Page:The Fraternity and the College (1915).pdf/91

 tions of conscience at living off any one who will stand for it. Their excuse for not paying what they agree to pay or what they are due to pay is usually that they have had hard luck, that they have managed badly, or that they are going to find it easier later. The facts are that there is seldom any good reason except that they have lived beyond their income. It is the man with the small or moderate income who usually keeps his bills paid.

The men who are in these days giving most time and thought to fraternity matters are putting less and less stress upon mere sentiment and melodramatic feeling as a basis of true friendship and are coming to see that there can be no real brotherhood unless it is based upon principles which require every member of such an organization to do his part in keeping up the fraternity and to pay his part of the regular bills incident to such an organization. If a fraternity is to get anywhere, its finances are to be sound and dependable, and usually the finances of the group are determined by the way in which the individuals conduct their money matters. No one ought to assume more financial obligations than he can meet, but, having once agreed to pay, he is under moral obligations to do so whether it happens to be a subscription to the minister's salary, a chapter house note, or a board bill. That fraternity