The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-16

And this alone Is the sense IN which the
trade OF Rotarions is directed to Rota-
rians.
mo member Of any Rotary club is ever
justified in asking patronage from his
associates on the basis of his member
ship. II he be not ready to provide q
larger service under given conditions than
any competitor not within the ranks of
Rotary. he has failed essentially either
to catch the spirit of the organic alton
or to Illustrate that spirit In his business
An attempt to limit the trade of Rota-
rians by artificial restriction to other Ro-
tarians Is an attempt to compound self
ishness. Individual selfishness Is wretch
ed enough; organized selhshness is ut
terly repagnant to every impulse in Ro-
tary. Men make real progress in business
along the broad highways of open deal
ing, not through the alleys of unearned
preferment.
so much every visitor to every Rotary
club session can be made to understand.
What Is not so readily eomprehended is
that this is the smaller side of Rotary.
Members of every one of our clubs,
whether new or old, come soon to real
lie that Rotary as a trade organization
is subordinate to Rotary as an organiza-
ton for the development of spiritual
strength. This is the working out of an
ideal which no man can put on-a stimu-
lus to be realized rather than spoken 1t
grows within the breasts of men With
out it the life of Rotary Is inevitably
short and 1t appeals to those whom we
represent an empty and hollow sound.
Making Friends
"A first manifestation of the Rotary
spirit is the making Of friends. Men meet
in Rotary for the joy of meeting. Here
men who have been business acquaint-
ances simply come soon to call each other
by their first names, come soon to a deep
and personal interest in the welfare of
their neighbors within the organization
and beyond IT, come soon to use the word
brother" without embarra ssment,
THE ordered round of a business day
not unfreqnently produces its friendships.
70 be sure, they grow with difficulty In
an atmosphere charged with considera-
uons of gain, not unfrequently elouded
with strife and sometimes made bitter by
rivalry. Gain in the meaning of Rotary
is gain in the largest and best sense. a
gain which distinguishes between self
interest and selhshness, and as long as
the conditions of admission remain sub
stantially as they are the air of Rotary
sessions Is gratefully secure against rival
ry and strife.
THE men who have caught the spirit
of Service not Self men who have for
their motto that He pnofits most whc
serves best men who reach out theil
hands to each other confident In the same
ideals of business and spirit, come nat
urally TO express to their brothers of suef
a company their highest and best selves
And the gospel which underlies this ex.
preston. though 1t is essentially a gospe
of hard work and whole-hearted sympa-
thy. is also a gospel Of happiness. Nor.
NAL men are happy men. The fun. the
good fellowship, the ready laughter o
Rotary meetings are known wherever
the organization is known. The grown
boy in every one of us finds the sam,
easy overflowing nowhere else, save only
in the home. and sometimes not ever
there. Where ones neighbors are Away
his brothers, the nervousness, the over
tension, the exasperations of our modern