the votes cast or
not, are automatically and definitely elected. It has been felt, with no
little justification, that this method, admittedly disadvantageous in its
disregard of the principle that requires that each elected member must
secure a majority of the votes cast, does away on the other hand with the
more serious disadvantage of restricting the freedom of the elector who,
unhampered and unconstrained by electoral necessities, is called upon to
vote for none but those whom prayer and reflection have inspired him to
uphold. Moreover, the practice of nomination, so detrimental to the
atmosphere of a silent and prayerful election, is viewed with mistrust
inasmuch as it gives the right to the majority of a body that, in itself
under the present circumstances, often constitutes a minority of all the
elected delegates, to deny that God-given right of every elector to vote
only in favor of those who he is conscientiously convinced are the most
worthy candidates. Should this simple system be provisionally adopted, it
would safeguard the spiritual principle of the unfettered freedom of the
voter, who will thus preserve intact the sanctity of the choice he first
made. It would avoid the inconvenience of securing advance nominations
from absent delegates, and the impracticality of associating them with the
assembled electors in the subsequent ballots that are often required to
meet the exigencies of majority vote.

I would recommend these observations to your earnest consideration, and
whatever decision you arrive at, all local Assemblies and individual
believers, I am certain, will uphold, for their spiritual obligation and
privilege is not only to consult freely and frequently with the National
Spiritual Assembly, but to uphold as well with confidence and cheerfulness
whatever is the considered verdict of their national representatives.

Wishing you success from all my heart,

I am, your true brother,
SHOGHI.

Haifa, Palestine,
May 27, 1927.

Letter of October 17, 1927.

To the Honored Members of the Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies
throughout the West.

My dear fellow-workers:

With feelings of burning indignation I find myself impelled to acquaint
you with various events that have recently transpired in Persia. Though in
their immediate effect these happenings may prove gravely disquieting to
the followers of the Faith in Persia and elsewhere, yet they cannot but
eventually contribute to the stre