499] CONCLUSION 201 



allegiance of the voters was reached on a simple majority 

 basis. The same has apparently been true in all instances 

 of territorial transfers where the plebiscite has been 

 employed. 



The simple majority vote has been found practicable as 

 an expedient method of settlement in many internal affairs 

 of government, such as the election of representatives, ex- 

 ecutive officers, the decision on proposed ordinances and 

 legislation. As thus employed it offers a quick decision, 

 but it also permits a more or less speedy reversal of its 

 verdict. In each contest the party defeated yields to the 

 majority only temporarily, that is, until it in turn is able 

 to cast a majority vote. This is not so in the case of 

 territorial transfers which are considered permanent and 

 not reversible. Here a bare majority can force a nearly 

 equal number into a lasting undesired allegiance. By parity 

 of reason this new subjected minority should be permitted to 

 gather and augment its strength for a new voting contest 

 in which it in turn may master the deciding majority, or it 

 should, by the consistent application of the doctrine of self- 

 determination, be allowed to choose its own allegiance as a 

 separate group. 



In other words, where the separatist sentiment of any 

 minority group demanding liberation from an undesirable 

 allegiance is not substantially unanimous, the plebiscite 

 does not and cannot achieve its full allotted function. We 

 have illustrations of this in the transfers enforced by 

 the Treaty of Versailles of German territory to Czecho- 

 slovakia and Poland, coupled with the provision that the 

 cultural interests of the German populations under their en- 

 forced foreign allegiance shall be protected. 



But even in internal aflfairs political practice sometimes 

 requires a much larger, in some cases even a three- fourths 

 majority vote in the decision of issues involving matters of 

 great importance or of a lasting character such as the 

 amendment or the change of a constitution. By force of 

 equity one should thus demand more than a bare majority 



