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

THE SCROLL. 393T. Brown, Cornell,'76. Galesburg, III.. The Mail Printing Company. 1905.Cloth; pp. XIV, 971.Seven editions of the catalogue of B 0 n have been issued,one in each of the years 1855, 1859, 1866, 1870, 1881, 1899,1905. The editions of 1881 and 1899 contained profuse biographicaldata. The rapid growth of the fraternity has necessitateda great abbreviation of the biographical information,and yet the last edition is a huge book, containingnearly 1000 pages. The number of members enrolled is14,341, though this enumeration includes transfers, or affiliatesas we call them in * A 0, the actual number being severalhundred less. *The number of chapters whose lists are contained in thebook is 90. In this enumeration the chapter which existedat Washington College and the chapter which existed atJefferson College before those institutions were consolidatedare counted as one chapter, the one now existing at Washingtonand Jefferson. B © n has absorbed several smaller fraternities,among them A S X and Mystical Seven, and it enrollsas Betas all of their members, even those who died beforethe absorption. B ® 11 never had chapters at EmoryCollege, the University of Georgia and Centenary College,but the lists of Mystical Seven men at those institutions appearin regular order in the chapter lists, making the numberof chapters 90, of which 23 are inactive (including theEmory, Georgia and Centenary chapters). B ® II, therefore,had 67 active chapters in 1905, or 68 counting the chapter itestablished at Iowa State College in the fall of that year, toolate to be included in this catalogue.The chapter lists are arranged in alphabetical order, withoutregard to the Greek-letter titles of the chapters, and withoutregard to when the chapters were established. Thus thefirst is the Amherst chapter, the last the Yale chapter. Thisexample was set by the ATA catalogue in 1897, and it isthe most convenient arrangement that can be adopted, exceptMr. J. C. Hanna. editor of the 1899 edition, reviewine the r9o5 edition in the DecemberBeta Theta Pi. says: "The total membershiD is put at 14.341, although a footinemade by the writer maiies it 14,401. There is nothing to indicate whether this is 'net' orwhether a deduction should be made for names appearing twice. An examinadon in detailof some of the rolls indicates that the number in each case included all names on thechapter's roll. There is no convenient method of getting at the proper deduction for 'transfers.'but, taking the same ratio that appeared in the catalogue of 1899. there must be nearly900 names that appear twice. This would cut the membership to about 13,500, which indicatesan increase in six years of nearly 22 per cent."Mr. Baird, editor of the Beta Theta Pi, appends the following footnote: "The ratioof transfers enumerated in this catalogue is much smaller than that of the 1899 edition.There are only about 300 transfer; listed in the catalogue, and the net membership is thereforeabout 14,000."