Rotary's Power for World Peace

At the 13^th Milestone of Rotary

By Paul P. Harris

Founder of Rotary, President Emeritus of the International Association of Rotary Clubs

If all of the rest of the world were to perish, what comfort to me to live?

I remember when a youngster hearing grandmother tell of a famine which occurred New England in the days of the early settlers. An ancestor of mine was the only one in his community possessed of a sufficient supply of corn. In opposition to counsel, he continued to sell of his supply to those who could pay and to give to them who could not, answering, "If all of the rest of the world must perish what comfort to me to live?"

America, with the enthusiasm and energy youth, with the devotion and steadfastness of age, is throwing itself into this battle of nations. No sacrifice in the pathway to victory will be too great. We have heard the story of heroic France and tortured Belgium to which we could not have turned deaf ears, for if all of the rest of the world were to perish, what comfort to us to live?

What a sight this, the assembling of national resources, the utilizing of energies heretofore unknown, old folks with their knitting needles and their spades and hoes; and even the little ones doing their bits. What an awakening. There is a heroic spirit throughout the land. The school girl on her way to school knits a stocking, and at the same time she does far more than that, she makes character, her character.

An Era of Service

Great will be the results sought, greater still perhaps the results unsought, for it is more blessed to give than to receive and he profits most who serves best. What era of service! Just think of the work accomplished by the Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A., the Knights of Columbus, the Young Men's Hebrew Association, The Recreation Association and the Rotary Clubs.

The Christian World of London says that denominationalism is dead; that the war killed it. If such is the case, religion will come into its own. Religion is broader than creeds. Possibly some day someone will be unorthodox enough to say that he who springs to his country's defense has heard the call of religion. Some one has said: "Christ haint agoin' to be too hard on a man who gave his life for others."

The work of the organizations above referred to is evidence of the power of harmonious cooperation; to the faith of such all men can subscribe. What a power of appeal in the vicissitude of nations. Red Cross and Y. M. C. A. workers are recruited from all sorts and conditions of men. This is a day of service, a Rotary day.

Germany Will Be Conquered

Who can harbor doubt as to the outcome? To doubt the ability of the Allied forces to bring Germany to her knees is to doubt the quality of our soldiers, to insult American, French and British manhood. We have the resources of men and money, and if two Americans are the equal of but one German, where is there room for doubt? All of our resources are pledged and we make good our pledges.

What is there that makes the Central Powers unconquerable? It does not exist. That stuff is material for German spell binders. The unconquerable nation has not been born and never will be born.

For forty years, Germany has been forging its supposedly invincible armor. The Kaiser is credited with having made the statement some years ago that success in the next great war would be with the nation whose people make the least use of alcoholic beverages. Thank you, sir, for the compliment to my country. I wish that I could say something as nice about Germany.

Von Tirpitz and Zeppelin are comparatively innocent; they are merely the mechanicians in the barbaric scheme of Nietzsche, Treitschke and Bernhardi. It has been said that Von Tirpitz's family life is very beautiful. The same may be said of many other brigands.

Anglo‑Saxon Philosophy

I want to reaffirm my faith in a thought expressed in a message of some years ago. The philosophies of nations are the sources from which their destinies flow. The Anglo‑Saxon people are not without their philosophy; they designate it Christianity, and it permeates throughout the race, affecting the lives of those who profess the faith, and those who do not. It constitutes the moral standard, and that is why brutality shocks us so.

It is the spirit of things that counts. Philosophy is the spirit defined. Instinct senses, philosophy comprehends. Comparatively few men have time to read abstract philosophies. This is to an extent true of the German people, and yet they are steeped in their meticulous philosophies.

How has it all come about? Each weinstube and each bier garten in all the "fatherland" is a forum in which Germany's pernicious doctrines have been debated over and over again until their unwholesome influences have gotten into the lives of the people.

In the university life no recreational facilities other than the stein and the long stemmed pipe are considered necessary. Equipped with these, German students can find endless entertainment. Football and baseball have no place with them, nor do they understand or care for recreation as it is understood and loved by the English speaking peoples. Instead of encouraging the spirit of play as an aid in the development of clean wholesome manhood, they scoff at it as childish.

Spawn of German Philosophies

According to our standards, German philosophies undermine many of the finer impulses of life. While Nietzsche, Treitschke and Bernhardi have promulgated the cult of heartlessness, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche have battered down the standards of morality by creating the German type of loveless love. A philosophy which, dragging sex love down from the exalted pinnacle on which the world has placed it, makes of it a mere means for the propagation of the species, has done the world no service.

The cult of heartlessness and the love that is loveless, these militarized, have made possible the sinking of the Lusitania and the rape of the women of Belgium.

Smart men, those Germans? Their diplomacy is the very acme of stupidity. Use whatsoever standard of measure you please, the lives of your soldiers or the lives of your sailors, the value of your ships or the value of your lands or dollars, or cents, Emperor Wilhelm, did it pay to sink the Lusitania? Did it pay to grind your hob nailed shoes into the heart of Belgium? Did it pay to Zeppelin the women and children of London? The world won't stand for these things, Emperor Wilhelm. God pity the world that would.

Sacrificing All for Principles

The biggest thing within the contemplation of men of the generation past has been the life of a nation. The most stupendous realization of the present is that nations are unhesitatingly venturing their very lives for principles, which must at all costs live.

If life had been, beyond all else, sweet to France, Belgium, Serbia or Romania, it could have been purchased at a price, but far better that all things tangible be swept with the tide into oblivion than that liberty perish.

In the face of such things, shall men say that because the world has been lawless in the past, it must for all time continue to be?

If nations are prepared to spend themselves in the rescue of liberty violated will they not find means of preserving liberty inviolate?

In the light of the development of  death dealing contrivances for use on land, in the air, and under the sea, there simply must be adequate means of preserving peace, if it is the will of God that the world continue to be peopled by more than one race.

Rotary and Peace

With the heart of a Belgian, I could say I would rather have the memory of a dead Rotary which had given itself effectively to such a cause than a living Rotary hopeless enough to characterize as impracticable all effort directed to the establishment of  "peace on earth, good will toward all men."

Our Allied nations are very friendly in war. They must continue to be in peace.

Recently, Mr. Home‑Morton, president of the London Rotary Club, on the occasion of their American dinner, closed his speech with these words:

"After the war the two great English speaking nations will work together for the good of civilization, for the preservation of peace, and for the advancement of all that is good in the world."

It appears to me that the speaker's words cannot be classed as over‑venturesome prediction. I do not believe that the two English speaking nations or their Allies will be in mood to tolerate conditions which will admit of the possibility of repetition of the events of the past three years. The experience has been to bitter for that. May the English speaking peoples be proud enough  to lead or humble enough to follow.

Be Fair and Appear Fair

There is consolation in the fact that America is sending abroad in its convoyed fleets a far  better class of tourists than it has ever sent over the seas before, and I have no doubt but what their presence will be far more appreciated than that of their predecessors. Deeds speak plainer than words. The English speaking peoples must stand together from now on to the end of time, not in an alliance against nations, but in an alliance for and with nations; not to force our ideals upon an unwilling world but to safeguard the right of all to live in peace and safety.

The leading statesmen of both nations have for years recognized the necessity of a far better understanding than has prevailed heretofore. Mr. Chamberlain and John Hay expressed themselves very clearly on that point. Great must be the care, eternal the vigilance, lest this return of young America to old England be not misunderstood. Jealousy in nations, as individuals, has ready growth. Great Britain and America must be so fair, so frank, so generous in their dealings with each other and with other nations that suspicion will be disarmed. It is one thing to appear to be fair, and another thing to be fair. Neither alone will suffice. We must be fair and also we must so conduct ourselves that no selfish motives will be suspected.

Rotary is playing its part in cementing the ties; it seems quite providential that at this most critical period in the lives of the two nations the president of the International Association of Rotary clubs is that splendid personality, Leslie Pidgeon. What a grand thing it would be for Rotary if he could be spared for a brief trip thru the British Isles.

Rotary in France

Rotary must gain a foothold in France. Who will be first to lend a helping hand? Of all the forty thousands of Rotarians in Canada, Britain, America and Cuba who covets most the satisfaction of placing the first Rotary club on the European continent?

We have learned enough of heroic France and suffering Belgium to know that men of those soils contain the stuff of which good Rotarians are made. Picture if you can the scene at the first. great convention which will be attended by representatives of the Rotary clubs of Paris and Antwerp. I hope that the first flag to represent the sons of France may show the signs of service and be borne in the hands of a poilu of the trenches.

Rotary of the U. S., in its war efforts, experiences some disadvantages from the fact that its machinery has not been geared to do the work now required of it. This same thing may be said of the commercial clubs of the country. The Red Cross and the Y. M. C. A. have fallen most naturally into the work assigned them. Sometimes I think that the Red Cross is the very greatest thing that the world has ever known. It has the elements of universality.

Rotary and War Education

Rotary in the United States has afforded an excellent forum for discussion of war questions, thereby serving to enlighten Rotarians and, thru the medium of the press, the public in general. The American people have needed a vast amount of educating. To many, following the course of events of the war has been the best available opportunity of education in physical and political geography. Rotary, of course, lends itself readily to the scheme. We have, in fact, given first place in the Rotarian curriculum to the development of the individual but that does not mean that Rotarians are to be inactive. A religion or philosophy which finds no expression in worthy deeds is dead.

We may congratulate ourselves on the development of The Rotarian as a means of dissemination of information on war topics. It is a far better magazine than it was and will in future be far better than it is today. Shall we be subjecting ourselves to the charge of unpractical optimism if we venture to hope that The Rotarian will some day be of interest to the public in general?

I want to seize upon this opportunity of expressing my wonder at the remarkable achievement of the publications issued by many of the individual clubs. They have been not only a surprise but an inspiration. Many in the point of literary merit are worthy of far wider circulation than circumstances permit. They are monuments to the brains and Rotarian zeal of their editors. It is a good thing for any Rotary  club to have a live publication edited by a man of letters who is steeped in Rotarian lore. This is evidenced by the fact that the clubs which have such publications realize the highest degree of success.

It is sometimes said that the average busy man of today does not find time to read, and that the only way to bring a message home is by word of mouth, but we must not forget the fact that many of the most effective speakers are the most assiduous readers. The things which have been most lasting in Rotary have been written.

We shall achieve far better results in our war work as time passes, and as we get better used to doing things. British Rotary has experienced and still experiences, difficulties similar to our own. The great trouble has been the lack of united effort. We shall come into our own and our power shall be felt in this, democracy's supreme struggle.

There is enthusiasm in doing things together. I had far rather that Rotary undertake 1ittle and do that little well than that it undertake many things and do them poorly.

Lucky Milestone Thirteen

Rotarians are fun lovers. There is lots of fun needed by the soldiers; perhaps we shall find a distinctively Rotarian way of providing the camps with clean healthy fun.

This is milestone, lucky thirteen.

Rotary's development continues wondrously, considering the fact that our membership is limited to one representative of each line. There is a powerful Will within to be. I know That it is one thing to make prophesies and quite another thing to make prophesies come true, but I shall nevertheless predict that somehow, someway, some day, the good that there is in Rotary will be available to all who seek its benefits.