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"During my year as President I used 'What Paul Harris Said' in my meetings"

Rotary's Power for World Peace

Paul Harris' message to the Atlantic City Convention of 1936
 

Rotarian Silvester Schiele (Chicago Illinois, U.S.A.):

Mr. Chairman, Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is a great honor for me to read President Emeritus Paul Harris’ message before this convention. It would be more effective were he here to deliver it himself, but he cannot be here.

 

Paul and I have been neighbors for more than a quarter of a century and friends a longer time. He has Given me this message for you:

 

ADDRESSES TO  THE CONVENTION

 

MESSAGE OF PAUL P. HARRIS, PRESIDENT‑EMERITUS

 

Greetings and best wishes for the success of this, the twenty‑seventh convention of Rotary International.

 

It is my aim to bring you a message of good cheer, of glad tidings. My old friend, Silvester Schiele, the first president of the first Rotary club has consented to read it to you.

 

During the past year, my wife and I have had the honor of continuing our travels in the interests of Rotary. Year before last, our mission was to South Africa; last year to Japan, China, the Philippine Islands, Australia and New Zealand; and this year, we have visited eight countries of South America: Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. We have crossed the equator six times within the past three years.

 

In all of our travels, we have conceived ourselves to be ambassadors of good will to the countries visited, and when we embarked on our trip home, we promised our friends of the countries visited to be their ambassadors of good will to other countries. That is the mandate I am trying to fulfill in my message to you today. I have the honor of being ambassador of good will from the above‑named countries of South America.
 

History must always be in the background of our thinking when considering international problems. In the light of history, if we want to be consistent and rational, we shall be less disposed to be harsh and critical in our judgment. We shall remember that this is not, and never has been a world of pure idealism, and recognize the fact that it cannot be made so by force. The best and the most that we can expect of the future is that we shall gradually grow more tolerant and kindly, and wiser as well.
 

The countries of South America, like the United States, have suffered from the effects of bad advertising. Inconsequential revolutions in South America have been played up in the press through the world, as have stories of gangsters and racketeers in the United States, until readers abroad think of them as the sole engrossing themes in the respective countries, instead of as events of which home folks see nothing, and know nothing, except as they read of them in the newspapers. The thousands of important developments along cultural and educational lines pass without notice, especially in the foreign press.

 

The truth is that no countries are entirely good, none entirely bad; that the moral content of all are about equal. There is an immense amount of conceit in the world; and bombastic speeches of supposedly patriotic order deceive the youth of all countries into the belief that the intentions of their countries alone are honorable, and that in war, their countries alone are invincible. Such misleading propaganda does not make for security, it makes for trouble. It is not patriotic, it is the reverse.

 

Mrs. Harris and I will cherish in memory the events of our visit to South America. Everywhere we were welcomed with open arms by everyone from the chief executives down. The honors showered upon us were sincere expressions of admiration of and gratitude for the work of Rotary in South American countries.

 

I could not but recall the period when Rotary was struggling for a foot­hold on South American soil; the doubts and suspicions that were manifest. Was Rotary not an ingenious device created for the purpose of furthering the interests of North American business men? What were they to get out of it? When South Americans became convinced that Rotary was not merely another Yankee money‑making scheme, how wonderful was the joy with which they embraced it.

 

What our trip revealed to us about Rotary of today in South America filled us with happiness. For the time being, my wife and I were symbolizing Rotary, and when four of the eight governments offered to confer decorations upon me, I accepted in the name of Rotary. The governments of two countries expressed their appreciation of Rotary by conferring the order of the Sun; the government of another country, the order of Merit; and the fourth, the order of the Southern Cross. Rotary indeed stands well in South America.

 

Evidence of the pioneering spirit of North American industry is especially evident on the Pacific coast of South America. Beginning with the great canal across the isthmus, which serves the shipping of the entire world, and makes the countries of the western coast accessible to commerce, and ex­tending all the way down to Valparaiso, North American enterprise has played a conspicuous part. The development of natural resources calls for engineering skill of high order, organization ability, and large combinations of capital. These elements were to be found in North America. However, South American technological institutes are making rapid progress, and the countries are becoming less dependent upon foreign capital as time passes. On the east coast, English and Italian industry is much in evidence, and French and Italian culture is emulated.

 

South Americans view business as a means to an end, and not the end. They place life above what is, by some, termed success. If that is true, perhaps their philosophy of life is better, more wholesome, saner and more dependable in times of crises. I am convinced that things will change; we shall become more alike. They will become more efficient in business affairs, as we become better versed in the business of extracting the wholesome sweets from life as we go along, more discriminating in our tastes, less dependent upon demoralizing excitement.

 

The cities of South America, taken by and large, are beautiful; perhaps more beautiful than any others we have ever seen in all our travels. Emerson said that beauty is a necessity., It seems to be that, in South America. We travelled a great many miles in visiting principal cities of South America, and nowhere did we see anything to approach the blighted areas of certain cities in the United States and other parts of the world. I must confess that, returning to the United States, my wife and I were almost shocked at the drabness of our cities.

 

Who can doubt that the presence of so much beauty as is to be seen in the parks, boulevards, and streets of Lima, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro, for example, has much to do with the charm, grace, and courtesy of the human beings who are responsible for its creation?

 

As ambassadors of good will to South America, Mrs. Harris and I planted, in the name of Rotary, ten shapely trees in the public parks of as many cities. They stand as living testimonials of the good will which Rotarians trust will eventually obtain throughout the world. As ambassador of good will from South America to this convention, I beseech you to remember that far away from here, in the southern hemisphere just off the beaten track, there is a great continent peopled by unusually lovable men and women who are destined to play an important part in international affairs; who are stretching their arms out to you. They have embraced Rotary, and are carrying the standard high. Many of them, cultured men and charming women, will be in attendance at this convention. I advise you to make their acquaintance. In my absence, I beg you to be as hospitable to them as they were to us.

 

 

Dr. Wolfgang Ziegler 30 June 2006

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