Las Vegas age. [volume] (Las Vegas, Nev.) 1905-1947, 1927-01-29
GROWTH IN SERVICE
HISTORY OF K|WAN|S
Advance in Membership and
Ideals Noted-LocaI Ami
Versary Celebrated
(By George Hardman)

Wishes are great things, we can
all ride on the wings of wishes
and each reach our own individ-
ual goal. However no individual
alone can expect, no matter how
lofty his ambition, to attain the
heights in social service that may
be achieved by the united efforts
of many wishing and working for
the same end. But to seucre this
necessary cooperative effort the
wishes, aims or aspirations of
many must be crystallized, or
ganized into definite projects and
the efforts of the individual work
er directed in such way that
the progress is toward the attain
ment of certain definite objec-
tives. Any organization must go
through the stages of building,
gaining memberships, crystalliza-
tion of ideals into projects, crea-
ton of the machinery through
which to operate, and arrange to
extend and perpetuate the SER
vice. The latter is as necessary
to an enduring service as the
original wish.
Benjamin Franklin appeared to
have the idea of a service club
when he organized his 'Junto
Club back in 1920. He had the
| idea of a limited, classified mem
bership with one member from
each profession. Rotary stole a
scheme of classification, but XII
wants went Them one better. The
| idea then of service club
with limited membership does
not appear so new but then most
good things are not new.
doubt however, that Franklin's
clubs had much influence on the
building of the present crop of
! service clubs. The Junto club
prospered and several new ones
were built by the members of the
original club, but each club was
Independent of the other, no
central organization developed
and no extension service Great
ed to spread and extend the
idea. The lack of these things
may have been their great weak
ness and the cause of their decay.
Anyway after the death of Frank
lin the clubs failed to prosper
and slowly faded out of the
picture. Possibly the time was
not ripe for organizations of this
type.
The beginning of the goth cen
tury witnessed the reawakening
of the service club idea with Ro-
tary in 1905, Kiwanis in 1915 and
Lions and others soon after. 1t
cannot be said that the early
growth of either Rotary or XII
wants was particularly auspicious
or prophetic.
The first Kiwanis club was
organized about January 21, 1915
in Detroit, Mich. The Indian
taken was originally spelled
word from which our name is
Kee-wanis and meant L make
a noise 1t was probably the
intention of the club that it
be taken to mean that they i'm
pressed or made a noise in the
affairs of the city. The spelling
was changed to Kiwanis before
the club adopted the name. AS
the central idea of Rotary was
originally that each member
should confine his trade to the
! circle represented within the club
and the idea expressed in the
| Rotary wheel so Kiwanis was
started with the idea of mutual
i benefit to members thru COM
merce or trade with the mem
bers. Hence the slogan. We
Trade. Good fellowship and
friendship were apparently sec
ondary matters and there was no
though of civic service.
In November of 1915 a club
was built at Cleveland and a
charter for a national organiza-
tion obtained from the state of
Ohio. The order had a moderate
growth so that when the first
conference was called in May