splits along competing visions. The never-solved problems of the national order included that of financial support of an adequate system of national control and chapter assistance, without so raising the cost of membership as to defeat the democratic principles of the order; and that of maintaining an efficient and progressive national administration, while still fostering freedom of action of chapters and of individual members. Most of the national officials, by terms of the constitution, were unpaid undergraduates with little power and with scant financial allotment. National control was entirely lacking. Local autonomy allowed the chapters to develop without any spirit of national unity. As the principles of the order became crystallized and some attempts were made to secure closer national control and similarity among the chapters, the old fight between the democratic and the progressive elements broke out in a more organized way. That is, the progressive elements in a number of chapters lined up against the democratic factions of other chapters and brought their arguments into the columns of the Chronicle and to the convention floor in 1916, 1917, and 1918. An attempt was made by the national officers to postpone the 1918 annual convention in an effort to consolidate the interior position of the order, but the storm which had been hovering for years was far too advanced to stem. Ironically, the Wesleyan Commons Club hastened the storm by proposing in a 1917 round robin letter that the order use a Greek-letter name "Phi Mu Delta." The "progressives" insisted upon meeting and settling the question. Only a small representation attended the convention, delegates from seven of the remaining thirteen chapters. The progressives controlled the delegates of four chapters, the democrats of three. A compromise was tried but found unacceptable to either side. The progressives insisted upon a Greek-letter name and exclusive membership policies and the democrats leaned over backwards on the fundamental democratic principles of the order and insisted that the original wide open membership plan be strictly enforced and the old name retained. The 1918 convention split into two separate meetings, Union College, University of Connecticut, University of Vermont, and University of New Hampshire delegates retiring. Clarence Dexter Pierce, a member of the University of Vermont Commons Club, successfully sponsored a resolution to declare the Federation a Greek-letter fraternity, with its attendant structure and selectivity. The Commons Clubs at the University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire,