The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1921-03-06
SPIRIT OF ROTARY BORN AT
BETHLEHEM AND THE ORDER WAS
FOUNDED ON THE GOLDEN RULE

on the occasion OF the celebration
of the 10th anniversary of Rotary,
Frank S. Gates in making a speech
to the local club said in part;
''In speaking of Rotary l want to
bring to your minds two points First,
let US talk of the organization Of
Rotary-then Of its spirit.
Organization
Rotary came into being on the
23rd day OF February, 1905, in the
city of Chicago. Inspired by the
lonesomeness of q large city and a
desire 10 enlarge his circle of friends
and acquaintances, it was conceived
in the mind of Paul p. Harris-the
idea 10 organize a club among his
friends. out of his thought came
the organization Of Rotary.
'At the first meeting there were
four men, Paul P. Harris, Gus Loehr,
sylvester Schiele and II. +. Shorey
Harris was lawyer; Loehr a mining
operator. Schiele a coal dealer, and
Shorey a merchant tailor. The meet
ing took place in the office OF Paul
p. Harris.
1.-THE plan of having one man rep
resent one vocation in Rotary, which
we follow now, was adopted at that
meeting. Each OF these four men
represented a different vocation, ana
this principle which we follow up to
the present time has been one of
the most sustaining influences, giving
great strength to our organization.
"The first meeting being held in the
office of one of the original members,
it was decided that following meet
ings should be held at the offices of
the other members, in rotation, and
they invited each other 10 attend
these meetings. Following that idea
came the word-Rotary.
"Soon fifty members belonged to
cthe first organization, and they were
having weekly and nightly meetings
as the club was organized. Three
years later, in 1908 another Rotary
Club was formed in SanFrancisco;
then one in Oakland; others in Seattle,
Spokane and other towns.
Spontaneous Growth
"The organization Of these clubs
was not the result of work done by
the original club, but it sprang from
the seed planted by the original club
and by those who knew about the
newer clubs.
Until 1910, these Rotary Clubs were
separate organizations. having no af-
filiation with other clubs, but IN
1910 q convention of Rotarians was
called in Chicago and National
Board Of Commissioners appointed.
Paul p. Harris was made chairman
of the National Board Of Commission
ers. and he was elected president OF
the national association in Chicago,
in 1910.
"The next Convention to be held
after the Chicago convention was IN
1911, in Portland At that time Ro-
tary's platform was drafted and adop-
ted. The platform of the Rotary Club
sets forth the principles, purposes and
scope Of the organization.
Code of Ethics
Now do not confuse its platform
with its Code of Ethics. which l shall
speak of now. At the Buffalo Con-
vention in 1913, committee was ap-
pointed TO prepare "a code Of ethics
for Rotarians, setting forth the prin-
ciples and ideals of Rotary as APP
piled to the individual Rotarian in his
relation with other Rotarians and
with the outside world. The commit
tee who had the preparing OF the
Code Of Ethics in charge reported at
the Houston Convention in 1914. II
was not adopted, but was held over
for n year for discussion and sug-
gestion from the various clubs
throughout the country. il was at
the San Francisco convention in 1915,
that this code Of Ethics was adopted.
Rotary Platform
arthur Sheldon, e. member OF the
Chicago Rotary Club, read a paper
at the Portland Convention. In his
speech he used the sentence He prof
its most who serves best Shortly
after the reading of this paper. a
member from the floor made "a mo-
ton that the sentence be used as
the last line in the platform OF Ro-
tary-and it so remains. Il has
since become the slogan OF Rotary.
"There has been some criticism by
people outside Of Rotary who do not
know or understand the true ideal and
spirit Of Rotary. They think We are
rather selfish bunch. OF course you
know we are far from selfish. But
their reason for thinking this is be-
cause only one man representing each
vocation is admitted. ! will Try 10
tell you a few Of the advantages Of
this membership plan.
1T is an ideal plan TO promote
discussion. Men representing the dif- !
ferent lines OF business can come to
gether and discuss their problems and
troubles with their fellow members.
1t prevents the club from becoming