The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-27

to the same thing.
 The desirability or undesirability of fraternities has been discussed by ministers of the gospel and other thinkers for century. The princi- pal arguments against the fraterni- ties have been that they are seret. tend to promote class prejudice, and defy authority. The weight of evid- ence. however seems to be that, on the whole. the fraternities exercise a high moral influence. encourage scholarship. and competition In sports. and lead to the formation of lasting friendships. Many of the "frats' are Ion is said to be the only strictly non- secret fraternity. The best evidence that they do good Is found In the names of great and good men on their glorious roster.
 Their influence. importance and wealth are growing constantly. In the last twenty-five years the number of chapter houses owned or rented by them has increased fifty fold. or to a total of 300. 1t Is a far cry from the log cabins. which served as the the first fraternity chapter houses at Michigan University and Kenyon College fifty years ago. to the fine stone buildings costing S50,000 to $100.000 each. that are occupied as chapter houses by Psi Upsilon and Zeta Psi at Yale, Alpha Delta at Cornell, and Chi Psi at Columbia. Amherst has unique fraternity building in two parts, the living quarters being con- nected with the lodge room by clois- ter. Prominent fraternity men arc be- ing honored with substantial memor- ials like the Alpha Delta Phi house at Hamilton College commemorating Sam uel Eels the founder of that frater- n NwS1 mE-
 Williams College chapter, perpetuating another good mans memory.
 Cornell Is regarded as an ideal college and fraternity center, Michigan University leads all colleges with eigty-five percent of its students in fraternities. A recently organized fraternity chapter in Georgetown University law school Is said to be the 1 first thing of the kind. owing to the Catholic church's opposition to secret | societies. The pranks which boys | play when about to initiate new mem- bers only constitute Q prelude to-,the | real initiation. The latter Is a sSfemn affair the ritual in some cases being based on the Bible
 The first sorority, Pi Beta Phi, ap- | peared in 1867 at Monmouth College, It now has a membership of $500. in- l cluding Carrie Chapman Catt. a leader In the suffrage movement There are l seventeen general sororities. the larg- est being Kappa Kappa Gamma with | 4.234 members. Sororities are active. alumni, or honorary. Six honorary sororities have an aggregate member ship of about 10000. Aiphi Phi oc- cupied the first sorority house at Syracuse in 1889. There are A number or beautiful sorority houses. especially | In the western coeducational colleges | and a few large eastern women'e col- leges. At National Park Seminary, near Washington, no general sororities are represented, but eight clubs bear ing Greek letter names have picture. sque houses scattered about the campus unlike the regular sororities, these clubs admit every student, besides members of the faculty. the 300 girls being divided into groups of thirty tc forty each to pursue music. literature athetics and other congenial sub. jects.
 The future of the fraternity ana and sorority is assured, and their mem. bers are planning it. One suggestion Is that. as all have many interests IT common. they unite in a Pan-Hellentt Confederation. This proposition wa. considered at the Chicago Worlds Fair but so far has not gone beyond the stage of an annual Pan-Hellenic ban Quet. It may develop. however. A BOOO suggestion IS that many young pupils be educated in the chan. ter houses at the expense of the frater. mites. Already this Is being done te some extent and many youthful Bar. barians" are being converted into mol. ished Creeks" The development of this Idea. 1t is believed. would lead to the establishment of halls" simi- lar to those at Cambridge and Oxford, England. more or less independent of I I the individual against college dIscip- line will have reached its logical con- clusion, measured from It's beginning in the partially self-governlng ma tions" at Paris and Bologna in the Middle Ages. the self-governing inns at European universities in later years. and German student societies of more | modern times.
 | Copyright. 1908. by Frederic J. Has, 1 kin.)
 TOmOrrow-Bo0t and Shoe Workers.