Page:BairdsmanualofAmericancollegefrate8.pdf/53

Rh affords opportunity for many instances of mutual helpfulness. It develops pride of organization, it arouses the ambition and in some sense promotes college allegiance, On the other hand, in some places it increases the expense of college life, it increases the average size of chapters and makes in many cases a large chapter a necessity where a smaller one would be better. It engenders and fosters social exclusiveness. It makes some students narrow and conceited, because they arrogate to themselves as personal attributes the chapter reputation. The advantages undoubtedly outweigh the disadvantages. The fraternities discountenance any form of dissipation in the chapter houses. Most of them cause a thorough supervision to be made of the scholarship of the members and some of them have good libraries. .

At any rate, the chapter house has come to stay. Its development is sure, but it needs watching by the older heads among the alumni and the college authorities.

It would seem from the foregoing résumé of the features and practices common to American Greek-letter fraternities, that there would naturally be some exponent of the system as a whole. That while possessing points of divergence, the separate fraternities have so much in common that there would naturally arise some central organization capable of representing and speaking for them collectively, but such has not been the case until recently. Each fraternity has had a natural, historical development, and many of them are averse to lending