The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1921-02-21
Local Club 10 Join Rotary Family
All over World In Celebrating
Foundation Of Movement
by Chicago Men
Q TO WIVES
IS TO BE FEATURE
Rotary Story Told; Started. With
Four Men; 800 Clubs Now Or.
oanlxed In All Parts OF
Earth; Names Origin

Tue members OF the Rotary Club
OF Chickasha are planning a big
birthday party to be staged on
Thursday evening In the Elks club
rooms, the occasion being the joining
OF the local club with the other 500
clubs Of International Rotary in cele-
brating the. sixteenth anniversary o!
tho foundation OF the organization.
The program which tne LEGAL Ro.
tarians will stage on Thursday even.
Ing, In edition TO a banquet. has
not been announced, but II is known
that the Rotariennes. that Is the
wives and ladies' OF the local Nom,
beers will be the special guests of
the occasion.
How Rotary Started.
The foundation OF Rotary occurred
OH February 20. 1905 when four men
met In a Chicago office building. The
end which brought these men to.
gether vas plain "lonesomeness"-
the longing OF one man for compan.
ionship. This man Is Paul p. Harris,
an attorney. WHO as one OF this
group of four, called in the other
three for the purpose Of starting an
unnamed club, which should have for
its object "a closer personal %acquain.
t~anceship among its members, each
OF whom as the numbers grew.
should be selected from a line of
business or profession which was
not already represented. The first
four "classiflcations" were represent.
cd by a lawyer, a coal dealer, a coal
operator and a merchant tailor. A
printer was tho fifth man to be ad
ded to the group. Mr.. Harris is still
an active member of tie Chicago
club.
Ott1th VI FdflC NOTARY.
Many different ideas are in circu-
lation as to the Origin Of the name
Rotary as applied to Rotary clubs.
One example Will serve to Illustrate
the character of the many different
conceptions. Two transfers once
noticed a string of automobiles deco
with Rotary banners. One car
became stalled and one Of the team
sters, examining the Rotary emblem
of the wheel, was overheard to care
explain to the others that the
Rotarians were wagon-makers and
their emblem was the wagon
wheel, sc that the name Rotary"
chosen because a wagon wheel
has a rotary motion. However, the
true facts rare that Rotary was
decided upon because the members
Of the new club had been in the
habit Of holding their meetings in
rotation" in the places of business
of the different members. AS "Rotar-
ian Club" was somewhat inapt, they
decided to adopt a shorter form and
call 1T the "Rotary Club" This plan
Of meeting from place to place was
continued for some time, until the
membership became SO large as to
make its continuance impractical.
But this custom, although of short
duration, was responsible for one
Of the features that is observed to-
day in many Rotary clubs--the "busi-
ness service talks given by mem.
bers, showing how the Rotary idea
Of service has been applied to their
work.
Why the Limited Membership.
There is an inflexible rule. in Rotary
that the membership shall he made
up of men of different business and
professions. 1t is not possible to con-
for the membership to con-
tain two retail grocers, each from a
different finn, although it is possible
for the club to contain two retail
grocers if both are from the same
firm and both are acceptable to the
club. However, most classifications
are represented by only one man.
This plan has prevailed from the be-
ginning. and seems to be applicable
tn small cities as we'll as large in es-
blishing the stability of Rotary.
Several reasons were presented at
the meeting for this plan of limited
Continued OF page six)