful machines to repay for their services, and no interest in the public office except as a means of furthering their own personal ambition and greed. Confident that they have discharged their obligations as citizens these unimportant details have little interest to the electorate. The will of the people has been emphatically expressed and let no man question the wisdom of its decisions. That indeed is the ideal of the democratic state and adds zest to the "great game of politics" in which all feel competent to participate.

In the face of all this, college youth for the most part remains idealistic and the spirit of reform gives impetus to their interest in politics. But how many men as idealistic in their youth have found the only way to political success in a democracy was to follow the precedents set by ballyhoo artists well-versed in the rules of the game so ably outlined by Frank R. Kent?

These practical psychologists who know how to appeal to the mob that directs the destiny of the nation are not found in any one political camp but exist in every party, in every town, in every precinct. Tuesday's election as all previous elections have demonstrated the efficacy of slogans, dramatic oratory, and machine tactics. Can the youth that aspires to public office in the future battle these effectively? Some say they will use these means only as a way to gain a position in which they may promulgate the reforms that are so necessary. But it is a polluted form of government that makes such tactics a necessary asset to the aspiring leader. And how morally strong, moreover, must the person be who never allows the means to taint his ends and how closely associated the two usually become. In this past election, of course, it must be remembered there were other factors which influenced the results but in the respects pointed out above it was similar to those expressions of public opinion that have been made for many decades in the past.