The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1949-09-15
Inc
American Way
By DR.. ALFRED P. HAAKE

uIOpplHR Tie llile-nOIlOFeQ SIO-
gan, "He profits most who serves
best. And there has been some
shrieking with joy because now
even the conservative Rotary
clubs have joined the procession
of those who damn and would
do away with profit.
Both are wrong. Neither ap-
parently took the trouble to get
the truth. Rotary could not drop
the slogan because it has never
been the official slogan, was
never adopted by formal and Of
ficial action. In 1910, Arthur
Frederick Sheldon coined the
phrase in talking to a Rotary
convention. The phrase caught
the fancy of thousands of Rotar-
ians and, informally and unof-
ficially, it became a slogan. Even
Rotary International used it on
printed matter.
On at least two occasions eff
fort has been made to discard
the slogan. A resolution to the
effect was offered in the Dallas
convention in 1929, and rejected.
The Rotary club, of London,
England, came up with a similar
resolution in New York this
year, and withdrew the resolu-
ton when it learned that the
board of directors of Rotary In
ternational had instructed the
secretary to cease using the slo-
gan hereafter on printed matter,
although anything on hand could
J be used up. The ground for this
action was the difficulty in max
ing accurate translation of the
slogan.
The present status is that Ro-
tary International has taken NO
action or position on the word
profit, the profit motive" or
, the ''free enterprise system" 1t
| has NOT taken any action which
restricts Rotary clubs anywhere
in the world from using the slo-
gan. Any club is free to use what
slogan on its letterhead or any
where else.
In the opinion of this writer,
Rotary International directors
acted wisely in forestalling de-
! bate on the merits or dement's of
the slogan, as could easily have
followed in discussion of the
proposed London resolution. Aft
er all, Rotary International is, as
the name plainly says, an IN
TERNATTONAL organization,
and the United States delegation
was only one of a number who
had the right to determine the
policies of Rotary International
as an international organization
However, within the United
States, and as an example to our
foreign cousins who might well
benefit and PROFIT from the ex-
ample of our profit and loss sys-
tenn by its adoption in their
countries, we can do as we
please about the slogan.
The use of the word profit"
need frighten no one. Jesus of
Nazareth used it in the same
sense that it was used many
years later by Arthur Frederick
Sheldon. What shall it profit a
man if he gain the whole world
and lose his soul. And that man
will profit most who serves best,
a truth which Jesus Himself
taught and illustrated beautifully
in the parable of the talents.
Even in modern translations of
the New Testament, there is no
change in the word profit" as
Jesus used it. Many, many
changes are made in the text,
but the word profit" as Jesus
used it, and as Arthur Frederick
Sheldon followed it, remains the
same in the modern texts such as
the Moffat and the Revised
Standard Version.
The word profit is used inter-
changeably with benefit and ad-
vantage in both the French and
German languages. There is no
more difficulty understanding
the word profit" as Arthur
Frederick Sheldon used it, in
either French or German than
there is in English.
Are we to retreat from the am
biguous attacks of socialists and
collectivists with their decep-
lively humanitarian and pseudo
selfless fronts, and drop the
IDEA of profit along with the
word itself, or have we the man.
hood to stand openly for what
we believe in our hearts? It
would be wonderful if every
Rotary club in the United States
would formally and officially
adopt the slogan Arthur Freder-
ick Sheldon used in l910-for it
is true that "He profits most who
serves best. And it would be a
wiser and better world that rec