on the side of the student. They relieve the colleges from the necessity of increasing the dormitory accommodations, and also of many of the details of supervision over the actions of the students.
If this feature of fraternity life is not carried to a point of senseless rivalry, as unhappily it has been carried at a few colleges, where houses much too costly for their surroundings have been erected, it may ultimately change the course of college development. The chapters, forming little independent communities, may in time, grow into something like the English colleges. Already in the establishment of chapter libraries, prizes and scholarships, we may see an indication of the time when chapters shall have their own instructors and professors maintained by permanent endowment, and relieving the college of much of the preliminary and subsidiary work of instruction, and taking from its hands the entire control of the discipline of the students.
The development of this form of chapter enterprise has been relatively rapid in recent years. The number of houses built and owned by the chapters of the fraternities is large and their value is running well up into millions. In connection with the account of each fraternity hereafter given an estimate is made of the value of the real estate owned by its respective chapters. These figures while approximate indicate very large investments.
Chapter house life is having a great influence upon fraternity character. It has its advantages and its disadvantages. It inculcates habits of business, it develops social discipline, it promotes fraternal sentiment and it
