Pueblo chieftain., 1922-02-08
By Frederic J. Haskin.

WASHINGTON, d. C. Feb. g.
Seventeen years ago. Chicago lawyer.
Mr.. Paul Harris, conceived the idea
OF bringing together the business and
professional men OF a 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. Tho idea was to help society
as a whole, with view to making the
members OF tho proposed club better
members OF society by giving them
wi3,r vision OF opportunities to serve
society. and to make them better rep
resentativcs OF their own profession or
carry the message and example OF
service TO the members OF their pro-
fessions and men in their Inns of
business who were not members Of the
club.
on February %. 1905. Mr.. Harris and
three friends formed the Chicago
Rotary club with this foundation:
/. That each member should pledge
himself to tho service of society In
general. his community. his business
or profession, and his home.
.. That each member should pladge
himself TO tho service OF business or
each profession admitted to tho club.
). That each member should be ad-
dressed always by his first namo or
nickname.
4. That any member failing to at
tend four successive meetings. saving
only in case of Illness or absence from
tho city, should automatically forfeit
his membership.
These are described as the big
principles Ar Rotary. and the clubs
have spread to 25 countries. There are
now 1854 clubs thruout the world.
with memberships aggrcsatins 10000
GROWTH OF AN IDEA
Moro than three years elapsed before
the second Rotary club was formed.
In November. 1905 San Francisco, after
a study OF the Chicago plan, followed
the example SGT by Mr.. Harris and
HIS friends. Three months later oak
land, California, 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. 1903. Then at short intervals
clubs were orEanizcd in Tacoma,
Washington: Minneapolis, st faul'
St Louis, New orleans, Kansas City,
Lincoln. Neb.; Portland Orc; De-
troit, Cincinnati. Cleveland, Phila-
delphla and rittshurg. The idea was
spreading like wildfirc- II reached out
side of tho United States and has taken
In Canada. Cuba, Uruguay. Panama,
England. Scotland. Ireland, India.
China. Japan. the Philippine Islands,
and other countries and colonies.
Tho first convention OF Rotary clubs
was held in Chicago in 1910. with tho
idea of forming a national organiza-
tion. Out of this meeting grew the
National Association of Rotary Clubs.
The second convention was held in
Portland. Oregon. tho following year.
and tho third. in 1912. in Duluth. MINI.
1t was at the Duluth convention that
applications for membership were re
col M
London. This led to changing the name
OF the orga nization to Tho 1nterna-
tlonal Association OF Rotary Clubs.
In the foreign extension of the Ro-
tary idea one principle has been ad-
hered to rigidly. This is that clubs
shall have as members natives OF the
country in which it is formed. The Ro-
tary club of Tokyo has a purely Jan
anese membership. and the Rotary
club OF London is made up entirely of
Englishmen.
Nltho the organization of clubs In
spread so far and so fast. IL is em-
phHsiz by the officials OF tho inter
national organization that tho fouu
dation of Rotary is the individual
club They say that no club can be n !
member of International Rotary very
long without finding this out. It short
ly becomes apparent that tho club is a
member of a great international or
ganization and that anything It docs
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
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
strumcntal In having conditions sol
changed that very large percentage
of those boys did go to high school |
In routine course the matter was re-
ported to international headquarters. |
There tho matter was taken up inn |