The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-07-13

'"beity may DE SATISFIED. The Virgil
Not long ago read Of father who
visited a university where his son was
an undergraduate. Among those with
whom, he had the privilege Of speaking
was the professor of mathematics.
I The anxious father saw an opportunity
TO enquire with regard to his sons
standing Nin the professors classes.
DID my son take your algebra ?"
asked thef father. Nor replied the
professor he was sufficiently expos
ed. but didn't take it"
II, Is my1earnest hope that as sneak
70 you about The Making OF a
Rotarian' I shall SO sufficiently ex-
pose you all to the Rotary infection
that those of you who have heretofore
developed some Temperatures may have
your condition magnified. and those OF
You who.. mp TO the present are strang-
ors TO the passions which Rotary
arouses may undergo change Of
heart and willingly subject yourselves
70 me experiences and processes TO
which I shall make reference.
Perhaps the best place TO begin what
have to say Is at the beginning Tho
beginning of Rotary is both interest
ing and Illuminating. Briefly the
Story Is this. Two or three men liv-
ing IN the crowded life of our great
middle western metropolis were i'm
pressed with the fact, which has often
impressed you and me, that man
never feels SO lonesome as when he is
IN crowd. The old Irish woman who
stole herfway back from the beautiful
country estate into the crowded streets
OF the byg city said that she did go be-
cause, Peoples are more company
than trees And 80 without casting
any disparagement upon the compan-
ionMip of the woods it still remains
true that human hearts crave the
cornradeship OF other human hearts
| IL was to make companionship and
eonradeship possible in tho business
world that Rotary came into existence.
The tendency OF cutthroat competition
has always been toward tho avoidance
OF intimate business friendships
Rotary set out to take away this curse
ana snow to men tho more excellent
WAY OF comradeship and cooperation.
/ TO give visibility to it's moral and
spiritual purposes It adopted the cog
wheel Rs it's emblem. Now the sient-
hcance of the cogwheel is that by its
very construction II is useless II alone.
1t is built to ran in gear with other
cogs of other wheels. Any man with
! imagination can see what are the I'm
piicattons OF such an emblem. II
IA cans tfftst the unity of the world and
the oneness OF mankind ara INST as
real and just as potent facts In the
understanding and solving of the prob
lens Of this progressive age as is the
system OF gears which distributes
power from the source down to the
lowest unit in the vast manufactur-
ing plant.
| The Rotary emblem vfyualfzes for
you and me the greatest moral and
/ intellectual revelation OF tho last CEN
fury. to wit: that humanity Ia one and
not many. and cannot be cut UP into
oetached units each complete in him
self and each sufficient unto himself.
that you cannot live by yourself alone
and be a man.
say not N matters not to me-
NY brothers veal Is his behoof,~
FOR In this wondrous human web.
II you nfe's warp. his Life In weof
Woven together are the threadA
And you and he are In ono loom
For good or Ill. for glad or sad,
your lives must share one common
doom.
Am I my brothers. keeper" You
may answer that age-iong question
with a formal affirmation or with a
cynicsu sneer, and yet not lAttain unto
inc hear of Rotary. For Rotary
aVr1ns that man might Just as well
try to evade the law of gravftatfon m
to evade the law OF the unity of COM
munity life and its resultant RESPONSE
btlities
But Rotary not only devised an en-
odem--tt perfected a motto: He pro-
rs ~ M 49,
motto Is significant. To many men
who had lived in the atmosphere of
vfrtuous materialism this motto was
hailed az a sort OF enlightened sell
fshn e$a that served to take the con-
domination out Of the dog eat dog
way Of making living. but left a
man free to work for his own pocket
all the time"
Now that we have grown in mind
and spirit we have come to think of
our motto not as an infallihle rule for
increasing the profits of ones parti-
cular business. but as call to the
modern merchant, and manufacturer,
and professional man, to save himself
and his business by making of both,
not ends to be selfishly pursued, but
means to be employed for the further
ance of interests and institutions, with
out hope OF gain.
Then If your business grows. as 1t
surely will, you will have the Joy Of
knowing that while your trade was ex-
banding your heart was being en-
larged; that while you were making
customers. you were also making
friends: that while your income was
growing. your influence was becoming
more and more helpful. That. where
as you were accustomed TO say that
he days work was Just one damned
thing after another" now you bear
testimony to the. fact that every day,
lived in the growing mind and spirit
II Rotary, is its own reward
This is the profit which Rotary pro,
claims, and without which the mere |
making OF money Is a rather mean
Ind unsatisfying thing.
Now the processes by which all this |
IS worked into the intellectual and
moral life Of the Rotarian are very
simple and withal very practical.
r. 0xDt- aAGo ~ Tho nnoea - 1ngt