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CONVENTION MESSAGE [1939 Cleveland]
(past RI presidents at the 1939 Cleveland Convention)
By
PAUL P. HARRIS, President Emeritus
Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A.
With many misgivings, I began, a few days ago, the writing of
this message. I had a feeling that the kaleidoscopic changes in
international affairs were taking place so rapidly that anything
I might write would seem like ancient history at the time of
delivery. I was writing while on one side of an abyss. We might
be in the abyss at the time of reading. Westbrook Pegler,
concerning the emotional insanity which is sweeping over the
world today, pungently remarked: "For God's Sake, don't anybody
blow a bugle now."
Rotary was conceived, born, and bred in friendship and
tolerance. Much is being said today about conflicting
ideologies, and some go on to say that there is room enough in
the world for one ideology only, and that ideology is of course
our own. Such folks contend that it is a battle to the death
between democracy and the dictators. There are enough different
ideologies in Rotary to blow it into a million pieces if that
statement is true. Rotary exists in seventy countries of the
world, not in spite of the innumerable conflicting ideologies
but because of them. To deal with conflicting ideologies is and
always has been Rotary's specialty, one of the main reasons for
its existence. Is Rotary's hope of building and sustaining a
worldwide organization of business and professional men a
fatuous dream? How stands Rotary today in the light of
world‑wide dissensions with respect to its fourth object, the
promotion of international understanding and good will? Should
the fourth object be deleted or should it merely be suspended
until the war fever subsides?
All Rotarians are entitled to interpret the fourth object
according to the dictates of their own hearts. I certainly shall
not attempt to lay down any rule. All that I can do is to say
what it means to me during these parlous times. If my reactions
are reasonable, any one may follow them; otherwise, of course,
they should not be followed.
Rotary's fourth object is a mandate to summon my best energies
to quell the war spirit whenever I encounter it. I don't believe
in war as a means of settling international disputes between
civilized nations. (Applause) To this end, I find it necessary
to detach myself from my own prejudices, suppress my own
passions and emotional disturbances, analyze sensational stories
in the light of reason ‑ a thing, by the way, which many fail to
do. Do you remember the sensation which shook the minds of some
of our good citizens at Orson Wells' description by radio of the
invasion of New Jersey by a detachment of warriors from the
planet Mars? Ridiculous? Yes, of course, but scarcely more so
than others which have been more generally believed. Such
amazing credulity affords perfect soil for the propagation of
war.
While schooling myself in the rule of reason, I must not fall to
consult the pages of History. What have been the causes of wars
in general, and what are the motives back of the threatened war
of today?
We
must be realists and we must understand that the drive back of
nearly every war has been hunger for possessions. On the one
side is the desire to acquire, on the other side the desire to
retain. May we not go further and, perhaps shamefully, admit
that what we call civilization has made its greatest advances at
the point of the sword? Weak tribes have been ruthlessly
deprived of their possessions by strong tribes, and strong
tribes have been deprived of theirs by nations, and weak nations
have been deprived of theirs by stronger nations.
As
a result of predatory wars, houses of white men have taken the
places of the huts of black men and the tepees of red men, whom
we have chosen to call savages though we have been more
deserving of that term. Schools and churches have followed in
due course. Prairies where buffalo once roamed have been turned
into farms and orchards, and their productivity increased a
thousand fold. These things have been accomplished through war.
Honesty and decency compel us to admit it. The only reason I
have for mentioning it is to make it clear that none has been,
and few are guiltless. None of us is in position to cast the
first stone. If we Rotarians are ever to get anywhere with our
fourth object, the promotion of international understanding, it
will not be through the use of our superb international
machinery in fomenting war. We must not be satisfied to be
against war emotionally; we must also be against it
intellectually; that is, we must understand the motives of war
and what it has accomplished in history. We know too well the
enormity of its cost. Must war then go on forever? I am
optimistic enough to think not. I have too much faith in the
ingenuity of men and in the good intentions of nations. We
cannot end war by means of war. War does not end war. It breeds
war and spawns dictators as well. I am convinced that if we are
ever to get out of this dilemma, it will be through the exercise
of what most of us term Christian forbearance. I do not use the
term in any narrow or sectarian sense. Among devotees to other
forms of religion, another term might be better suited.
I
repeat the statement that Rotary was conceived, born, and bred
in friendship and tolerance. Rotary International is a
microcosm, a cross section, if you please, of the world's
leading business and professional men. The Rotary program of
friendship and tolerance has succeeded beyond the dreams of the
most sanguine, Under the banner of Rotary, men of all forms of
religion and government have been brought together. An enduring
fellowship has been achieved.
I
am convinced that what Rotary has done in a small way, nations
can do in a large way. To me our fourth object is the way out.
Now is not the time for its abandonment nor its suspension; now
is the time when it is most needed. It will carry further than
the guns of the most formidable battleship. May I repeat our
fourth object? "The advancement of international understanding,
good will, and peace through a world fellowship of business and
professional men united in the ideal of service." The world is
sorely in need of that spirit now. (Applause)
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