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 FIRST NATIONAL CONVENTION OF THE ROTARY CLUBS of AMERICA
HELD AT THE CONGRESS HOTEL, CHICAGO, ILL. August 15, 16 and
17,1910.
FIRST SESSION
Monday, August 15, 1910.
The Convention was called to order at 10 o'clock a. m., in the
Green Room of the Congress Hotel, by Mr. Paul P. Harris,
Chairman of the National Board of Commissioners, Mr. Chesley R.
Perry, Secretary of the National Board of Commissioners, acting
as Secretary. The full text of the proceedings follows:
Chairman Harris.
Delegates from North, South, East and West, delegates from all
parts of the United States: We have been called here to organize
a national association of Rotary Clubs, and we have a great deal
of business to transact. It will not be an occasion of long
addresses. We of the Chicago club do not believe very much in
oratory. We believe that an orator is a man who intoxicates
himself with his own emotions and is likely to say a great many
things he had not intended to say.
This is going to be a convention in which we will get down to
business and endeavor to launch the National Association of
Rotary Clubs. We need the best thought and co‑operation of every
single man who is here. We are going to try and have a good time
as we go along, that is, we are going to intersperse enough good
time so that you will not remember it as a sad occasion; but
nevertheless, the primary purpose of this convention is to
transact business. We hope you have had a chance to reflect upon
the prospective business and that every man who comes here as a
delegate comes with some mature thought on this subject.
We
Chicagoans find there is a great deal of benefit to be gained by
getting the ideas of clubs outside of Chicago. Of course, the
Chicago club has been in existence a long time and perhaps we
can say without ostentation that the greatest part of progress
up to date has come from ideas originally promulgated by
ourselves, yet we find that we are getting ideas from newer
organizations, things that could not be originated in Chicago,
because we have exhausted about all the ingenuity we possess. We
find St. Louis, New Orleans and the other clubs are constantly
giving us new food for thought, and we expect you to get to the
foreground everything you call on this occasion.
We
are not going to dwell very long now on addresses of welcome,
though we know that you who came here from so far deserve every
welcome at our command; but we are going to ask Mr. Howard Hayes
of the Corporation Counsel's office of the City of Chicago, to
address you. Mr Hayes is the man from that office most seen on
occasions of this sort and has rather been the show man of the
City Administration. He has kindly consented to appear before us
this morning to extend to the visiting delegates the welcome of
the City.
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