Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/447

 VOLUME VI JANUARY, IQOI NUMBER

THE SALOON IN CHICAGO. II. 1

FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS.

AMONG the earliest monuments of social life are the fraterna societies ; they are primarily a social institution. While through out all the ages of their existence their professed objects and pur- poses have varied according to the age and people, the prime cause for their existence lay in the failure of existing society to meet the needs of the human soul. Under the head "Char- acter of Applicants" one order states : "True manhood should be the test applied to all, whether black with the soot of the forge or clad in the elegance of a prosperous profession." This agency is doing much to keep down class distinction; an appre- ciation of the common brotherhood of man is cultivated.

The lodge of today is making for itself a larger and larger place in the lives of men. Some men find it the sole expres- sion of their social and intellectual life ; with others it is less important ; while still others regard it simply as an insurance organization, having no interest in it other than the payment of their dues and the receipt of its benefits. " It is considered," however, " by society men that a beneficiary society cannot long exist unless founded upon the principles of fraternity," hence the fraternal and social features are made prominent. Parties and balls are given during the winter, and picnics during the

1 This article was prepared under the direction of the Ethical Subcommittee of the Committee of Fifty, and is published by permission of that body.

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