Page 15 - 1917 November - To Dragma

2 6 TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI
tions, though many of them were purely voluntary and many, again,
though they did not pay, even when as high as $15, unless there was
a large fund put by as a starter. I think the secretary's notes I ' m
sending go into the actual details here. One thing, however, that
interested me greatly, was the way in which Kappa Alpha Theta had
started the fund. They got their pins from Balfour direct, sold
them to their members without the use of a middleman, and used the
profit for their fund. Now that they feel that the fund is large
enough, they sell the badges at cost. As a consequence both of this
fund and their large subscription list, they are able to offer a life sub- Panhellenic difficulties. I n general the attitude seemed to be that
scription of nine dollars, paid at initiation.
When it came to a discussion of economy ideas, the main point
made seemed to be the expense of exchange copies. Some of the
magazines were sending only two to the men's journals, and others
were sending library copies only where asked for, or where the local
chapter kept up the subscription. Some of the other economies sug-
gested were the cutting out of leads between the lines, and setting
solid (K A 0 ) , and the printing of chapter letters in eight point
(A <I>). ( I hope you will understand this technical talk—I don't!)
But the most interesting matter presented on the subject of " F i -
nance" was Miss Perkins' (A paper on a cooperative magazine. I
speak not as your "proxy," but for myself when I say that to me it
was the most vital subject presented at the meetings. I hope I can
make it as clear to you as Miss Perkins did to us and that it has as
magical an effect—for she was most surprised at the hearty, reception
accorded her idea. I n brief it is this: The fraternities are to com-
bine their efforts and instead of printing eighteen different magazines
with an editor for each there is to be one general magazine, edited
by a board of paid editors chosen from among the fraternities which
shall handle all the general articles printed as a rule in all the maga-
zines. Then each fraternity shall have an unpaid editor to edit
chapter letters, editorials, instructions, and items of interest to the
specific fraternity, and this copy will be bound with the general
magazine for the subscribers of such fraternity, either under the old
magazine name, or some general one. I t is hoped that in this
manner the articles w i l l be better and perhaps more carefully edited
that there will be a saving of labor and materials, a saving on
exchanges and secret journals, and a possibility of syndicated adver-
tising. The suggested magazine should be self-supporting, with the
probability that it could be issued monthly instead of quarterly, at
the same prices subscribers are now paying. I t was realized, of
course, that the matter would need careful consideration and investi-
gation, and the chair appointed a committee to work out the plan in
TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 27
a manner that might make it feasible to all the fraternities—Miss
Perkins, A <fc, Miss Corbett, K A , and Miss Green, K A 0.
The next general subject brought up was that of copy but this has
been so thoroughly covered in the Secretary's report that I feel you
may use that material here i f you wish. On each question there was
a roll-call and results are tabulated there.
Then came the question of the policy of the magazines in regard to
to report such matters in the magazines merely made good copy for
the papers, and that the best thing the magazines could do was to
keep up the present policy of omitting such matters, and not exploit
fraternity weaknesses. A l l were agreed, on the other hand, that
editorials were well worth while though there seemed to be a dif-
ference of opinion as to their character during the present difficult
times. Some felt that by ignoring the war questions entirely we
were laying ourselves open to criticism from outside, while still others
felt that our editorials had mainly to do with ourselves. (Notice
that use of the editorial "we"—am I not "getting there"?) I was
rather impressed with the plea made by Miss Green that through our
fraternity journals we urge moderation in war relief work, and
impress upon our girls the fact that they are in school primarily be-
cause our nation is to need a trained womanhood in the future, and
that for them it is of the utmost importance to give most of their
time to that training.
The rest of the discussions were on rather technical points that were
in some cases not very clear to me; I trust you will get most of them
from the enclosed report. Unfortunately, too, I had to leave before
the discussions were quite closed.
I feel that this is rather a hodge podge of facts and impressions—
I do hope that you can cull from it what you most need. I am more
than glad that I was able to attend, and I cannot begin to tell you
how much more I shall appreciate our magazine since I have been on
the "inside" for a time and learned some of the difficulties that beset
the editor. And most of all am I impressed with the usefulness of
this Editors' Conference.
Fraternally,
MERVA D. HENNINGS.