1905-06 Volume 30 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

246 THE SCROLL.The power for good of the twelve thousand men, who are banded in PhiDelta Theta for noble purposes, cannot be overestimated. The wonderfulprogress and the present prosperty of the Fraternity are very gratifying to allof its members, the old as well as the young, and give assurances of its continuedgrowth and widening influence in future years.The introduction by Bro. Goodwin, deals with the motiveand character of fraternity organizations, of their feeling thatby associating men of common aims they might enable collegestudents to be of mutual benefit. They were based upon theidea of co-operation in affairs social, intellectual and moral.The social element, writes Bro. Goodwin, was doubtless thechief one, though it does not appear that this was so clearlyrecognized in the earlier days as it is now. He refers to thesimilarity of the first fraternity chapters to the debating clubsand literary societies of that day, and to the decline and disappearanceof these clubs and societies as the fraternitieshave grown. Bro. Goodwin says of present day fraternities:AUTOGRAPH OF JOHN W. FOSTER.From "The History of Phi Delta Theta."They have that close relationship, that clannish spirit arid mutual helpfulness,that high regard for morality, which characterizes an old and respectedfamily, proud of its history, and anxious that no member shall fall below thestandard. The best fraternities are true brotherhoods, each member interestedin the welfare of his fellow members, and striving to aid and sustainthem. It is upon these features that they must rest their chief claims, asorganized bodies, to the respect and consideration of college faculties andthe outside world generally.Writing more particularly of the origin of Phi Delta Thetaand its birthplace, he continues;Phi Delta Theta began in the West at a time when the colleges of thatsection were small, weak and few in number. It extended farther West andto the South before it made headway in the older and wealthier colleges ofthe East. Its growth is typical of, and commensurate with, the wonderfulgrowth of the country in the Mississippi Valley, and it is an example of thevigorous life of that region. There is nothing more remarkable in our nationalprogress than the educational development of the Western States, as illus-.trated especially in the rise of their state universities. In these institutions,as well as in the other leading colleges of the West, Phi Delta Theta is boneof their bone, and flesh of their fleshThrough the years of sectional enmity which followed the war, the membersof Phi Delta Theta, representing the best young manhood of both sec-