Chapter Letters.

THE NEW YORK PHI DELTA PHI CLUB.

DECEMBER MEETING.-The club met on the 17th, as usual, at 6:30 P. M. Hon. Warren W. Foster, Judge of the Court of General Sessions was the guest of the evening. Dinner over, election of officers for the year 1901 was taken up. The president, Charles Thaddeus Terry, Story, '93, professor of Contract in Columbia law school, and secretary, W. E. Andrews, Field '94, were reëlected unanimously.

Just after the election the following telegram was received:

WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 17, 1900.

PHI DELTA PHI CLUB, HOTEL Marlborough, N. Y.

Phi Delta Phi Club organized here to-day. Great enthusiasm, splendid membership, greetings and congratulations.

ARTHUR A. BIRNEY, Kent '73,

Secretary.

The reading of the telegram was followed by long applause. The committee on resolutions then presented a report:

WHEREAS, news of the sudden death of Hon. Henry R. Beekman, one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, has come as a shock to the Bar and the community of the City of New York, and

WHEREAS, we recognize the great loss to the Bench, Bar and the public caused by the death of this learned justice and painstaking jurist, now therefore be it

Resolved, by the members of the Phi Delta Phi Club, at its regular monthly meeting, that we express our sincere appreciation of his services while on the bench, and our great sympathy with his family in the affliction which has fallen upon them and as a mark of our esteem of him as a judge, jurist and gentleman, we do order this resolution to be spread in full upon the minutes of this club.

CHARLES A. WENDELL.
R. STEWART.

Committee.

Judge Foster then spoke for more than an hour. His address was based on matters personal and political, which have happened since his elevation to the bench, and were of such a nature that he desired no report.

He dealt with the questions of politics and the Bench, assignment of counsel in criminal cases, etc. He also urged to the younger members of the club to go down the General Sessions and defend such prisoners as could not pay counsel, and pointed out the benefit of such practice. It was one of the best addresses ever given the club.

JANUARY MEETING.-The first meeting of the club for 1901 was held on the 14th, President Terry presiding. Secretary Andrews being absent, Arthur Knox, Story '95, was appointed secretary pro tem. Hon. Samuel T. Maddox, justice of the New York Supreme Court, was the guest of the evening. Reporters from the Associated Press, Sun and Brooklyn Eagle were present. When dinner was over and cigars lighted, Mr. Terry spoke to the club, calling attention to its condition, to its record of nine years' growth, and urged further efforts toward permanency. He concluded by quoting Kipling's dialogue between Tomlinson and St. Peter and then introduced Justice Maddox, who spoke on the need of publicity in divorce proceedings and suggested the creation of court officers, who would appear for the state in undefended divorce actions, similar to the English practice. The basis of his remarks was the recently discovered New York divorce mill. The business of the evening was then taken up, and the committee on by-laws and constitution, consisting of Morris K. Jessup, Frederick Geller, Arthur Knox, Hugh Peters, Robert Stewart and Chas. A. Wendell, reported by Mr. Geller, and the constitution and by-laws submitted were adopted.

The new features in the by-laws are the provisions concerning the committee on grievances and the appointment of trustees.

Mr. Jessup, then introduced the following resolution which was adopted:

WHEREAS, the Phi Delta Phi Club has adopted a Constitution and By-laws to define its purposes and govern its action, and

WHEREAS, it is desirable that such Constitution and By-laws be put in form convenient for use and for the purpose of preservation, and

WHEREAS, it is desirable that each member of the club have a copy of the said Constitution and By-laws, and also a list of the members of the club with their addresses for reference, be it

Resolved, that the Secretary of the Club be instructed to have the

A

Constitution and By-laws printed, together with a list of the members, the names of the law schools of which they severally received their initiation into the fraternity, and their office addresses; and that such matter be put in form of a small inexpensive book and to the number of one hundred and fifty, distributed among the members of the club without charge to them.

Mr. Chas. A. Kalish then moved that the club be incorporated and Mr. Stewart moved that as conditions warranted the step, a special committee be appointed to investigate getting a home for the club. These motions were changed to instructions to the executive committee and the trustees respectively.

At ten o'clock the meeting adjourned for one month, the few who had not yet met Justice Maddox were presented to him, greetings and anectodes were exchanged, and the members started home through the snowstorm.

FEBRUARY MEETING.-Lincoln's Birthday celebrations were in order in New York city on the 11th, but as that was the second Monday some thirty enthusiasts met. Judges Blanchard and Jerome were the expected speakers, but neither spoke, for one had the grip and the other was obliged to be elsewhere. Consequently the meeting developed into a good-fellowship gathering, with a club house as the general topic. Several Story fellows were on hand. Many of the undergraduates of the three city chapters are beginning to attend the club's meetings.

WASHINGTON, D. C., ALUMNI CLUB.

The Fraternity spirit is very strong in Marshall chapter here in Washington. The active members hold meetings almost every Monday during the season at the chapter rooms, 1347 Pennsylvania avenue. The younger graduates of the chapter and some of the older ones have been regular attendants at these meetings and have enjoyed them fully as much as have the undergraduates. However, it was found that some of the older men had lost touch with the Fraternity to a certain extent, not because of any lack of interest but rather because of absence of a proper opportunity to meet the brothNo strong effort was ever made to bring them together, and to tell them what had been done by the Fraternity and by the chapter during the last few years. Some of the graduates of ten years ago had no conception of the extent of the present active membership of the Fraternity. They did not realize that a great many men with whom they came in contact almost daily were members of Phi Delta Phi.

ers.

In order to bring the members in Washington together and to provide a regular time and place for meeting the suggestion was made that a Phi Delta Phi club be formed on substantially the lines of the club in New York, which has been so great a success for many years. A. A. Birney, Kent '73, one of the most prominent lawyers in Washington, invited the graduate members to meet at his office in the Mertz building on the afternoon of December 17, 1900. This day was chosen because it was the day of the annual meeting of the Phi Delta Phi club of New York. Twenty-two responded to the call and eight wrote regretting their inability to be present but expressing their willingness to join the movement.

The meeting was very successful. The urgent need for an association was shown which would bring together the graduates in a social way. Mr. Birney was elected temporary chairman and Charles G. Harris temporary secretary. Charles L. Frailey, Wallace McLean and Fritz v. Briesen, were appointed a committee on organization. The chairman was instructed to send a telegram of greeting to the Phi Delta Phi Club of New York.

The committee on organization arranged for the first dinner of the club. This was held at the Ebbitt house on Friday, January 25, 1901, Mr. Birney presiding. Thirty-two were present. A constitution was adopted. Any member of the Fraternity was made eligible to membership, a majority vote of the members being necessary to election after a favorable report by the membership committee. The following officers were elected: president, A. A. Birney, Kent '73; vice-president, John T. Hendrick, Marshall '96; secretary and treasurer, Fritz v. Briesen, Field '97.

The club begins its work under the very best auspices. It has an enthusiastic membership of almost sixty at the present time. Many of its members are prominent at the bar or in official life.

It proposes to hold meetings on the second Thursday of each month with the exception of June, July, August, and September. Each meeting will be followed by an informal dinner. The club, acknowledging its indebtedness to the New York club for its example, will follow as closely as conditions will allow the plans of the latter as regards speakers, hour and place of meeting, price of dinner, etc.

We know that a great many of the problems arising in regard to maintaining a Phi Delta Phi club have been solved by the Phi Delta Phi Club of New York, and feel assured that if we follow its example we shall have a very successful and profitable future.

Any and every member of the Fraternity is invited to be present

at any of the dinners. The secretary will always be glad to have brothers visiting Washington, call upon him in order that he may inform them of the place of the meeting and may assist them in securing introductions to the brothers of the club.

FRITZ V. BRIESEN, Secretary.

WAITE-YALE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL.

Although at this time not to be classed as news, nevertheless, the prizes and honors which have been awarded to members of Waite within the past year may well be recorded as a matter of chapter history. Herbert W. Fisher, with a well-written thesis, captured what is known at Yale as the prize, namely, the John A. Porter prize of $250.00, competition for which is open to all departments of the university; Walter D. Makepeace won the Townsend prize of $100.00 in the Senior oratorical contest; Martin T. Bennett was awarded the Edward Thompson Co. prize (choice between "Encyclopædia of Law," and "Pleading and Practice"), for passing the best examination in the work of the Middle year; John W. Egerton and Nathan A. Smyth were graduated cum laude; M. T. Bennett, Cornelius P. Kitchel and Henry H. Townsend, of the Middle class, received a cum laude on their work, as did also Garfield R. Jones and Charles T. Lark, of the Junior class. C. P. Kitchel is chairman, and W. H. Jackson is business manager, of the Yale Law Journal, and the editorial board of that publication is made up almost entirely of Phi Delta Phi men.

Those initiated so far this year are thoroughly representative men and are in every respect in harmony, we believe, with Waite traditions. They are as follows: John L. Gilson, New Haven, Conn.; Morgan B. Brainard, Hartford, Conn.; Franklin Carter, Jr., Williamstown, Mass.; Stanley W. Edwards, Granby, Conn.; Charles D. Lockwood, Stamford, Conn.; Joseph H. Patton, Curwensville, Pa.; John S. Spraker, New York city; Hervey R. Thompson, Bellows Falls, Vt.; Leslie L. Brewer, E. Hartford, Conn.

On a diet of weekly moot courts and quiz clubs, the chapter is in a thriving condition as a matter of course, and we can heartily recommend rations of this nature. CHARLES T. LARK.

NEW HAVEN, Conn.,

Feb. 13, 1901.

THE CHICAGO ALUMNI CHAPTER.

The Chicago alumni Chapter started 1901 by sending out a neatly printed invitation to the alumni of Chicago, and holding the dinner stated in the invitation, which was as follows: