The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-30


 liberal appropriation that the financial | conditions will justify, for in my opin- ion it would be real calamity to our ness sagacity of our legislators if this appropriation were refused"
 The Mobile legislator declared that he had read with much interest the Birmingham Age-HeraId's editorial in- dorsing the movement.
 In writing Mir. Thompson, MT. Will | son said in part
 Alabama is particularly conspicuous in the eyes of the whole nation in her position as first in number on the roll | call of the states, and there are cer- ss..ssss...sssss.ss..sssssss movement, the secrets of Phi Beta Kappa were exposed to the public in 1881, since which time it has been merely an hon ofary college society in which membership is conferred as reward of high scholar ship or in recognition of distinguished achievement The precedent for college secret societies was nevertheless estab- lished by Phi Beta Kappa and others fol- low ed rapidly in it's wake. Kappa Alpha was founded at Union in 1925 and, within l two years thereafter, Sigma Phi and Delta | Phi were born at the same college Sigma Phi was the first fraternity, after Phi | Beta Kappa, to establish a branch organ | ization chartering its New York Beta i chapter at Hamilton college in 1881 Thus l Sigma Phi was the originator of the fra ! ternity system that Is today reaching out With It's ramifications into most of the colleges and universities on this oonti- nent.
 Tn determining the desirability or | undesirability of the college fraternity | system in our country the qeustion of 1 IarRaGt ic. fraternity be made an ally in main | taining institutional standards both uni- Versal and particular? The answer com l ing out of my own observations is an unqualified affirmative. Yes, the college fraternity system has been, is now in many institutions, and may be in all our colleges and universities potent fac | tor in students life to compel a fulfill ment of the proper expectations of all good people and to meet the demands | of those immediately responsible for college support.
 Agent For Good
 Giving conclusions out of my per sonal experience I have to say that I have found the fraternity a powerful | agent in maintaining standards both I of scholarship and morality. There is l no body in the world so easily con trolled as a company of college stu dents when rightly approached with the l proper appeal. The upper classmen I among the undergraduates when called upon with unassumed confidence by ! those in authority to see to it that men in the lower classes take high
 rank in scholarship and maintain q character which shall command respect. | will make answer to that call in labors 1 of most effective compulsion upon thei, younger brothers,
 "The fraternity. too, is most help 1 full instrument in holding the student I to his original purpose for the com pletion of his college course. To my personal knowledge it has often hap pened that a student has entered upon an undergraduate course of study eX- pecting to be in college for one year | perhaps or at the most for two, and
 by the influence of teachers, insuf- | f1cient alone but potent when exer- | cised through upper class fraternity | brothers, many of these young men nave | completed the requirements for the | baccalaureate degree.
 | "The charge of snobbery lodged against the fraternity system may be | disposed of by pointing to the well
 established fact that any distinctive | organization or relationship in life is 1 likely to convey to others the impress
 sion that the one enjoying it feels him self somewhat superior to the rank and file No doubt, there are silly boys wEo put on airs when they make fra ternity, but they would do that in some other organization if the fraternity were not there to offer them it's oppor- tunity.
 The one obstacle in the way of mak
 ing the fraternity entirely ideal as a student organization is the fact that all men in college do not belong to fra
 ternities. If every student could find
 his way into such group, We should have in all these combined college groups combination ally of great in- fluence in maintaining institutional lstandards. No crowd so appeals to my sympathy as that unorganized hetero-
 geneous mass called in the parlance oi
 the campus the barbs.'
 My heart often bleeds in pity fol
 the nonfraternity man, because, in
 many instances. someone far his in- ferior has been chosen to fraternity
 membership for purely advenutious lessons. The man who feels himself worthy of a place in a fraternity and l who remains uninvited outside the pale
 often becomes so disgruntled and soul
 during undergraduate days that he lays
 the foundation for a future which
 marks him forever as an obstructive oync It is not much wonder that these neglected outsiders, usually constitut-
 ing the majority of the student body
 should gather themselves together into 1 lCOStlE DOuIu animated by questionable ideals, to con
 trol the policies of an institution. Phi Delta Theta Ideals
 Phi Delta Theta has no apology tC offer for it's large membership and con stantly increasing number of chapters Let those who will be satisfied witt the provincialism which confines it'
 membership to a few respectable, con f servative old colleges in New EnSlans
 and on the Atlantic seaboard with here
 and there a chapter at some of tho
 larger universities in the Mississlpp
 valley and the farther west. Our vlsior
 of our country's future has not per l mitted us to limit our fraternity mem | bership to any particular part of oul | country or to any special type of in . stitution. Our neighborhood is as broad as the nation, as inclusive as the typ
 teal college man. We prefer to be ma 5 tional rather than sectional and W, . want the beneficent influence of Ph o Delta Theta to be felt in every cornel of the land. We refuse to enter insti
 tutions of little promise, but we ar' anxious to find home in every colleg'
 or university with future of assured
 growth and usefulness. We believe il
 the policy of expansion and Cor tha
 belief we offer no apology. It is Il
 harmony with the spirit of American
 democracy.
 The question whether, or not, the fra ternity system is to be permanent Il
 this country can be answered only b
 the fraternities. We may vindicate ou I rioht to continued existence by demon