Page:The Fraternity and the College (1915).pdf/190

 disloyal by his dishonest acts, but I had a hard time to get him to see the point. He was impelled by misconceived fraternity spirit; he was lacking in college spirit.

Sometimes a man in his over-enthusiasm for an organization of which he may be a member forgets that the fraternity is only a minor part of the college, and that his obligation to the college should be first and foremost. It is this point that an organization does not grasp that is willing to run secretly in violation of a college regulation, and it is in this regard that a national organization finds its case indefensible when it permits a chapter to continue in opposition to the rules of the college. It is just the difference between loyalty to an organization and loyalty to the college.

The relative obligations which he is under as regards family and state and nation have confused many a man of mature years. It is not always easy to determine rightly which of a number of obligations should take precedence, which one has the most weight. Not an hour ago I received a letter from a man who had some years ago contracted a debt now long since due. Referring to this debt he said, "I can do nothing less than acknowledge that the debt to which you refer is a just one and one which I expect to meet, but only recently I have contracted other obligations which