Rotary's Power for World Peace

Annual Report of President Paul P. Harris

It is no slight task to undertake the writing of a president's report. The task in the present instance has complications in the fact that it is impossible to do the subject justice and still render an account of the past year only. The development of Rotarianism has been so gradual and constant during the past five years that its national, yes international, existence has seemed to creep upon the consciousness of men.

The fondest dreams of  five years ago have been beggared in the realization of far greater achievements and we have been compelled to dream and dream again or concede that untrammeled imagination in full flight has nought to compare with Rotarian facts.

Five years ago, Manuel Munoz, then a member of the Chicago Rotary Club, chanced to go to San Francisco. He believed in Rotarian principles and precepts and was sincerely imbued with a sense of the propriety and importance of planting the Rotarian standard on the Pacific coast. The Rotary club of San Francisco with what little aid could be derived from Chicago's experience, sprang up as if by magic. Rotarianism demonstrated that it was as well adapted to California as to the prairie soil of the central West, and the first step toward the nationalization of the Illinois scheme had been taken.

With the speed with which a bolt of lightning might cleave the sky, the flash of Rotarianism spread from San Francisco to Seattle on the North and to Los Angeles on the South. In another brief space of time independent fires sprang up on the Atlantic and in the central West. The United States of America had capitulated to the demands of Rotary. Not content with this, the cause was urged ever onward. The Dominion of Canada and the British Isles gave way to the crusader's demands. Paris is ours and today the slogan is "On to Berlin, Vienna, then to the Antipodes;" Like those of the Napoleonic forces, the ambitions of our conquest know no limitations save the limitations of the civilized world. Unlike the conquest of the Napoleonic forces, our conquest is, and will continue to be, in the interests of men and the principles which make for the practical idealization of trade.

There is one portion of the United States wherein progress has been slow. I speak of the South. The great advance during the coming year must be there. There are at least twenty available cities in that locality. The great little Jacksonville [Florida] club possesses within its own ranks sufficient strength and loyalty to spread Rotarianism throughout the entire South. We shall expect much from the members of that organization.

In the march of Rotariaism, not infrequently, men have questioned the propriety of attempting to establish Rotary clubs in particular localities. Expressions such as , "Oh well, that kind of organization may serve a purpose in a city like Chicago or St. Louis but it is not adapted to a town like ours. Our people are too conservative, etc." are heard, but as a matter of fact in actual practice Rotarianism thrives in all places where men think and where men's hearts are large enough to include the cares of others.

I do not mean to say that Rotarianism is the same wherever you find it. There are differences. These differences may be attributable to differences which are common to the residents of different localities, induced by differences in the size of the cities or they may be attributable to natural differences in the view points of the men who do the organization work.

The quire has often been propounded, "Is our city large enough to support a Rotary club?" I do not know that the question has ever been asked , "Is our city too large for a Rotary club?"

There are indications which point toward the conclusion that the best results may be looked for in medium sized cities; that while a Rotary club located in an extremely large city may attain a very high order of success, the result will be more attributable to the insistence of the efforts of its promoters than to its special adaptability to its environment.

It has, however, been demonstrated that there is a place for Rotarianism in the largest cities of the world and it would be difficult at this time to state how small a city can support a club. Possibly this or some other convention will seek to answer the question. It is reasonable to believe that many of the most advanced conceptions of Rotarian ethics and philosophy will emanate from the small clubs in the less densely populated communities where men must justify their procedure in the eyes of a critical public.

Last year we spent considerable time in discussing the question, "Should Rotary clubs participate in civic activities?" The consensus of opinion was that they should, though the civic committee reported in favor of a pacific rather than active participation in public affairs; that is, it was the belief of that committee that Rotary clubs should not compete with the older commercial organizations but should, as often as seems advisable, invite discussions by able speakers on questions of public interest in order that the members of the clubs individually might more intelligently perform their duties as citizens; and that it would also be strictly within the spirit of Rotary for clubs to act collectively in aid of public enterprises which have been started by the older commercial organizations, provided that they are asked to do so.

The report of the civic committee was prepared by Mr. E. L. Skeel of Seattle. It has doubtless greatly influenced the attitude of many of our younger organizations toward civic activities. It would be too much to ex­pect that the recommendation be immediately and universally adopted. It, however, places at the disposal of Rotarians a carefully studied and conservative plan which will be adaptable to the requirements of many Rotary clubs. It shows a way to avoid con­flict with the older commercial bodies and at the same time to avoid too much scattering of fire. It is probable that a good many of the clubs in the smaller cities, where the efficiency of the older commercial organizations is not so great, will find it advantageous to widen the proposed rule somewhat by including in their program active participation in public affairs while clubs in some of the larger cities where specialization in all pursuits and callings is the order of the day, will narrow it somewhat by confining their procedure principally to the development of methods of acquaintance‑making as a step along the path which leads to friendship and success, the study of questions of business economy and efficiency, encouraging the adoption of high standards of business integrity and spreading a spirit of unselfishness in service.

Whether we do much or little in the way of public work, it is apparent that there is a large and unique field of usefulness in Rotary. Possessing as we do red blood in our veins, it is fair to assume that we shall not be indifferent to the welfare of the communities in which we exist, nor unwilling to lend a hand to the doing of those things in the interests of the public which come within the proper sphere of our activities.

As time goes on and Rotarians exchange ideas through the medium of the National Rotarian and through meeting at conventions, we shall approach nearer and nearer to a common plane. Progress in this direction will be slow but sure. Standardization so far as is consistert with the essential differences between large and small cities and between widely separated cities will eventually materialize, and when it does, progress will be more rapid and the burden of officers will be appreciably lightened.

Many perplexities, during the past year, have been brought to headquarters by the various clubs, particularly by the new clubs. Perhaps the most frequent has been that concerning the attitude of clubs toward the public. In nearly every instance where clubs have been organized in small or comparatively small cities the question has arisen, "What, if any, explanation of ourselves shall we make to the public?"

We have informed all inquirers first to make sure that they themselves understood Rotary and then to spare no pains to explain to outsiders who are interested.

It is not remarkable in this day of urgent demands upon the time of men that it has occasionally happened that men join Rotary without ever having acquired a full understanding of Rotarian principles. The adoption of a Rotarian catechism or ritual as suggested by Mr. C. W. Rutledge of St. Louis, will go a long way toward remedying this evil.

By practice and thought men may cultivate the habit of thinking of, and doing for, fellow members. The accomplishment of the desired purpose involves the necessity of exercising mental and moral discipline. Tendencies toward the more generous view of Rotary will be stimulated by iteration and reiteration of the doctrine of "Service Not Self" in literature and by word of mouth. A good thing will bear repeating. It may not be heard the first time; or if 'heard, may not at first be appreciated or even understood. A doctrine which today seems impossible may tomorrow, under new circumstances and surroundings, seem most proper.

The importance of placing and maintaining Rotarian standards and ideals aloft can not be overestimated. The star of hope in the Rotarian ethical firmament must be high. It is hardly possible for it to be too high. May it be high enough so that there will always be some­ thing to strive for. The doctrine of "Service Not Self" has at times been said to be too idealistic to be practicable. Very well, for the sake of argument, concede that to be the case, it cannot be too idealistic to constitute our ideal. If we aim at the high mark, we may acquit ourselves creditably even if we fall short of our full expectation.

It is important that each individual club make certain that its standard compares favorably with the standard of other Rotary clubs.

The annual conventions afford us admirable opportunity to gain an understanding of our various affiliated clubs. It is reasonable to assume that the various organizations will always treat the National Association fairly by sending to the conventions men who are properly representative of the spirit and of the ideals of the clubs who send them.

If Rotarian standards are to be higher in the future than they are today, the result, in my estimation, will come from efforts directed all along the line of Rotary and not upon any particular Rotary club. No club desires to be singled out and made an example of, and we must not permit ourselves to overlook the fact that whatever our views may be regarding the practices of any particular club, to the majority of the members of that club their practices are satisfactory, otherwise they would not follow them.

The National Association is an affiliation of Rotary clubs brought together for particular purposes and is possessed of very limited powers. It is well within the limits of propriety for the officers of the National Association to suggest methods of procedure for the benefit of all, but if ever a national officer attempts to direct the policy of any club it will be clear that such officer will have gone too far.

The development of the individual club must be from within, not from without. The delegates to this convention are constituent parts of their respective clubs. If on this occasion they can gather inspiration from contact with fellow Rotarians from points scattered throughout the land, it will be their privilege to do much for Rotary by passing the inspiration along to the members of their own clubs.

I can not overstate my sense of the importance to each club of cultivating its good material to the development of its maximum of results. There are good men in Rotary as well as in every other organization who have never been developed or brought out. The fault is partly their own and partly that of their fellow members.

I have known high grade men to join Rotary, become imbued with enthusiasm over the cause, and without becoming sufficiently acquainted with Rotarians or Rotarianism, propose one or two highly elevating but perhaps impracticable schemes and on their failure to carry with a gusto, to abandon not only the schemes, but also Rotary. It seems sometimes possible for men to be so good that they are positively bad or at the very least, impracticable.

If you, Brother Rotarian, think that you have a great mission to perform in Rotary, remember that great missions are serious undertakings. Do not expect to perform great missions in a day. First, live with the principles of Rotary till they are as familiar to you as your own business, and associate with Rotarians until they constitute your warmest and closest friends. If your desire is results, mould your propaganda to conform to the recognized principles of Rotary before attempting to make it a part of Rotary.

I have known high grade men who might have been permanently useful to the organization, to become so shocked at some rough, perhaps even vulgar expression, used by some member at an open meeting that they lost all interest in the organization. These cases are few and far between, but there have been such. It is well to be on the safe side when questions of decorum are concerned. We must remember that men are not all constituted alike. My fun may be another's displeasure. Whatever a man's personal moral standard may be if he be possessed of ordinary intelligence, he will not use improper language in the presence of strangers. The strangers may of course enjoy it very much and then again they may not; it may hurt. If we have insufficient respect for ourselves to maintain reasonable decorum at club meetings, let us at least do it for Rotary; for upon our so doing depends the presence within our fold of many strong and able men. There is a plainly discernible line of demarcation between private privilege and public nuisance.

This is a scientific age. One of Webster's definitions of science is “Knowledge classified and made available in work, life or the search for truth!”

 The scientizing of business then, means the classifying of knowledge of business methods

so that it is readily available for use in our respective businesses. We may know a great

many things in a general way and still not know any of them well enough so that our

knowledge is instantaneously available in time of need. When the emergency arises, we are

totally unable to make the application. Our knowledge is as useless as the fireman's hose

when the fireman finds himself unable to make his coupling at the hydrant. It is simply not

available and its possessor is no better off than he would be if he did not possess it at all. Men seldom fail in business because the scope of their information is too narrow. A man who is not widely informed is likely to be deeply informed. His business is easily scientized. The chances are that it is already scientized though perhaps he is entirely unconscious of that fact. What information he possesses, is always in available form, He can make instantaneous application of it to any conceivable set of circumstances. Hence comes the expression: “It is better to know a few things well than to know a little of a good many things!” That is also why it is not always the most brilliant men who are the most successful. The man who is possessed of a wide range of information needs much more to classify or scientize his information than the man who is possessed of little information.

The country store situated at the cross roads should be scientized. The city emporium must be scientized.

They are even beginning now to scientize charities.

This morning's paper had a head line:

"Baby Lives New Science Goal. Special Nurses to Watch the Children of Tenements to Learn the Cause of Death."

The day of criminal negligence in the application of unscientific methods to the great problems of life is fast fading. The dawn of the day of the supremacy of science is at hand.

We have departmentized business and then scientized most, of the departments. We manufacture, sell and deliver our products mainly on scientific principles. We must do so in the larger affairs of life or fail. Competition of today brooks not the existence of the unscienced. The ramshackle, unsystematized, unscientific manufacturing plant which was the pride of twenty‑five years ago has had its day. It could not hold its own in open, fair competition against some junk piles of today. Business is taking rank among the professional undertakings of men. The successful business man must think deeper than ever before. To raise the physical burden, it is first necessary to stand under; to raise the mental burden, it is first necessary to understand. The mental lift can not be applied until one understands, and men's understanding of the theory and science of trade is better than ever before and the mental lift of the twentieth century business brain is increased thereby a hundred fold. Business is man's salvation from idleness and its omnipresent, concomitant iniquity; but even business lacks its savor if not seasoned with success. We must, then, have success, real success. How shall we go about its acquisition? Here is necessity for a mental lift. We must understand success if we desire to make it ours. What is it made of? Let us apply scientific methods.

Take a given quantity of success - I don't care how much because the proportion will be the same ‑ and analyze it.

Pile all of these atoms over here in a corner by themselves, then train your glass on those fine, slick, trim, obese, old molecules over yonder. Do you know them? Have you ever seen them before? They are acquaintance and service, the basic ingredients, the essentials, the sine qua non of success. We must have friends to serve and we must know how to serve them.

Our friends are to our acquaintances what toast is to bread, acquaintances warmed up, that is all.

We want success. We want it now and we wanted it during all the long, tedious years of preparation for business life and we have striven for it all through our business careers. It has been the goal of our ambitions, Bear in mind, I am talking of real success now, not of bank accounts. The bane of our lives has been that we haven't known what success is made of. I labored for many years under the impression that success was a precipitate of Latin, Greek, mathematics, beer and smoking tobacco. I took a four years' course in those studies trying to prepare myself for the shock when, at last, success and I would meet.

I did not take a course in acquaintance‑making nor in service‑giving, and yet my prospects of success depended almost entirely u on the acquaintances I was to make and how I was to serve them. I made my acquaintances with reckless disregard of any possible bearing they might have on my success. In fact, it can hardly be said that I made them at all. They came to me hit or miss. They needed sterilizing. If I had deliberated a moment, the thought that acquaintances vary in caliber from the caliber of a bar‑room full of drunken sailors all the way up, could not have escaped me.

But we want success, and we have appealed to science at last, that we may know of what it is made. Acquaintance and service are the basic ingredients of success.

As we have said, this is a scientific age and we have scientized almost every step on the route of human progress. Business was one of the last to come into its own; but now that business procedure is being scientized, now that we have scientized our methods of manufacture, sale and delivery, why not go a step further and scientize the very fundamental principles of business success? Let us scientize our methods of acquaintance‑making and service‑giving.

"But," you say, "scientizing is a big word"; and, you ask: "are we not applying too big a word to a small subject?"

No, I think not. It is my idea that we can scientize almost anything by putting more brains into it than any one else is putting into it and I am not at all prepared to concede that acquaintance‑building is a small subject. More men have failed through the use of unscientific methods of acquaintance‑making than have failed because they didn't know how to sell goods. There are fundamental principles underlying both acquaintance‑making and salesmanship and they both require formulating‑scientizing.

Then again, you ask, "can a person pick his acquaintances with a view to their probable contribution to his success without becoming selfish?"

I will answer that question by asking another. Can a person be successful without becoining selfish? If he can, he can safely pick his acquaintances with a view to their probable contribution to his success‑and he can. Many of the most successful men are the most generous of men.

Who is to profit by my using unscientific methods of acquaintance‑making? If I prefer the companionship to be found in the bar‑roorn full of drunken sailors, how does that contribute to progress or assist in the doing of the world's work? My presence in their midst will neither profit me nor the drunken sailors. To be there, is to waste my energies. It is to the world's interest that I conserve my energies‑that I succeed. It is by my success not by my failure, that the world gains most. Survival of the fittest? Yes, but the fittest of today is not he who possesses the longest claws or talons. It is he who has come into the fullness of recognition of the fact that his success is dependent upon the success of other men in the community in which he lives; that the success of his community is dependent upon the success of other communities; that none is sufficient unto himself; that no man can ever succeed alone.

A young man comes to a large city. He is imbued with the desire to win success. The desire is a part of the very warp and woof of the young man's character. In fact, it originated in the mind of his horny‑handed father before the young man first saw the light of day. The father and mother care so much for the son's success that they would cheerfully bend their stiff old backs for him to walk upon if that were the road to success. He goes to the city. He thinks that his great problem is to learn how to handle the business which he expects is going to come to him in some mysterious manner. He will soon be undeceived. His first great problem will be how to get into the channel where business is. He will be willing to give twenty‑five dollars worth of service for every dollar you will pay him. He believes in himself and his ability to give good values, but there is absolutely no market demand for the commodity which he has to sell his services.

He yearns for success, and he is willing to pay the price of it. The only trouble with him is that he hasn't learned as yet of what success is made. The chances are that he will loose a great deal of very valuable time, time which could be advantageously turned to his work, to the world's work if he were but adjusted to the conditions about him. All of that lost time is wasted time, and its loss profits no one.

If there is an evil in the waste of time, shall we not be doing the world's work when we point out a direct way to the attainment of an object to which there has heretofore been no direct approach?

The effectiveness of business methods has been immeasurably increased by the adoption of time saving, labor saving devices. The economizing of time and labor is the scientizing of business. Rotary finds a vast and hitherto unexploited opportunity to economize time and labor in the doing of one of the most important parts of the world's work and it accomplishes the desired result by scientizing the methods of acquaintance making. Largely upon the merit of our acquaintance will depend our measure of success, for from the hundreds of our acquaintances come the tens of our companions, and from the tens of our companions come the few ‑ our friends. If Rotary has brought to you one who is worthy of the designation friend, it is well worth while. One friend, charged with the desire to do you service, is worth an army of mere acquaintances.

There are a good, many different kinds of friends, but when we are in search of success, the friend of all the most desired is the business friend. He can understand our ambitions because he has experienced them himself. He can sympathize with us in our failures because he has had his. He will bear with us when we are impatient because he knows what it is to be tried.

When you look down through the faltering ranks of friendship, there will be encouragemerit and inspiration to you in the person of your staunch, unflinching, sympathizing, understanding business friend.

If I want a dollar, I try to find some way to earn it. I do not expect the dollar to come to me, The surest way that I have ever discovered of satisfying a desire for anything is to go ‑and get the thing I covet.

The surest way for a man to gain an acquaintance in any given locality is to get acquainted. If he has no opportunity, let him make an opportunity. He will find that all of the necessary material is available if he will look for it; and while he is looking for material with which to build up an acquaintance, why should he not make a business of his undertaking and exercise the same judgment and sense in selecting it that he would exercise in selecting material with which to build a house? When we buy timber to be used in building a house, we try to make our selection in such manner that all parts will fit, so that when they are all put together as they should be, they will make a complete house, do we not? In other words, we use a reasonable degree of intelligence in making our selection.

And yet from time immemorial in this most essential of all elements to success we builders, far from using scientific methods in keeping with the progress of the age in which we live, have failed to use even common sense. Acquaintances are selected without the slightest regard to their fitness to our requirements or our fitness to theirs. The law of disorder prevails. We have just gone down to the great warehouse and said send us up some acquaintances and when asked what kind, we have answered "Oh I don't know; I don't care; I am not at all particular; just send us up anything that you happen to have in stock." Fancy ordering material for your house in that manner; and yet that has been our custom, yours and mine.

Acquaintance building is not a hit or miss, Devil may care, jump in the dark procedure. It is a science and must be treated as such.

Acquaintances must be carefully selected with a view to our requirements and to the requirements of the acquaintances we are making; and then over and above all that, they must be acquaintances, real acquaintances. We must know them all the way through. If a man is good enough to know at all, he is good enough to know well and no one can say that he knows another well until he finds out whether he is a burglar, a banker or both.

It is the Rotarian idea that a man's business is the best and truest expression of the man that if a man's business life is clean, his social life is likely to be. The character of the membership of Rotary clubs must be kept high because from the membership of Rotary clubs come your friends and mine.

The Rotarian plan of acquaintance‑making is the latest word in the science to date. In Rotary, the businesses of members do not duplicate; they supplement each other. The arrangement makes possible the maximum of efficiency in our machine. As an acquaintancemaking machine Rotary possesses 100 per cent efficiency. It does easily, smoothly, economically and directly that which is a recognized part of the world's work, a part which has hitherto been done in a far from scientific manner. It reduces waste of time and money to the minimum and produces an acquaintance product scientifically and rationally adjusted to the needs of men.

Rotary goes, however, no further in this particular direction. A peerless opporunity of gaining a business acquaintance has been presented. The burden of responsibility is then transferred to the individual member. It is for him to say how assiduously he will cultivate the acquaintance which has been placed at his disposal, how conscientiously he will do those things which warm mere acquaintance into business friendship. Friendship is a natural and willing servant. It will contribute generously to your success. There is no reason, ethical or otherwise why the great power of friendship should not be harnessed to do its part in the world's work.

Right here I am going to make a confession. There is an ulterior motive in much that is above written. I have devoted much space to describing the power of acquaintance and the importance of scientizing our methods of acquaintance making. There was of course an apparent purpose. The apparent purpose was to give acquaintance its due. I meant all that I said. The ulterior purpose now demands your attention. I want to get further away than we have ever gotten before from Rotary's big‑smoke bug‑bear, obligation to patronize. I fear that word, obligation.

I don't want even the most indifferent or superficial of observers to think for a minute that membership in Rotary imposes an obligation of patronage nor that Rotarianism stands, for the annihilation of competition. The Rotarian message to competition is, “Long Life and Prosperity.” Rational competition is as beneficial to commerce as irrational competition is injurious. We shall nevertheless deny even our good friend "Competition" the right to cut the heart out of service or to eliminate enthusiasm, optimism and idealism. from the realm of trade. Let us make acquaintance‑building our slogan, if only because of the fact that it helps us the better to understand ourselves, to free our Rotarian conceptions frorn the mists of misunderstanding. If we understand ourselves fully, the world will not misunderstand us.

Last year's convention, in unqualified terms, reiterated the familiar precept "No obligation of patronage in Rotary exists." There is no necessity of the existence of an obligation to patronize in Rotary. The presence of such an obligation would not only be revoltingly distasteful but it would also be entirely useless. Acquaintance begets business wherever business deserves to be begotten. To crowd matters further would be likely to be followed by reactionary results.

And while we are announcing ourselves in opposition to the direct obligation of patronage, will it not also be the part of wisdom to go a step further and announce ourselves in opposition to those things which seem to imply or which indirectly effect an obligation; such things as keeping record of the efficiency of members as business producers. If the real purpose of keeping record of a member's efficiency as a business producer is not to impose the obligation of patronage upon such member, has it not nevertheless that effect? If the standard of efficency depends partly or entirely upon a member's business productiveness, is not the adoption of the standard tantamount to the imposition of the obligation? Surely no one desires to be considered an inefficient member.

Shall we say, "You are not obliged to patronize members in our club, but we can not consider you an efficient member unless you do so?"

It is but to be American to chafe under bondage, whether the bondage be that of the ball and chain or merely the imposition of a sentiment.

You will perhaps thank fortune that my word is not law, but I, in my last sum up, can not refrain from availing myself of the opportunity presented to express myself in favor of the spontaneous heart service which evidences itself in free and uncoerced patronage. In my own practice I am sure that I shall not care for patronage given me by any member of my club, who feels himself forced to patronize me in order to maintain his standing in the club.

After several years of careful observation of the working of the plan I am prepared, so far as I am personally concerned, to say "Away with the office of statistician and away with every other restraint upon the rights of Rotarians to patronize whom they please, be that restraint covert or open, express or implied."

I feel less hesitancy about expressing myself as I have than I would were it not for the fact that I am the originator of the statistics plan.

I am not at all opposed to an efficiency rating, but think that the standard of efficiency ought to be based upon attendance at meetings, acquaintance with the names and businesses of members and such other things as are in full harmony with the purposes and ideals of our organization. If a member attends meetings regularly and becomes acquainted with his fellow members, he will probably be efficient enough.

If he is not efficient, he will be the greatest sufferer, for he who serves best profits most. In the acquaintance he possesses an asset of incalculable value and an advantage over the unacquainted which is sufficient. To give him more will be, in my estimation, in many instances, to deprive him of one of the incentives to that efficiency of service which is essential to the best interests of both sides of a deal. My encomiums would be to him who attends meetings most regularly and who is best acquainted. If artificial means are adopted, let them be directed to stimulate an interest in attendance and never to enforce business exchange. Such procedure will not develop boycots nor other forms of opposition from non‑members nor be distasteful to the view of Rotarians who believe that the best and most permanent benefits are to be expected from business which comes without the aid of pressure.

It will not be concluded from the above, I am sure, that I am opposed to any member advertising as he may see fit or resorting to any other legitimate means of stimulating the interest of club members in the wares which he makes or sells.

I have said that the Rotarian plan possesses the maximum of efficiency as an acquaintance builder. I do not, of course, intend to say that the future will disclose no improvement. Our maximum of efficiency is measured by the Rotarian standards of today, not by the standards of tomorrow. The development of Rotarianism as an acquaintance building science has as yet barely begun. Certain fundamental, underlying principles only, have been discovered and brought to the surface. There is a world of opportunity here.

We want success and we have made our start toward it. We have acquired a large acquaintance, rationally and scientifically adapted and adjusted to our needs. We have not as yet realized success. We have made our beginning. We shall have achieved success, real success, when we shall have converted our hundreds of scientifically selected acquaintances into real friends. It can be done. How? Through service. The story of service is an old, old story; but service has heretofore appeared as a duty, a moral obligation, sometimes as a tribulation, a penance, a bete noir. Men have served time, and it seems as if in the old days service and sacrifice have always gone together. It must appear in an unwonted light now, a new and welcome thing, a means to the attainment of success, real success.

Let us study service, understand it and learn if we can, how to achieve success through process of forgetting ourselves for the time being in the service of others. It may seem a roundabout route but it is not infrequently the case that the longest way around is in reality the shortest way home. By unselfishly helping others to succeed we make progress toward success; but if we start out for success on the service route, we must nevertheless be prepared to serve and serve and patiently wait. It is neither the measured nor the compulsory service that counts. It is the abundant and spontaneous service, that brings success. We must experience the emotions that make heart service possible.

You ask, "Are we going to try to scientize a heart thrill?"

Well, we are going to try to understand why it thrills.

When the world began, man had nought but his hands to work with. The intellect was an undeveloped, almost worthless thing. Fortunately man's wants were few, otherwise the hands would have been totally unable to have supplied them. Then dawned the era when the intelligence of man was put in harness by the will of man and the mind of man working in conjunction with the hand of man was made to achieve thitherto unheard of things. It was the day of intellectual supremacy, but civilization was never destined to be satisfied with those things which the unaided mind and hand of man could do. The mind and hand working to the maximum of efficiency and in coordination could never have made the product of a Raphael or an Angelo, nor could they have written the Declaration of Independence. Those tasks drew upon the supreme resource of man, his emotional instinct, his heart. When a job is so big that head and hand fail, try a little heart in it. The greatest of all achievements of which mortal man is capable are the result of the combined effort of heart and head and hand working in perfect coordination.

We want success. We are scientizing our methods of acquaintance building to suit the

rational requirements of men and now, we are going to scientize our service. How? We are going to put our hearts into our service. We are going to use man's supreme resource, his emotional instinct, his heart. We shall by so doing, warm acquaintance into friendship. We shall achieve success.

The grandeur of Rotarianism is in its future, not in its past. This is the matin not the vespers of Rotary. The call for penetrating, conscience responsive thought has never been more insistent since the birth of Rotarianism than at the present day. Men will arise to the call, and the leaders in the days that are to come will be drawn from the ranks of those who are most deeply concerned in the ethics and the philosophy of Rotary.

Permit me again to say:

Here's to success, real success, your success, my success, the world's success; and here's to the foundation of success, the practicalized, scientized, sterilized, vitalized, idealized foundation of your success, my success, the world's success‑acquaintance, the dynamics and harmonies of Rotary.

PAUL P. HARRIS.

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And still the work of extension goes on as is evidenced by the following notice received just as we went to press.

ROTARY CLUB, EDINBURGH.

CARLTON HOTEL,

28th August, 1912

Dear Sir,

A PRELIMINARY MEETING of a few of the representative business men of Edinburgh will be held at the above Hotel, on Wednesday, 4th September, 1912, at One o'clock p. m. (prompt), to consider the question of the organization of a ROTARY CLUB in Edinburgh, similar to the Rotary Clubs that have been recently organised in Glasgow, Belfast, London, Manchester, and Dublin. You are cordially invited to be present, it being distinctly understood that attendance at this Preliminary Meeting does not in any way commit you to join the proposed Club.

Yours very truly,

W. STUART MORROW,

Organizing Secretary.