The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-27
Greek Letter Fraternities
By Frederic J. Haskin.

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 With the opening of the school year the heart of the student Is made giad l with the prospect of fraternity hie' The Greekletter fraternity and its SIS ter the sorority. have become sncn | factors in American social life that l nearly all of the thousands of young men and women who enter the colleges | and universities throughout the lana. and the thousands more pupils of the high schools and preparatory insti.u- tions have high hopes of becoming | members.
 l Unfortunately. a majority of the | aspirants may be disappointed. Most | of the fraternities have comparatively l small memberships and are very parti- cular about adding new names to their | rolls. There is tradition that none | who seeks is chosen. Those who are | fortunate enough to be among the | elect will always cherish the fact. | Once a member. always a member. m | spirit, at least. Wherever the "frat | man or woman goes In after life he | or she is likely to find kindred spirits | in all who wear the frat" pin.
 | Fraternities are general or prores, | sional in character. and international national, or local in scope. Profess | ional fraternities are devoted to the | law, incidence. music. science ana engineering. Other fraternities make specialties of the languages. sports. | literature, or good fellowship, Most are strictly mems organizations. Others admit women only. and are called | sororties. A very few admit both l men and women. but these are princi- pally local in scope.
 There are twenty-six general frater- nities with 15o.o0o members. and l7Oo chapters in 3e3 leading American and Canadian colleges. The largest In point of numbers is said to bt Delta | Kappa Epsilon. which is credited with | 15,000 members, including President | Roosevelt. The President is also an alumnus members of Alpha Delta Phi. 1 which has about $500 members l Half a dozen or more presidents have been fraternity men. The late President Mckinley was member Of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. MT. Harrison's name was on the roll of Phi Delta Theta. James A. Garzeld was mem Der of Delta Epsilon, Chester A. Arthur | of Psi Upsilon. Jefferson Davis. prest- dent of the Confederate States. was an honorary member of Kappa Sigma.
 Many other famods men are frater- nity members. MT. Taft is Psi Epsi- lon. while his opponent in the presi- dential race Mir. Bryan, is Beta Theta Pi. Chief Justice Fuller is 9 Chi Psi, Secretary of State Root a Sigma Phi. Vice-president Fairbanks Phi Gamma Delta. Secretary of the Interior Garfield an Alpha Delta Phi former vice-President Adlai Stevenson Phi Delta Theta Senator Foraker a Phi Kappa Psi and Justices Harlen and Brewer of the Supreme Court be- long to the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
 The list of prominent men who have been proud of their fraternity con nections. includes hundreds of the best known statesmen, legislators, dip lomats. orators. authors. jurists. divines. actors. lawyers. doctors and persons In all walks of life.
 The local fraternities are hard to keep tract of, but their total member ship is estimated at beween 5000 and 10000 boys and girls. Most of them are confined to high schools and pre- paratory schools. Some exist only al I'd single school or in one class. They are constantly being organized and changed, or going out of existence The opposition to fraternities in re- cent years has been directed princi- apIly against the local organizations which first appeared in New York and adjacent states in 1876. The public school authorities of Chicago are just now engaged in an attempt to stamp out secret fraternities in the hign schools there. Fifty pupils have been Isuspended on account of their mem- bership in those societies. and 200 more boys and girls are threatened
 
 ple have appealed to the courts. 4 similar attempt to stamp out frater- mites in the Central High School Washington. several years ago. failed | In 1881 a court compelled Purdue Uni versity to admit students with anti fraternity pledges.
 AntI-fraternity movements have not been generally successful. Sometimes the outwakd signs of the fraternities disappeared, but 1t developed later that the organizations were nourishing in secret. Nearly a century ago John Hancock. first signer of the Declara- tion of Independence. headed com mittee which investigated fraternities . Itn Harvard In 1881. the Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard. after discussion led by John Quincy Adams and Judge story, threw open its secrets to the world. Only recently has Harvaro nublicly accepted fraternities and a relic of the old days still exists in the practice of one Harvard fraternity, the members of which wear their pins con- cealed. .I
 The first Greek letter fraternity was organized at William ana Mary Collese Virginia, in 1776. Tradition says that Thomas Jefferson introduced the idea from France, but the fact seems to be that the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity was formed by John Heath, Thomas smith, Richard Booker. Armistead | Smith and JOnn JOHW. Aho SHoASO VI tba Greek letter name is said to have heen purely accidental Elisha Par. noAle a Yale student and Harvard graduate. was so delighted with the Virginia dinners given by the infant fraternity that he secured the neces' sary authority and organized chapters oS if at Yale in 17S0 and Harvard ir I7s2 So much jealously was aroused a+ vale that the records of that chap fer were twice stolen
 The Revolutionary War put tenn oorarv end to fraternity activity al TyiIliam and Mary. and the Civil War Iater had the same effect throughout tbe south. The anti-Masonic agita- tior of seventy live years ago caused ths abandonment of many chapters lr the North. So the modern fraternity 1rectIcally dates its origin from the
 ~enIzation of Kappa Alpha at Union Soiiege in 1925. Others followed al srecuent intervals for forty years. Al ars+ they were opposed by the collegi- ats authorities Later they were toler- sted. and during the past third of a century they have been encouraged fin many colleges. Fifty years ago a number of leading colleges organized aeainst the fraternities Of them, only pTinceton now forbids fraternities. and tt Is whispered that her clubs amount