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CONVENTION MESSAGE [1942 Toronto]
My
Friends of Rotary: It is good once again to be on the north side
of the border. It is good to know that there still is an
unfortified border line between two countries and that those two
countries are our beloved Canada and the United States.
We
of the United States felicitate ourselves in the fact that we
have good neighbors. If we had been given all of the countries
of the world from which to make selection, we could not have
done better.
Toronto convention number one is still a happy memory. It is one
of the conventions most frequently spoken of, one of the most
outstanding conventions of all time. We anticipate that the
present convention will be equally happy.
We
shall never cease to be grateful to Canada for its loyalty to
Rotary nor for its great contributions to its advancement.
Canada has given us three grand presidents of Rotary
International ‑ the gifted Leslie Pidgeon, the sagacious and
devoted Crawford McCullough, and the lamented John Nelson, who
was cut down in his prime.
I
shall always think of Jim Davidson as the ambassador deluxe of
Rotary. He and Colonel Layton Ralston wrote the names of
Australia and New Zealand on the roster of nations and the
three‑year residence of the Davidsons in the Far East resulted
in the completion of the round‑the‑world chain.
The United States and Canada are now fighting side by side in a
monumental cause ‑ the preservation of civilization as we know
it and love It. The bonds between our two countries will again
be strengthened. We have been allies in peace and now for the
second time we are allies in war.
Civilization is dangerously ill but it will not die. We and our
allies must win this war and in due course we must help make
permanent the peace that will follow.
Rotary's most glamorous purpose is to foster international
understanding and good will, and during our many years of
experimentation we have accumulated considerable knowledge on
that baffling subject. We have actually succeeded in creating a
world‑wide fellowship of business and professional men united in
the ideal of service. Our membership includes representatives of
more than 50 countries and devotees of practically all of the
major religious faiths and most of the political ideologies. We
have been able to accomplish this by adhering strictly to the
one matter in hand and avoiding all others. If the nations of
the world will take a leaf from the pages of Rotary leaving all
countries free to follow their own political and religious ideas
and unite in the one purpose of effecting lasting peace they
will succeed. If on the other hand they attempt to force their
political conceptions on each other, chaos will come again. We
still continue to hear men say there is not room enough for more
than one political ideology. Well, several will be represented
at the peace table. Which country will be first to surrender its
ideology?
Rotary is an expression of a doctrine which is precisely the
antithesis of this ‑ and Rotary still lives.
Why should one insist on everyone else being cast in his own
particular mold? Such insistence would be to attempt to impose
limitations on progress. Let other nations experiment as they
please. We haven't yet attained the supreme heights of human
wisdom. Let's try to improve our own way of life. It will stand
a lot of improving.
I
live in a democratic country and cannot conceive of any way of
life which would be preferable to the democratic way. I shall be
happy to see other countries subscribe to the democratic way of
life, but only of their own free will.
The flowers in my garden differ in form and color. What a
monotonous garden it would be if all were precisely alike.
Live and let live should be the rule of men. Perhaps at long
last an international code of ethics will be evolved declaring
it unethical for nations to interfere, either by force of arms
or through proselyting, with the form of government of other
nations.
There is no end of things to fight about of course, if that is
what we want to do. The colored races ‑ brown, black, yellow and
red ‑ can fight the proud whites and the flaxen haired can fight
the dark haired; the gray haired, the baldheaded. My fealty most
naturally adheres to the baldheads. Long may they live and
become the dominant race. Their judgment is generally mature and
kindly and one seldom sees a baldheaded man in an insane asylum.
Even before we have cleaned up on this war, anxious thoughts are
being given the future by earnest men of all nations. So quite
appropriately our great President, Tom Davis, and his board of
directors, have designated as the high purpose of this
convention "Learning How To Live Together." Our splendid
president strikes a clarion note in his plea for the elimination
of hatred as the first step toward learning how to live
together. The function of the soldier is to restore and maintain
order. Rage will be no more serviceable to him than it is when
lodged in the heart of a policeman.
No
words of mine are needed to back up President Tom's proposal.
Everyone knows that our efforts to learn how to live together
will be fruitless until we have purged our hearts of hatred. If
the first world war accomplished nothing else, it opened our
eyes to the futility of emotionalism. Where are the brass bands
which marched the streets of our cities to inflame the hearts of
men, women and children twenty years ago? Emotionalism has given
way to the far more dependable grim determination. So far as I
can judge from what I see and read, even in the countries which
have suffered most grievously ‑ Great Britain and China - the
prayer is not for revenge, it is for peace. If they can be that
magnanimous, we of more favored nations ought to be able to
follow along. The Rotary Clubs of Great Britain have manifested
commendable poise. If that spirit is carried to the peace table,
we shall have peace.
To
realize the enormity of the task of our representatives at the
table, we have only to consider the countries which will be
represented on that occasion. The peace terms will not be left
for the determination of a mere handful of men, as was the case
at the termination of World War I.
Nearly every manner of political conception will be represented.
Can such a body hold together in spite of their differences? It
depends upon how they approach their task. To begin with, it
will be necessary that they respect each other and unite in the
one all‑absorbing purpose ‑ that of effecting permanent peace.
The League of Nations is dead. No wonder that it is dead. Hearts
of men were not attuned to that high ideal. The world was not
prepared for it. We have learned much since then. We are better
prepared now. May we hope that a league of nations dedicated to
peace on earth will be born at the peace table. The spirit of
Woodrow Wilson still lives and your great Canadian journalist,
John Wesley Dafoe, thinks that a league of nations would be more
effective than an alliance of a few strong powers. Such a league
must be beyond suspicion. Its affairs must be conducted not only
honorably but also with tender regard for the interests of the
weaker nations. The new league of nations, if there is to be
one, must not be used for the redress of grievances nor by any
member nation or group of mernbef nations, for their own
exclusive benefit.
I
think that the success of such a league will depend upon the
generality of its acceptance. A generally accepted plan could
feasibly support its ruling by international police. Efficiency
will be greatly impaired if the smaller nations are given reason
to believe that the powerful nations wield too great influence
in the deliberations, and I think that it would be a fatal error
if wheels develop within the wheel. All nations want to be free;
they do not want to be under the domination of any supreme
oligarchy be it ever so beneficent.
All people now yearn for peace above all things and they are
posted in world affairs as never before. Millions hang with
breathless interest on their radio receivers listening for the
last word of war news. If they do so now, how much more will
they do so when the great day comes; when the peace terms are
being discussed! The celebrated case of peace versus war, must
be tried before the greatest jury ever assembled to try any
case, a jury consisting of the citizens of the entire world.
Rotary International has been very good to me; it has made it
possible for my wife and me to visit Rotary clubs on all of the
continents. We have tried to be true ambassadors of good will.
We have been privileged to meet the humble as well as the mighty
and we have planted good will trees in the name of Rotary
International on all continents and on some of the major islands
of the seas as living symbols of Rotary's steadfast allegiance
to the cause of international understanding and good will.
When we stop to consider the vast expansion of the powers of
destruction by air during the past twenty years, when we realize
what has been done and is being done now to the cities of
Europe, we find ourselves driven to conclude that the only
alternative to the establishment of international law and order
is to abandon urban life and scatter to the rural districts
where some of the lucky ones may escape the coming devastating
scourges by emulating the example of field mice and burrowing
under the ground ‑ a very ignoble end for beings fashioned in
the image of God.
Rotarians assembled at Toronto convention number two, this is a
supreme moment in the life of Rotary. The grandest opportunity
to serve humanity is directly before us.
Let us remember that it is always darkest just before dawn.
These are the before daylight hours. Let us fervently hope that
when the sun does rise it will usher in a day of unprecedented
glory ‑ the day of the brotherhood of man.
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