The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-02-08
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC }. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, D. O.
THE TORCH BEARERS OF
SERVICE.

teen years ago. a NHAchSO LAWyeII MI.
Paul Harris, conceived the idea of
bringing together the business and
professional men of community in a
way which would eliminate any ques-
ton of rivalry in business or profess
sion and that would permit these men
to get at the very foundation of all
matters of importance to the COM
munity The idea was to help society
as a whole, with a view to making the
members of the proposed club better
members of society by giving them a
wider vision of opportunities to serve
society, and to make them better rep
!resentatiYes of their own profession or
business to the end that they might
carry the message and example of
service to the memb ers of their pro-
fessions and men in their linse of bust
ness who were not members of the
club.
| on February 20. 1905, Mr.. Harris
land three friends formed the Chicago
Rotary club with this foundation:
/ 1. That each member should pledge
| himself to the service of society in
general. his community, his business
or profession, and his home.
(; 2. That each member should pledge
himself to the service of business or
each profession admitted to the club.
5. That each member should be adj
dressed always by his first name or a
nickname.
4. That any member failing to at
tend four successive meetings, saving
only in case of illness or absence from
1.-THE city, should automatically forfeit
his membership.
These are described as the big prin-
cipies of rotary, and the clubs have
spread to twenty-five countries. There
are now 1854 clubs thruout the world,
with memberships agsregating 10000.
Growth of an Idea
More than three years elapsed be-
fore the second Rotary club was
| formed. In November. 1908, San
FLanciscans, after a study of the Chi
cago plan, followed the example set
by Mr.. Harris and his friends. Three
months later Oakland Cal, followed
suit and in June of the same year
Seattle and Los Angeles organized
clubs. New York City followed in
August and Boston in December, 1908.
Then at short intervals clubs were or
ganized in Tacoma, Wash; Minne-
| apolis, St. Paul, st. Louis, New Or
leans, Kansas City, IAncoln, Neb.;
portland. ore; Detroit, Cincinnati,
| Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Pitts
burgh. The idea was spreading like
| wildfire. It reached outside of the
United States and has taken in Can
ada. Cuba, Uruguay, Panama, Eng
land, Scotland. Ireland, India, China,
Japan, the Philippine Islands, and
other countries and colonies.
The first convention of Rotary clubs
was held in Chicago in 1910, with the
| idea of forming a national organiza-
ton. Out of this meeting grew the
! National Association of Rotary clubs.
The second convention was held in
| Portland. Ore, the following year, and
tho third, in 1912, in Duluth, MINI. 1t
was at the Duluth convention that APP
plications for membership were re-
ceived from Winnipeg, Canada. and
London. This led to changing the
| name of the organization to the In
ternational Association of Rotary
clubs.
In the foreign extension of the Ro-
tary idea one principle has been adj
hered to rigidly. This is that clubs
shall have as members natives of the
| country in which it is formed. The
/ anese membership, and the Rotary
club of London is made up entirely OF
| Englishmen.
\ Altho the organization of clubs has
| spread so far and SO fast, it is empha-
sized by the officials of the internal
tionaI organization that the founda-
ton of Rotary is the individual club.
They say that no club can be mem
, Der of International Rotary very long
! without finding this out. 1t shortly
becomes apparent that the club is a
member of a great international or
. I
is bound to be felt by other clubs.
How the Plan Works.
Here is an example cited to show
how this works out-the Rotary club
of Blackwell, Oklahoma, learned that
a number of boys who had been grad
uated from the grammar school of
the city did not intend to go to high
school. The club instituted an inquiry
talking with the parents of the boys
and the boys themselves. 1t was in
strumental in having conditions so
changed that a very large percentage
of those boys did go to high school, In
routine course the matter was re-
ported to international headquarters.
There the matter was taken up i'm
rnediately. with the result that last
year in this country alone $4,000 boys
and girls who intended to quit school
at the end of their grammar school
course for various reasons, were per-
suaded to continue their educations.
/ Membership in a Rotary club is no
. honorary affair. Most meetings are
weekly luncheOns Four consecutive
absences for other than illness or alb
sence from the city forces any MEM
Der out automatically. This has
proven effective in keeping Rotary
out of the class of organizations with
non-active memberships.
The name Rotary was taken orig
inally from the fact that the original
group OF four men in Chicago were to
hold meetings in each others office in
rotation. Since, the name has been
adapted to the succession of officers
of the club, as the offices must rotate,
with the exception of the office of
ecretary-treasurer. It IS rare indeed
that any other exception is made to
this rule.
Seeks Opportunities, Not Thanks.
i he ri 5rlo Af
are carried into action in many ways
Rotary is depended upon to get behind
every kind of a movement for the bet
terment of the community. There are
some jobs that the clubs do when no
other agencies exist for their proper
4 vacr T1r.r, Il