Page 28 - 1923 February - To Dragma

TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 125

to others. Grasp the opportunity. Join, i f you have not already done so,
an alumnae chapter, and w o r k your best w i t h body, brain, spirit, and
substance f o r Alpha Omicron P i , its members, and others, less fortunate
than you.

JOSEPHINE PRATT, Alpha.

I should like to endorse most heartily the plan f o r the national work of
the f r a t e r n i t y as presented by the E x e c u t i v e Committee i n the Sept. 1922,
T o Dragma. The feature of this plan that especially appeals to me is
its three-fold character. I t is a great deal to hope that everyone w i l l be
satisfied w i t h the choice of our national w o r k , but i t seems to me that the
Executive Committee's plan makes that possible.

There are those of us w h o believe that, f o r the present anyway, our
m a i n interest n a t i o n a l l y should be the strengthening o f o u r o w n o r -
ganization, particularly thru assistance to the active chapters. For these,
there is the opportunity of w o r k to secure more life subscriptions to T o
Dragma and thereby increase the endowment f u n d . A l s o there has been
suggested the further possibility of extending assistance to active chapters
by establishing a central national purchasing department thru which all the
chapters can purchase, at a great saving, their household linen, table linen
and other standard articles necessary in all chapter houses.

M a n y o f our number believe that we, as a college organization, should
have our p r i m a r y national interest that o f f o s t e r i n g scholarship. The sec-
ond feature of the submitted plan gives this group in Alpha O a chance
to w o r k out their ideas as to w h a t f o r m this incentive t o scholarship
should take. The money for a definite beginning of a scholarship fund
is provided f o r , and there is, o f course, no l i m i t at all to the extent to
w h i c h this feature could be developed as time goes on.

Probably the majority of our members, however, feel that our national
w o r k should be definitely a p h i l a n t h r o p i c w o r k , something outside o f the
f r a t e r n i t y itself. F o r these, the t h i r d feature of the suggested plan seems
almost to have found that long-sought-for thing—a f o r m of philanthropic
w o r k that could be realized in several d i f f e r e n t places, so that there w o u l d
be the close personal appeal, and yet a f o r m o f w o r k that w o u l d c a r r y a
national unity o f idea and o f organization. This suggestion also has the
value of being capable of initiation in a small way, that would neverthe-
less be real and definite. One can hardly vision the possibilities o f its
f u l l development, and yet each step f o r w a r d w o u l d be a step that w o u l d
tie i n closely w i t h what had already been accomplished.

I believe our delegates to the convention in June should go imbued
w i t h the idea that the time has n o w come when we should make the selec-
tion of our national work. W e should all have the attitude of mind that in
the absence of better programs of our o w n to put f o r w a r d , we should
support the best plan that is presented. Perhaps i t may not appeal as
beyond question the most desirable thing for the fraternity to undertake,
but i f , after our many years of discussion on this subject of a national