The Republican., 1925-10-08
OAKLAND ROTARY CLUB
ORGANIZED TUESDAY LAST
At a Meeting of Business and
Professional Men Held at
William James Hotel

Pledged in a spirit of practical ser
vice to the community, the individual
and their craft, group of the most
prominent and professional men of
Oakland, placed the little mountain
city definitely on the membership roll
of Rotary International last Tuesday
night by taking the preliminary steps
for the organization of club here.
The meeting held Tuesday night
was the elimination of a series of
conferences that have been held be-
tween the local people interested in the
formation of the organization and
representatives of the International
office, the local Rotary district and
the clubs Of nearby towns where Ro-
tary has been established for some
time.
Through the formation of the new
club, with its unique features of fell
lowship and conduct of business,
Oakland becomes a part of a world
encircling body of representative
men dedicated to the spirit Of service
encompassing approximately eigh-
teen hundred communities in twenty
eight countries.
Origin of Rotary.
Rotary came into being in Chicago
on February 23d 1905, with a group
of four men-one coal dealer one
mining operator, one a merchant tail
or and the fourth an attorney-the
organizing committee for the first
club. The attorney, Paul P. Harris,
first advanced the idea of forming a
club different from any club then
known and to him belongs the credit
for starting the great Rotary move
ment. The original four invited to
membership a dozen other men and
the club was organized on the basis
of just one man from each different
business or professional calling. A
printer, real estate man, an insur-
ance man and broker were the sec
ond four admitted.
Rotary" was chosen as the name
Of the new club, because the men,
bers met in rotation" at their places
of business. Rotation Club" seemed
somewhat inapt, so they adopted the
shorter form, Rotary Club"
The Chicago club continued to in
crease in membership. In 1908, three
years after the first meeting, the sec
ond Rotary club was organized in
San Francisco. Other clubs followed
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. 1t was in 1910 that the first
convention was held in Chicago and
the "National Association" formed
At this convention, Chesley r. Perry
was elected secretary and he contin-
ueS to hold this office at the present
time. Rotary emerged from a national
organization to an international or
ganization two years later at the
Duluth convention. A short time
previous to this convention a club had
been organized at Winnipeg, Canada
and during the convention a cable
gram was received from the Rotary
Club of London England, asking for
a charter. Rotary was thus quickly
evolved from one in 1905 to an in
ternatiOnal organization in 1912.
Since 1912 the organization has
grown even more rapidly than during
the first seven years. Today there
are approximately eighteen hundred
Rotary clubs in the world. Altho
the greater number are in the United
States, where the movement started,
there are now Rotary clubs in Can
ada, Newfoundland, Great Britain,
Ireland, Irish Free State, Spain, Nor
way, France, Denmark, Holland Bel
gium, Cuba, Argentina. Brazil, Uri-
quay, Peru, the Republic of Panama,
South Africa, China, Japan, India,
Australia, New Zealand, Philippine
Islands, Mexico, Italy, Chile and in
Switzerland. This growth seems all
the more remarkable when it is re-
allied that the organization has never
at any time employed organizers on a
commission basis. And in addition,
extreme care has always been exer-
cised in surveying cities and towns
applying for membership to make
sure that such communities are ready
for Rotary club and are of sufficient
size from which to secure member
ship of representative men and still
have the membership restricted to
one man from each business or pro-
fession.
The officers and directors of the
local Rotary are DR.. Henry w. Nc
Comas, president; James fowler, sec
retary; Paul Naylor, treasurer; Ed
ward c. Lawrence, sergeant-at-arms.
DR.. McComas, Paul Naylor, A. T.
Matthews, Henry Lauer, Wade H.
Hinebaugh and Lawrence M. Fraley
compose the directors board.
evening at G:15 o'clock for luncheon
at the William-James Hotel.
The Farmers Trust Company.
| Incorporators of the recently or
= LI-...... -. Er,,,u,n.,,- of