The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944, 1922-03-09
|OTARY HAS Big
BIRTHDAY ON 23RD

DInINDAl UN ZJNU
"A meeting that is being held a
I'D the world" is the way the
sonhers of the Rotary Club of this
~ designated the gathering under
i1h auspices last Friday of promi-
ont men from all sections of the
e. to help it celebrate the seven
oarth anniversary of the organiza-
ian Of the first Rotary Club.
"a THIS statement was made because
he eighty thousand Rotarians in the
,,orId who can attend are gathered
Nth more than one thousand clubs
twenty-five different countries do
Emo exactly the same thing-celebrat
#;rp Rotary's anniversary and telling
4something of the aims and history of
the organizations to gathering of
the same sort as that which accepted
the local clubs invitation.
This International movement, which
has assumed the proportions in mem
bership and number of clubs that has
been given, developed in the last
seventeen years from a meeting of
four men February %, 1905, in the
office of Paul P. Harris, lawyer, Of
Chicago.
Harris, who is still a member of
the Chicago Rotary Club, is looked
upon as the Father of Rotary" He
had the original idea of forming a
club that would promulgate the spir-
it of service and would be different
from any existing organization AS
sociated with him at that first meet
ing were Sylvester Schtele, H. E.
Shorey, and Gus A. Loehr. The test
of the idea came with another meet
ing which drew to Rotary such men
as Harry Ruggles, Rufe Chaplin.
Charlie Newton, Will Jensen, "Doc''
Neff, Bernard Arntzen, and Albert
Whte-men who now as they repre-
sent a dynamic force of organization
and ability which has been of inesti-
mable value to Rotary turnout the
world
The idea they evolved and fostered
to the point where it actually became
a world force was an organization
which would consist Of one man from
each business or profession who
would meet in rotation at various
places at frequent intervals and dis
cuss various questions that might
come up from time to time, become
better acquainted with eachother. the
problems of the business of each as
it affected the life of the community
ard for good fellowship. 1t was a.
greed that to promote fellowship one
important step would be to call each
man by his first name or nickname
to make it compulsory that this
should be done.
The name Rotary Club" was ad-
opted shortly after the first meeting
because the members met in rotation
in the offices of eachother.
The Chicago Club continued to in
crease in membership. In 1908
three years after the first meeting
the second Rotary Club was organic
ed in San Francisco. Other clubs fol
lowed on the Pacific coast and then
the movement spread to the East and
then to the South until sixteen clubs
had been organized by the end of
1910,
It was in 1910 that the first con-
yention. was held in Chicago and the
National Association" formed. Al
this convention Chesley r. Perry was
elected secretary and he continues tc
hold this office at the present time
Rotary merged from a national or.
SanlzatlOn to an international organi
zatlon two years later at the Duluth
convention. A short time previous tc
this convention club had been ~.
ganlzed at Winnipeg, Canada, anC
duHng the convention a cablegran
was received from the Rotary Clut
OF London, England. asking for
CHARTER. Rotary had thus quickly e
VOWED from one club in 1905 to ar
Wtarnatnonal organization in 1912.
Since 1912 the organization has
grown even more rapidly than during
Cne first seven years. Today there
are more than one thousand Rotary
clubs in the world. Altho the great
err number are in the United States
where the movement originated, there
are now Rotary Clubs in Canada
newfoundland, Great Britain anc
Ireland, Cuba, South America, the
f,epublic of Panama, China, India
australia, and New Zealand. This
growth seems all the more remark
spIe when we realize that the organ
'Zation has never at any time EN-
I,iioyed paid organizers. And in ad
c.tlon, extreme care has always beer
exercised in surveying cities anC
towns applying for membership tt
make sure that such communities are
ready for a Rotary Club and are Of
sufficient size from which to secure
membership of representative mer
5"d still have the membership re
"Cficted to one man from each bust
ness or profession.
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