Rotary's Power for World Peace

Messages from the President [January 1912]

Paul P. Harris

Rotarian Friendship.

Lord Bacon made the blasé announcement, "There is little friendship in the world," and the words were given utterance at a time when the world seemed fairly saturated with the spirit of good fellowship. To him, there must have been a wide difference between being companionable and being friendly.

Good fellowship remains while laughter rings, but vanishes with the first intimation of tears.

True friendship is worth while because it costs. Everything that is worth while costs. Cost measures worth; the greater the cost the greater the worth. Liberty means more to the American people than to any other people in the world. Why? Because the American people paid the highest price for it.

He who pays the price of friendship by doing friendly service knows its value, and he would not barter one little spark of it for a whole constellation of the other. The most permanent friendships are born in service. May Rotary ever be a living protest against the words, "There is little friendship in the world."

Youth and Success.

There's nothing succeeds like success, and the time to push a good thing is while it is succeeding.

Not the least interesting attribute of Rotary is its youth. The world often places a higher value on youth than it does on success itself. Youth is full of possibilities and ginger and men, being natural born speculators, prefer to conjecture as to what youth may develop into, be it ever so unpromising, rather than reverence successful old age. For real interest, the inquisitive young mongrel has the aged ribbon winner at a sad disadvantage. The puppy looks interested in life and is therefore interesting, while the old dog has lost all of his illusions, and has to fix his thoughts upon the hereafter or else look sad.

Rotary is both young and successful. At this stage of its development, there is no standard so lofty that it cannot be attained; no countries to which Rotary cannot extend. It is buoyant, hopeful, resilient. It is interested in the world and the world is consequently interested in it. Now is the time of all times for Rotary. Let us Rotate now hard ‑ fast.

Service or Charity.

Of all the hundred and one ways in which men can make themselves useful to society, undoubtedly the most available and often the most effective are within the spheres of their own occupations.

The one thing which I am supposed to understand better than I understand anything else is my own business. In its realms I am a professional; in others, an amateur or a tyro perhaps, and in them my efforts count for comparatively little. When we, in our own respective occupations, serve our customers and our clients so well that they cannot be served better, there will be less need of charity.

Charity is the greatest of the immortal three, and yet charity sometimes pauperizes, perhaps not so frequently as some would have us believe, because some would have us believe it, or believe that they believe it, every time the contribution box goes their way, nevertheless indiscriminate charity sometimes pauperizes. It undoubtedly needs systematizing and should be operated on a business basis. Service is commercialized charity and can safely run to its speed limit. It helps both sides and injures none.

Edison recently made the statement that one hundred years hence there will be no such thing in this world as suffering for the want of the necessities of life. What is going to bring all this about, systematized charity or service?

Service Not Self.

Mr. Collins' "Service Not Self" talk, published in the last issue of the Rotarian, deserves more than passing thought. It has given rise frequently to the question:

Is it within the limit of human possibility for mortal man to actually join any club on earth for the bonafide purpose of putting himself in a position to do other people business favors, or is this a new form of hypocra ‑ ?

Well, take the thought home to yourself and live with it for a while. The longer you stay with it, the nearer you draw toward the conclusion that it is possible and that its equal is being done every day and all the time by good Rotarians in your city and elsewhere.

"But," you say, "to accomplish that result would be to back Ego right off the boards, this Ego that has meant so much, in fact everything, to me during all these years. It is simply Utopian. You must stop using that pipe, my boy, it's not good for you."

Let us be game. We have often said that we would try anything once. We may succeed in making ourselves like it.

Utopian, yes, true enough, but that's Rotary.

Purpose of The National Rotarian.

The primary purpose of The National Rotarian is to provide a means for the exchange of ideas between Rotarians throughout the world, not to give the national officers an opportunity to express their views. These messages are not written merely to fill space; nevertheless we look forward to the day when they will be literally crowded out by surging mobs of virile Rotarian ideas struggling to be heard.

The Division Plan.

By the time this appears in print a score or more representative Rotarians through

out the country will have been asked to serve as chairmen of their respective trade divisions; and in manner best adapted to their particular trades to marshal their forces into line from Dan to Beersheba, which is the ecclesiastical of Los Angeles to Boston.

While the plan has met with general favor, it is probable that few have clearly defined ideas as to just how it can be made of service to Rotary. If there were at present absolutely none, I would nevertheless feel confident that the plan would eventually work out its own salvation, but there are, and here come three of them.

One: It will afford members of each line a co‑operative organization with which they may reach out for an extended foreign or domestic trade, or work toward the maintenance of professional or trade standards. The power of a well organized Rotary nucleus in its influence on national trade associations would frequently prove irresistible, and if the true Rotary spirit of helpfulness prevails the influence will be not only powerful but also beneficent.

Two: Volumes of business aggregating in value almost incredible figures flow between members of the same lines, who are located in different cities. Business of this character is every day with bankers and hotel men, very frequent with lawyers and transfer men, and occasionally with memhers of almost every line of which we have ever heard.

The profits ‑ and we are talking dollars and cents right now ‑ would pay many times over all that it costs to maintain the national association.

Members of many lines, surely members of all of the above named, should publish a special roster for ready reference on all occasions. Rotarianism stands for helpfulness, does it not? What more practical or natural way to help a fellow inember than by recommending him to some one in need of his service?

Three: And this gives more promise than either of the others. It is the opportunity which the trade division plan affords for the exchange of ideas between members of the same line who are located in different cities. No man can measure or weigh the possible value of a good idea. It is Rotarian to give, not only of one's influence and trade, but also of one's ideas.

You are busy men; were not such the case you would not be Rotarians; but remember that the chairman of your division is a busy man, and he has made himself busier than ever by the assumption of the duties of his chairmanship. Every time you fail to reply to a letter from him, you make it necessary for him to write another. Give your chairman a chance to succeed. He needs the encouragement of your prompt reply. In this, as in all other things, let us work together, because to do so is to be Rotarian.

The Lawyers' Division Already Working.

The lawyers have for some months past been using the division plan in a somewhat desultory yet effective manner. Last year, even working as they then were without any perfected organization, items of business of considerable importance were forwarded from city to city.

It, fact, the lawyers had, prior to the Portland convention, realized so much of substantial benefit from the operations of this plan that they held a little convention of their own while they were in Portland.

At this convention of Rotarian lawyers ways and means of extending and systematizing the scope of their work were discussed and a number of important resolutions passed. Among others, it was resolved that it was the sense of their convention that in all instances where business is forwarded by one Rotarian lawyer to another, it will be proper that the attorney forwarding the business have the final say regarding the fixing of fees. It was thought that such procedure would be best calculated to encourage the exchange of business, as the forwarding attorney would, under such plan, be certain that he would not be put to the necessity of charging his client more than seemed to him, the forwarding attorney, reasonable. The system ought also go a long way toward inspiring the confidence of Rotarians in general who have business which they would like to have sent to a Rotarian lawyer in some other city. Rotarians as a rule have a personal and friendly acquaintance with the Rotarian lawyer of their own city and feel when they deal with him that they are dealing with a definite, known quantity, while if they were to deal direct with the Rotarian lawyer in another city, the confidence often necessary to the accomplishment of the best results in dealings between attorney and client, might not be present. The attorneys who attended the convention felt that when receiving business from non‑resident Rotarians they would prefer to divide the fees rather than suffer any impairment of the confidence which should be a factor in business transactions, and particularly so because of the fact that the counsel and advice of the forwarding attorney, who would necessarily be best acquainted with his client's requirements, would always be valuable.

There is a double purpose in reporting the above; the first being the apparent one, that is, to inform Rotarians as to what was done at Portland in order that they may feel free to ask the adoption of the plan outlined in such legal business as they may have to be forwarded from one city to another; the second to give the chairmen and members of all committees an intimation of what may be accomplished in their lines and also a suggestion as to the ways and means of accomplishment.

Since the foregoing was written, the Rotarian lawyers and bankers have progressed to the extent that they have published the compact little directory of which you are sent a copy with this issue.

It is to be hoped that all Rotarian lawyers and bankers will keep them on their desks at all times available for ready reference and that all Rotarians will preserve them for use when occasion permits. It is to be hoped that the plan of publishing trade directories may be adopted by all lines of trade. If it is, and if you preserve the directories sent you, you will eventually have a roster containing the names of all Rotarians throughout the United States.