Rotary's Power for World Peace

Messages from the President [March 1912]

Paul P. Harris

Development of Rotary

We have seen this Rotary thing through all its successive stages of development; from the time when it, like some miniature Japanese palm, could almost have been taken up in hand for an examination of shoots and tendrils, up on through the status of respectable shrubbery into dignified treedom and we are still living in hopes ‑ in hopes that we may some time see its top‑most branches, like those of sonic sequoia gigantea of the California mountains, towering above the clouds.

And, yet we are not unmindful of the fact that there are more important considerations in Rotary than growth. To grow, seems natural and proper, to grow symmetrically is necessary to the achievement of the best success.

Rotary will be seven years old this month. When it was two years old, the question whether or not the Rotary propaganda should be extended beyond the city walls was seriously debated in Chicago; and in later years, after it had extended from coast to coast, the question whether it should be extended to other countries was gravely discussed.

As it has worked out, the leap from Boston to London has seemed just as natural as the first big jump from Chicago to San Francisco; and why not? Human nature is human nature the world around. There is just as much good fellowship, just as strong a spirit of brotherhood and as heartfelt an appreciation of the golden rule across the seas as there is in Yankee land. They may be English, but they are Bob and Bill, and that's what we are when we are at our best.

When we outgrew our local environment and became national, we won many new friends, and when we took on international scope, we won many more. There are those who will always continue to experience their keenest interest in their local organizations; others to whom the national work of Rotary makes the strongest appeal, while still others think that the possibilities of an international Rotary are the most attractive. There is room for all and opportunity for each to serve Rotary in whatsoever manner or in whatsoever field suits him best.

Washington a Rotarian

I have a moment to spare but not to squander. I will address a word to Rotary. As I shift about trying to make up my mind where to begin, my desk calendar stares me in the face, Feb. 22nd, Washington's birthday; and the thought comes to me what would the father of our country have thought of Rotary?

Washington loved liberty and truth and be was courageous. He understood and loved truth before he was old enough to have known much about liberty, and even at tender years he had the courage to stand for truth. He undoubtedly would have had the courage to stand even the possibility of being misunderstood in the interests of truth though it would call for a kind of courage very different from that called by the incident of the cherry tree. Cherry tree courage is physical courage while Rotarian courage ‑ for such the other is ‑ is moral courage. The interests of truth are likely to call for the possession of one or the other or both at most any time. When men adopt platforms at variance with tradition which has lasted ever since the time when the generality of men ceased to think for themselves, they must have the courage of their convictions. Neither courage nor effort will be required of those who are willing to take their opinions ready made. There must have been a jolly old lot of hand‑me‑down opinion distributors in the days that have gone by. We are taking great liberties with history when we say that clubs may exist for business as well as social purposes, but we love to take liberties because we are a liberty loving people and we have the courage to help ourselves so long as we do so honestly and truthfully.

Yes, Washington loved liberty and be loved truth and he had the courage to go and get them. There is no doubt about how Rotary would have stood in the eyes of the father of his country. It stands for what he stood for. He could not have failed to be ‑ a good Rotarian.

The Necessity of High Standards

Mr. Greiner's appeal for the adoption of high standards published in the last issue of the Rotarian will undoubtedly do much for Rotary. We need to have these things brought home to us.

The type of meeting place undoubtedly does mean much to an organization, as does also the character of the meetings.

It is possible that the older members of an organization may become so used to their surroundings and so familiar with the ways of their fellow members that they will not he unfavorably impressed even if the character of the meeting or of the place of meeting be considerably below standard. Not so with the stranger, the invited guest. He knows nothing of the men who are present. To him the appearances have a very unpleasant meaning, and the report lie will make to the outside world will not help much.

It should do all of us good once in a while to see ourselves as others see us; and if by chance, our egotism experiences a shock, even that in the long run, may be preferable to a complacent overestimate of ourselves and our standing.

We can, however, fortunately and with certainty, say that Rotary Club meetings as a rule are of high character and of educational and inspirational value. It is our firm conviction that as time goes on, it will become apparent to all that the best results can be obtained only by adherence to the most worthy and by the elimination of everything to which high‑class business men can take reasonable exception.

Non‑Resident Memberships

The Rotary Club of San Francisco is to the front with another idea. It is that of non‑resident membership.

The annual dues suggested are three dollars per year. One of the qualifications essential to membership is that the applicant reside in some town or city other than San Francisco, in which there is no Rotary Club.

It is thought by the sponsors that many living in cities approximate to San Francisco will be glad to avail themselves of the privilege of such memberships, and that they will both derive benefit from their association with the Rotary Club of San Francisco, and be of benefit to its members. How extensive will be the privileges of membership has not been fully determined.

The late President Bullock of the Rotary Club of New York was an ardent advocate of a somewhat similar plan.

It is obvious that a new and almost limitless field for the extension of the influence of Rotary will be opened up if the plan is found to be practicable.

With the end in view of placing the experience of the Rotary Club of San Francisco, both in the development of the idea and in its practical working, at the disposal of the membership at large, Secretary Rogers of the San Francisco Club has been asked to serve as a committee of one and to make report from time to time to headquarters.

The Oneness of Things

The world is a huge orchestra in which each one of us has his own little insignificant part to play. The success of your instrument and mine depend not upon the amount of noise they make, but upon how perfectly they harmonize with the instruments about us; and he who, sufficient unto himself, insists upon blowing his own little horn in his own big and pompous way, finds himself not only a maker of discords, but also persona non grata to all the rest of the band. If Rotary can bring home to us a fuller realization of the fact that we are not individual performers but rather small parts of a stupendous entirety, not only will our lives harmonize better with the lives of those around us, but we will also find them easier and better worth living.

"When George Elliott lost her religious bearings, and found herself out of harmony with the Infinite, she groped in the darkness for an ethical something on which to stand.

 

From her pen come the oft repeated words, Duty‑duty‑duty."

 

Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus.

[Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus, President of the Armour Institute (now known as the Illinois Institute of Technology)]

When you know a man's business, You know him.

A man may be a great success socially and still be a business miscreant, but a good business man is not likely to be a social miscreant for any great length of time.

"Profits are legitimate only when they come from service." ‑ Woodrow Wilson.

Up to time of going to press, no confirmation of the report has been received from Mr. Watterson.

PAUL P. HARRIS.