Page:The Fraternity and the Undergraduate (1923).pdf/208

 is, I do not know an agitator against fraternities who has spent the four years of his undergraduate life in such an organization, and further than this, I do not know one who had a chance to do so. Most of them know little or nothing first hand. Either they or their children were disappointed in gaining admission, and for this reason they virtuously take up the fight as George Ford in my boyhood was opposed on principle to riding horses. The only trouble is that they sometimes succeed in deceiving people into believing that they are promulgating truth.

The reason that there are not more strong leaders among the independents is explained by the fact that as soon as a man begins to show qualities of leadership in the sophomore class or in the junior class, he is immediately picked up by a fraternity. The strongest independent leader in our present sophomore class is not likely long to lack opportunity to join a fraternity. A half-dozen organizations have been inquiring about him within the last month, and before college closes he will be wearing some fraternity button unless he elects to live an independent life throughout his college course.

The main difference between those who join and those who do not is a temperamental one. I have no sympathy with those who preach that it is