1912–13 Volume 37 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

542 THE SCROLLAn article by Wilson B. Heller, Missouri, '14, in the II K A Shield andDiamond contains a number of tables compiled from "Bairds Manual ofAmerican College Fraternities," showing that the number of chapter housesowned by * A 0 ranks first, in percentage of chapters owning houses •4' A 0ranks eleventh. In total value of chapter houses owned * A 0 ranks second(preceded by B 0 II), and In average value of houses owned by chapters $ A 0ranks fourteenth. Another table shows that In priority of establishment ofchapters In Institutions In which each fraternity is organized -^ A 0 ranks third(preceded by Northern K A and B 0 II, in order). From these statistics, Mr.Heller constructs a table and a chart, showing somehow that the relative rankof * A 0 Is third (preceded by B 0 II and A A 4"),S * E, a southern fraternity, continues its campaign of northern extension.It established chapters at Brown and Cornell last fall and one at Michiganthis spring. Another southern fraternity, H K A, also is rapidly establishingitself In the North. Of its thirty-six chapters, eight are outside the South,These eight chapters, recently established, are at the Universities of Cincinnati,California and Utah, Ohio State University, New York University, SyracuseUniversity, Rutgers College and Iowa State College, The Iowa State chapterwas installed on February 21 (seven weeks before Iowa Gamma of •4' A 0 wasinstalled there) and the Syracuse chapter on March 15, The fraternities atIowa State in the order of establishment are now as follows : S N, 2 A E,B 0 n, •* r A, A T Si, K S, 0 a, Acacia, * S K, A T A, H K A and $ A 0, alltwelve established there within nine years. The II K A Shield and Diamondsays that a local there "has a chapter of 4" K ^ on probation".Mrs. Ella Flagg Young, Chicago's militant superintendent of schools, has sether foot down on the "kid fraternities". She wages as relentless a war againstthese baby secret societies as Betsey Trotwood waged against donkeys or Catoagainst Carthage. Undaunted by the formidable Greek alphabet, she has expelledentire sororities or "frats" In about the same off-hand way that onewould take light exercise before breakfast. Their injured protests of their"high Ideals" and "lofty purposes" do not convince her. To Mrs. Young's sensibleand democratic nature they are merely hotbeds of snobbery. Theyare un-American and mischievious. They retard scholarship and divert the interestsof school life into unwholesome channels. Their importance Is undulyexaggerated. They come into a. child's life at the most impressionable age.Many a boy or girl who has nothing to apologize for but poverty, who Isotherwise lovable and sweet, has left school heartbroken and given up the dreamof an education merely because of the social ostracism practiced by these "holierthan thou" combinations.—Collier's Weekly.Some of our esteemed contemporaries seem to have a great liking for the"Collegiate" and "Hellenic" news published in THE SCROLL, but are very charyabout acknowledging the source of Information. For instance, in the FebruaryIssue of the monthly magazine of a certain fraternity nine "Collegiate" itemsand six "Hellenic" items, amounting in all to three and a half pages, werecopied from THE SCROLL without credit. This is rather trying to our patience,but it is still more tried when fraternity journals republish items that originallyappeared in THE SCROLL but credit them to the journal which have withoutcredit appropriated them. We fear that this indicates that some exchangeeditors read other journals more attentively than they read THE SCROLL, elsethey would copy direct from it the items that they like. But the editors whoacquire items In this way publish considerable news after it has become stale.If they were more wide awake their journals would be a good deal more upto date.Several years ago, we believe, AKE held a convention at three places, withits chapters at Yale, Trinity and Wesleyan. This was done recently also byAXP, the Garnet and White of which says : "The tri-city session of the conventionwas a great success. We would perhaps not try it in any State except