President Joaquin has asked me to endeavor to outline to you the thinking of Paul Harris which led to the organizing of The Chicago Rotary Club in 1905 and to the founding of the Rotary movement.

None of us here today was a companion of Paul prior to the organization of the first Rotary club but from his autobiographical story and from the sort of man we found him to be, as we came to know him after 1905, we can endeavor to draw our conclusions as to what must have been the type of his thoughts prior to 1905. In the few minutes of time allotted I am presenting my conclusions.

Most certainly Paul made no claim and had no thought that he had received any special inspiration to found a Rotary or any other sort of club, nor did he seek to commercialize on the Rotary club idea by securing from it a financial return for himself or any one else.

Before Paul left us seven years ago he indicated two thoughts in his mind and they are the basis of this outline.

One was that in 1905 he had planted in Chicago a sapling which to his astonishment and joy had grown into a forest of trees.

The other was that during the first thirty-odd years of his life he had been traveling a road which, without his realising it, had been preparing him for the planting of that sapling.

Evidently along that road he had done a good deal of thinking as a boy, a youth, a man. Undoubtedly he was a normal but inquisitive child always wanting to know the "Why" of things, including the necessity of his father having to take him from his birthplace in Racine, Wisconsin, to a (to him) strange faraway place where he was turned over to a strange elderly couple - his grandparents.

One’s thinking is influenced by one’s environment and by one’s association with other people.

In Wallingford, Vermont, Paul lived in a household of affection and responsibility in a village of neighborly people noted for such simple virtues as industry frugality, tolerance, equality of opportunity, the benefit of education available to all so that all

might have a voice in governmental affairs, among people who were conservative but concerned about and disposed to be helpful to their neighbors. He made contacts with people and found out why they were doing whatever they were doing.

The growing boy's thinking was influenced by the thoughts pf his grandparents and their neighbors, including an old Irish gardener who was something of a philosopher, his uncle George Fox - a country doctor more interested in serving people than in collecting his accounts, old Judge Button who in dispensing justice knew how to separate the wheat from the chaff, and many others.

He roamed the village with his "Why?" and wondered about buildings and shops and the people in them. He wondered about birds and animals, but most of all about people. As he grew older he explored woods and brooks and hills and mountainsides and wondered about all he saw.

He attended the Congregational Church and wondered about the other churches – the denominational separations. He thought how simple things would be if all the good people were in the churches and all the bad people were outside of them.

It was evident that he was a keen observer of people and of things animate

and inanimate. Otherwise six or seven decades later he would not have been able to recall and recite his experiences for us in such detail as we find in his book, "My Road to Rotary", written shortly before his death.

Incidentally we can read this book as merely a description of life in New England or, if we wish, we can study it as the development of a boy into a man who was destined to leave his footprints on the sands of time.

He manifested qualities of leadership among his boyhood companions as they planned and participated in their adventures including many mischievous pranks, some of which caused interruptions in his academic and collegiate career.

What this young man's thoughts were may be indicated by the books he read. One could not associate with such writers as Lowell, Whittier, Thoreau, Whitman, Dickens, Thackeray and Scott and not have his thinking influenced. Needless to say he was not an addict to the comic strip.

In the schools he attended – public school, academies, University of Vermont and Princeton University he carried his inquiring mind and his interest in people.

He learned something about the work of his grandfather as a farmer and local merchant. A period of work in the office of the Marble Company in nearby Rutland gave him an opportunity to study and think about business procedures and relations.

Perhaps a guiding precept for his mature life is found in the farewell advice of his grandmother after his grandfather's death when the young man was setting out for the West. In substance the admonition was: You owe much to others, Paul. Now you are on your own. Work hard and live honorably.

En route to the study at law at the University of Iowa, Paul tarried a few days in Chicago where he found a great contrast from his peaceful and neighborly New England village. However the energy and bustle, the extremes of culture and crime in this maelstrom of humanity had a fascination for him which was bound to bring him back a few year's later.

His law studies tended to rationalize his thinking but above all he was concerned with the ways of men - why they behaved as they did; what were the underlying motives which influenced the lives of men; why men were wasteful of their physical, mental and moral resources; why some were good, some bad; why some made

sacrifices and were they worthwhile. Was there something valuable in his grandfather's and grandmother's precepts or were they a couple of well-meaning but deluded old fogies?

As he read more and more about other countries he wondered why the branches of mankind differ so much in their ways of life - even in their ways of thinking.

This young nature lover, this youthful philosopher was not disposed to be a recluse. He has explored Vermont mountains. He wanted to climb higher ones. Before he undertook to practice law he wanted more experiences

He was ready to do a unique thing for a graduate in law. Although his financial resources were very limited he decided on five years of travel, earning his way as he went, in order to familiarize himself with the ways of men not only throughout the United States but in as many other countries as he could reach.

The mere recital of his travels indicates their opportunities for thinking and reflection by an in-

Up through the Rockies to the Pacific Northwest, down to California, around to Denver, Colorado, was his first swing.

On his five years of "vagabondage" as he has called it he made some life-long friends, but at first his companions were mostly ordinary people, newspaper reporters, ranch workers, cowboys, fruit packers, play actors but whoever they were he was one of them.

From Denver he jumped to Jacksonville, Florida, where he met and made a friend of Mr. George W. Clark who was in the marble and granite business. After working for a time for Mr. Clark and being a welcome visitor in his home Paul was off to Washington for the inauguration of President Cleveland and some newspaper work there.

Next a hitch with another marble and granite company travelling through Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia.

Then two tough experiences as a deckhand on cattleships to London and Liverpool with some limited opportunities to explore England and Wales.

Back from the second trip in time for a visit to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where he was

inspired as were so many others by the beautiful grounds and buildings and wonderful exhibits from all over the world.

Then to Louisiana and adventures there and a visit to historic and romantic New Orleans.

Again in Jacksonville, with Clark, traveling through the Southern States and to Cuba and The Bahamas.

And then to Europe as the accredited representative of the Clark Company with travel in France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and England and Scotland.

What an experience all this traveling must have been for a young man in his 20's and what an opportunity his inquiring mind had to study men and their activities, and to find many who were moved by altruistic impulses.

He returned to Jacksonville only to say good-bye. The five years of his "vagabondage" were up, and that wicked, turbulent, marvelous city of Chicago was calling the "vagabond" to settle down to the practice of law.

When. Clark urged him to stay in Jacksonville saying: "You'll make more money if you remain with me", Paul replied: "I am sure you are

right about that but I'm not going to Chicago to make money but to live a life."

(Incidentally Clark, a dozen years later, organized the Rotary Club of Jacksonville.)

Many years went by in Chicago - difficult years - war time - depression years - business a fierce competitive struggle - too many lawyers (not all ethical). Perhaps the ambition to be a money-making lawyer was lacking but without money or influential connections it was not easy to have desirable friends. With no family there were lonesome week-ends and a longing for the warm friendship in the homes of his grandparents in Wallingford and of the Clarks in Jacksonville.

Not yet any vision of a world fellowship of business and professional men, but something was tugging at his sleeve urging him to do something about his situation. He knew that there must be a way to make friends in a big city. He felt certain there were many young business men in Chicago who had come from villages and farms and who were in need of friendship.

One evening in suburban Rogers Park where be accompanied his host as he visited various places of local business, Paul saw a similarity to his

New England village - men of different occupations - why riot a group or circle or club composed on the basis of one man of each line of business or profession? Why couldn't they be real friends -interested in and helpful to each other?

He kept turning the idea over in his mind for a long time before coming to grips with it, but finally he decided to start his club and with the help of Silvester Schiele, Harry Ruggles and others he did so.

To make it attractive he had as its first object the promotion of the business interests of its members and as its second object fellowship. In connection with the promotion of business interests the emphasis fortunately was not on what you could get but on what you could do for some one else - by patronizing him if you could, recommending your friends to him, giving him helpful advice about getting; more business, etc. All this Paul encouraged but it was the fellowship object that had the strongest appeal to him.

How he was meeting men of different occupations in a free and informal manner and, as he had done in his New England village and in his

years of travel, he was finding out what they were doing and why they were doing it.

And as Rotary fellowship ripened into Rotary friendships he found opportunities for the expression of the mischievous spirit of the boy he had left in Wallingford. Among the Rotarians he was again a ringleader in pranks, frolics, practical jokes.

However, his thought about the possibilities of the club developed from day to day and he was receptive to the ideas of other members and willing to pick up and join in implementing their ideas. For example when someone suggested that, while as individuals they were trying to be helpful to one another in an unselfish way, as a group they were self-centered with no apparent regard for others in the city in which they were living and making their living, he was quick to see the point and joined in the development of a civic or community service object for the club.

Well, here we are at the founding of the first Rotary club – the planting of that sapling in Chicago. We have hurriedly retraced the road Paul Harris had traveled which prepared him for the conception of such a club, but it had also prepared him for something else and that was Rotary International. Probably we

shall conclude that it was for the development of the Rotary movement that Paul's road really prepared him, with the founding of its first club as merely a preliminary step to the greater thing.

What were Paul's thoughts that led to the organization of other Rotary clubs and their evolution into a world-wide movement? That is another story which will require another ten minutes on some other occasion to cover the period say from 1908, when the second club came into existence, to 1912 when Paul retired as President of' Rotary International.

Thank you.

[Return to Top of Page]

1. Cultivate the habit of always looking on the bright side of every experience.
2. Accept cheerfully the place in life that is yours, believing that it is the best possible place for you.
3. Throw your whole soul and spirit into your work and do it the best way you know how.
4. Get into the habit of doing bits of kindness and courtesies to all those who touch your life each day.
5. Adopt and maintain a simple, childlike attitude of confidence and trust in God as your own father.

ROTARY LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE

by Chesley Perry

Mr. Louis L. Roth, Chairman

Committee on Legislative Procedure of R.I.

St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.

Dear Lou:

Responsive to the invitation to do so, I herewith offer my suggestions for the consideration of your Committee, with my regret that I have not been able to make them more concise. When President Randall recently suggested "bold new concepts in service" and "meeting new needs in new settings", he received requests that he explain what he meant by such suggestions. In connection with my suggestions, I shall go into considerable detail, to make fully clear what I am trying to suggest.

Rather than proposing any change in the present form of procedure, my suggestions will be as to the manner in which the present form can be made to work out with satisfaction to all concerned; and in doing so give Clubs and Rotarians a better understanding of, and a keener interest in, the administration of Rotary International and its member Clubs, which will lead to their more effective participation

in the achievement of the Object of Rotary.

The likelihood of the minds of Rotarians of various countries meeting on the subject o£ legislative procedure, will be enhanced if they find that they are agreed as to the basic structural character of Rotary International (the Association of Rotary Clubs).

So first of all, I submit the following statement which (I believe it is safe to say) represents the thinking and conclusions of a considerable number of, if not all, Rotarians. If there are other thoughts and conclusions on the subject among Rotarians, immediate steps should be taken to determine, in a democratic manner, what is the correct and accepted structural character of the Association.

The Rotary Movement is a self-governing democratic fellowship of business and professional men, who have first grouped themselves into local autonomous Rotary Clubs, and second united their Clubs in an Association (Rotary International) for the purpose of encouraging, promoting, extending and supervising the Rotary

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Movement throughout the world and of coordinating and generally directing its activities as an Association of Rotary Clubs.

In 1910 there were 16 such local autonomous independent Clubs. They sent their Delegates to a Convention of their Clubs, at which an Association was founded. Subsequently, thousands of similar groups of men became member Clubs of the Association, with the same rights, duties, obligations and responsibilities as those of the founding Clubs.

The sovereignty of the Associated Clubs is specially manifest in the meetings of their delegates in Convention and of their representatives on the Council on Legislation at the Convention. Rotary International is then in session.

The Rotarians of each Club elect Delegates from their Clubs to meet in Convention and participate in enacting laws and establishing policies for the government and operation of the Association.

The Clubs of each District, by vote of their electors at District Conferences, elect their representatives on the Council on Legislation to be an advisory body to the Delegates in Convention as to their action on proposed enactments and resolutions. (There are also some ex-officio and

some appointive members of the Council.)

Over the years various agencies of service to the Associated Clubs have been created, by decision of their Delegates in Convention, to implement, execute and carry into effect (with the cooperation of the Clubs) the laws and policies the Clubs have enacted and established.

Among such agencies of service to the Clubs are:

All such agencies in their respective fields of activity will assist, encourage, counsel and guide the Clubs in implementing the programs the Clubs have agreed upon; and the

Clubs must be responsive to and cooperative with such leadership.

Directly or indirectly the Association Clubs elect or appoint individual Rotarians to constitute for certain periods of time the personnel

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of all agencies of the Association.

Such Rotarians serve as representatives of the Associated Clubs in their performances of the acts and duties pertaining to the administration of the executive function.

A Rotarian who accents office or appointment in the administration of the Association is merely on loan from his Club for the period of time required for such service, and retains his primary responsibility of service in and through his Club.

Whatever power or authority the Associated Clubs have given or appear to have given to any agency is always subject to review, amendment, revision and revocation by the Associated Clubs.

Whatever may the wording of any law or policy adopted at any time by the Associated Clubs, there never has been any intention on their part to divest themselves of their basic control of the Association.

While the necessity or the advisability of making a change may always be considered, an established form of procedure should not be discarded merely for the sake of making a change.

If a change in R. I. Legislative procedure ever has to be made, great care should be taken to make certain that the new procedure is unquestionably better than the old one, and that in making the change nothing of primary importance is lost.

For democracy to operate successfully in an organization, there must be voluntary and constructive participation by all concerned in implementing it.

Stated democratic procedure does not work by automation. Especially in larger groupings, it must be planned for and guided in action. This can be done in a manner which either will encourage and foster democratic interest and participation or by neglect or in some other way will discourage democratic interest and participation.

If the present form of legislative procedure is not working well, the fault may be due to a considerable extent to the manner in which we are trying to implement it.

The present legislative procedure of Rotary could be implemented in a manner which will serve to bring member Clubs, the R. I. Board, Secretariat and magazines, District Governors, Committees, Delegates in Convention and Representatives on the

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Council on Legislation into effective cooperation in proposing, considering, and enacting legislation. This will require educational work (especially among the member Clubs and their Rotarians) which in a few years will insure their interest and participation in legislation.

Submitting to the Convention via the Secretariat Proposals to amend the R. I. Constitution and By-laws and the prescribed Rotary Club Constitution, is the first step in R. I. legislation. Obviously the more numerous the Proposals submitted are, at the stated time for them, the less attention is likely to be given to the merits of each Proposal within the period of time available for the consideration of all the Proposals.

Therefore all bodies authorized to submit Proposals should be encouraged to refrain from submitting any Proposal unless the submitting of it at the moment seems very important.

It is desirable that Clubs should develop and submit ideas for the advancement of the Rotary Movement, and the betterment of the operation of Rotary International and its member Clubs; but so far as possible such ideas should be implemented, if feasible, without the need of amending the

constitutional documents.

A club contemplating the submission of a Proposal should confer with the R. I. Secretariat as to the need or timeliness of such a Proposal and to check the correct legalistic wording of it for Convention action, in doing so the Club may find that what it is seeking to achieve may be accomplished without the need of Convention legislation.

However the Club might also confer, as to the merits and necessity of the contemplated Proposal, with other Clubs of its District or with other Clubs of similar size or situation.

A preliminary or exploratory communication from a Club contemplating the making of a Proposal, might be printed in the magazines of R. I. and result in the Club receiving from other Clubs communications in support of, or in opposition to, the contemplated Proposal, or helpful suggestions in regard to it.

The next step is the transmitting of a duly filed Proposal to all other Rotary Clubs, which the General Secretary has to do. This should be done in a manner which will encourage the examination of it at a Club meeting with a conclusion as to whether it should be supported or opposed by the Club's Delegate(s) at the Convention.

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The booklet of Proposals which has been used for so many years for the transmitting of Proposals to the Clubs should be revised in style. It should comprise three sections:

(a) A Foreword directing attention of Club officers to the fact that 19--is a legislative year in Rotary International, and that it is a privilege and the duty of each Club to examine each Proposal and determine the conclusion of the Club as to it for the information of its Delegate(s) in Convention.

This foreword also should include an outline of the conduct of a Club meeting devoted to the examination of Proposals, the preparation by the President or some one else qualified to serve as Moderator of such a program; the use of the digested statements giving the substance of each Proposal; and the recording by the Secretary of the conclusions reached by the Club. Emphasis should be given to the probable need of more than one meeting if the Proposals are numerous.

Such programs at Club meetings every other year can be very interesting and educational to the members of a Club. Experiments have proved that the average Rotarian enjoys such opportunities for him to become more

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conversant with the administrative procedure of Rotary International.

(b) A second section consisting of concise explanatory digests of the substance of each Proposal, so that a Club President, or someone designated by him, can read to the Club the substance of what a Proposal seeks to create or alter or accomplish. Some Clubs may be able to run off mimeographed copies of this section to be used at the Club meetings.

(This also should be suggested in the Foreword.)

Each such digested statement must be prepared by the R. I. Secretariat, or by an ad hoc Committee, with care to make it not only concise but clear and understandable to any Rotarian even tho he is not familiar with the constitutional documents of R. I.

Here are some illustrations of the style of such digested statements of 1958 Proposals:

58-2: When District Assembly May be Held. Each District Assembly of Club Presidents and secretaries at present must be held annually in the month of April or May. This proposal is that the limitation to these months be deleted, and instead the Assembly be held annually at such time as the Governor

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may determine; provided that dates determined are not the same as those selected for the District Conference, the International Assembly, or the International Convention.

58-3: Service of R.I. Directors on Nominating Committee for President Nominating Committee for President of R. I. At present if there are two R. I. Directors from the same geographic region, the Board elects one of them as the member of the Committee and the other is his alternate. This Proposal is that automatically the one serving his second year on the Board shall be the member of the Committee and the one serving his first year on the Board shall be his alternate.

58-4: Membership in a Rotary Club on the basis of either location of [lace of business or of residence. While it has been generally understood that a Rotarian's place of business must be within the territory of his Club, the R. I. By-laws and the Club Constitution do not definitely so state.*

* This omission was corrected at the 1958 Convention.

Consequently some Clubs have reasoned that a man is engaged in his Rotary classification even in the suburban village or town where he resides, altho his place of business is in

a nearby city; and they have elected such men to membership. This Proposal seeks to recognize as proper such reasoning and make legal such elections.

In preparing the booklet of Proposals an effort should e made to group together in consecutive order as far as may be possible all Proposals on the same or practically the soe subject, so as to encourage concentration upon all in the same group at Club meetings.

The digested statements should also be printed in the R. I. magazines as part of an article (probably several articles) on the subject of R. I. legislation, and the participation of Rotarians in their Clubs and Conferences in the review of Proposals. Such articles should be written in a style to attract reader's attention and hold his interest. They should not be printed in small type or on a crowded page or buried in the back of the magazine. Their writers should be thinking of a great democratic organization with its members in 110 countries revising and amending the laws of Rotary International. Nothing else like it in the world, etc.

(c) The third section of the booklet will contain the proper legalistic wording of each Proposal so as to

comply with present Constitution and By-laws provisions. This will permit any Rotarian to examine the booklet sent his Club and check the accuracy of the digests should he so desire.

All the planning for Club programs on legislation is likely to fall short of complete success so long as we continue to make delivery of the booklet to the outgoing Club officers many of whom may fail to turn over the booklet to their successors in office several weeks later -- at least in North America. For proper attention the booklet should be delivered directly to those in office during the Rotary year in which the Proposals are to be acted upon in Convention.

The present May 15th date for the mailing of the booklet should be modified so that the booklet will not be received by any Club officer prior to July 1st of the Rotary legislative year. A staggered schedule of mailing should be worked out so that the booklet will be received everywhere in the world including North America on or about July 15th. Incoming Club officers should be advised that the booklet will be coming and to reserve Club meetings for its review.

At the International Assembly immediately prior to the legislative year,

the booklet of Proposals should be delivered to each incoming Governor and he should be made familiar with its purpose. He should understand that he is expected to encourage his Clubs to use the booklet and have as many meetings as may be necessary to review all the Proposals, and to unite with other' Clubs in selecting a well-qualified Rotarian of the District to represent them in the Council on Legislation at the Convention. He should conduct the election of the Representative at the Conference in a manner which will emphasize the importance of the service he is being asked to render. He should promptly report to the Secretariat who has been elected so that he may receive his booklet, etc.

Time may not be available at the Conference for the discussion of the Proposals except in exceptional cases but the Governor should schedule sufficient time for the reading of the digested statements and get responses to the queries: How many Clubs decided to oppose it? and for his information the Representative on the Council can take note of the responses or the Conference Secretary can record them for his information.

Altho there may not be time at the Conference for the discussion of Proposals, the reading of the digested statements of them will give infor-

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mation about the Proposals to the Rotarians present from Clubs which failed to have examinations of them, and cause such Rotarians to encourage their Clubs to do their duty in the next legislative year,

A Rotarian accepting this responsibility when sitting in the Council will be prepared to present the conclusions of the Clubs of his District as to the various Proposals. He will also give thoughtful consideration to the conclusions of the Clubs of' other Districts as presented by their Representatives. He will weigh carefully all arguments pro and con on each Proposal before giving his vote as to the recommendation the Council will make to the Delegates in Convention as to what the Council believes should be their action on it.

If his election occurs early enough the Representative might be able to assist the District Governor in getting the Clubs of the District to devote meetings to the examination of Proposals. To some extent he might assist Club Presidents by serving as the Moderator of the first of a series of a Club’s meeting on Proposals.

Some plan should be worked out by which all Representatives will be

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elected at least six months in advance of the Council meeting so that they may have at least that much time to familiarize themselves with the proposed legislation.

The Council room should be large enough to seat 300 participants in comfortable chairs, with a balcony or other additional space for "a visitors' gallery". Center seating for the voting Representatives elected by the Clubs and the other voting members. Non-voting members should be seated in the wings. Sufficient floor microphones thruout the body of Representatives, to enable anyone to reach a microphone with only a few steps to go to ask for recognition by the chairman, and to address the Council.

A grand feature of convention hospitality on Saturday evening does tend to distract the Council members attention from their deliberate responsibilities. It may prove necessary to move the Council sessions back to Friday and Saturday.

The tempo of the Council meeting should be that of an unhurried deliberative body with every Proposal receiving its due consideration. Even tho little time may be required for the conclusion of the Council with regard

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to some Proposals, they should be recommended for adoption or rejection as the case may be with courteous consideration of the sincerity and good intentions of their proposers. Never should there be any suspicion that a group of Council Members, having decided in advance what recommendations the Council shall make, is organized to see that the Council makes them.

Opening session, introductions, etc. it would be helpful if first of all the voting members elected by the Clubs of their Districts were asked to stand in a body while the President addresses appropriate remarks to them as the real body of the Council such as:

"The Council has been created by the Convention to review the Proposals and recommend what should be the action on them by the Convention delegates.

"You have been elected by the Clubs of your Districts to serve on the Council because of your knowledge of and experience in Rotary.

"You have sensed the conclusion of the Clubs of your District as to the Proposals and here you can compare them with the conclusions of the Clubs of other Districts.

"You are expected to participate in

the discussions at this Council meeting as to the merits of each Proposal and unitedly join in a conclusion as to what action will be most beneficial to the member Clubs of Rotary International.

"Thank you. Please be seated."

There are nine other voting members of the Council --

They should be introduced individually with reasons for their inclusion in the Council.

Then the non-voting members of the Council should be individually introduced with the reasons for their being members of the Council.

These introductions should be followed by the introduction of the Chairman pro tem and the Secretary.

Next time come the appointment of the Credentials and the two other Committees by the President and their approval by the Council. The procedure in connection with this should not appear to be hurried lest it convey an impression that an inner circle is operating. It is easy for those who are helpfully expediting routine matters, to feel that they are merely doing what should be done, and that everybody else understands and appreciates what they are doing. However

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it is also easy for others to get an idea that there is an inner circle that is running everything.

A statement should be made that the first step in the organizing of the Council is to ascertain that all who claim to be members, have the proper credentials. In order to save time for the discussion of Proposals the President has appointed in advance 3(?) members of the Council to examine credentials. Some credentials were examined at Lake Placid while some members were there for the International Assembly and Institute. Others have been and are being examined here. Hope this meets with your approval. Does it? Thank you. We will have a report from the Committee later.

Then should follow similar informative statements as to the other committees, their functions, the personnel of Council members to them and a request for approval by the Council – all done in a manner calculated to make the members of the Council feel that they are properly organizing themselves as the Council. Questions as to the Committees should be invited and answered. Members of the Committees should not take seats that have been reserved for them until their appointment has been approved by the Council and the President has introduced them.

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Does this deference to the Council members seem silly "because we all know it is the regular routine"? To some it may, but the majority of the Council members may not have previously participated in the organization of a Council meeting. They may not know it is the regular routine, and if they learn that it is they may not appreciate it. The tactful thing to do is to make all elected members of the Council feel that they have been elected for an important service, and not to be merely "yes men", altho they may be so in fact. The tempo in which such things are done is important.

(Incidentally the Rules of Procedure of the Council should be reviewed to make sure they fit into the sort of Council procedure I am suggesting.)

When the organization of the Council is completed there should be an explanation that the action of the convention and the recommendation of the Council is customarily expressed in one of the following 6 forms:

1. That the proposal be adopted as proposed.

2. That the Proposal be rejected.

3. That the Proposal be amended by the Convention as follows (insert suggested amendment) and then adopted amended

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By this time the Council will feel well organized with its members informed and at ease. A five minute recess might be declared to permit everyone to shake hands with his neighbors who are within arm's length, before taking up the first Proposal listed for attention.

The presentation of a Proposal should be made not, only by number and title, but also by reading the digested summary of it.

When the Council decides upon its recommendation as to a Proposal there should be a recognized reason for it evidenced in the discussion of it which should be summarized by the presiding officer for the record.

It should be assumed that all Proposals have been offered with the best of intentions and none of them should be rejected as tho it were a message from an enemy. In personal contacts

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a Rotarian will courteously express red, ret that he cannot agree with another Rotarian's ideas. Likewise, in the Council a recommendation to reject a Proposal should be coupled with an expression of regret, a friendly explanation of the reason the recommendation had to be made.

The report of the Council to the Convention should be so prepared as to include and to convey to the Convention the reason for each recommendation, and the vote by which the decision of the Council was determined.

Next the Convention. Now we come to the real legislative body of Rotary International -- the Delegates of the member Clubs in Convention -- a large body that can be guided and aided in functioning intelligently and constructively and happily; but without helpful guidance and assistance, may become confused and discouraged, and function in a manner that may give color to a belief that it is impossible for it to function successfully.

However, the fact that the Delegates may disappoint some Proposer by not adopting his Proposal, or may fail to act in accord with a recommendation of the Council on Legislation, is not proof that they are not functioning

properly. After all they are Rotary International in session. When the representatives of the constituent Clubs of the Association make a decision, it must be accepted as the working of the democratic process.

Rotarians are all men of understanding and good-will, and because they are, they should be able to demonstrate to the world how a large body of men can participate constructively and successfully in democratic legislative procedure. This can be done if there is a persistent, intelligent and understanding effort by us all to do it.

When the time arrives in the Convention program for the reports and legislative action, it should be announced that "Rotary International is now in session" and every Delegate made to feel that "this is what my Club elected me to come to the Convention for, not as a spectator or listener, but as a participant at least with my vote which is effective even tho it has to be cast in conjunction with the votes of other Delegates." He should so
feel that he will return to his Club to report what "We did at the Convention."

In connection with the Reports, questions concerning them should be encouraged and answered. Delegates

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should be encouraged to move that a report be received and entered in the Proceedings of the Convention. Every bit of participation by a Club Delegate is that much more democratic participation.

Mention should be made not only that the Delegates have in their hands copies of the Legislative Proposals, but that they have had an opportunity to discuss them in their Clubs and know the Conclusions of their Clubs with regard to them, and that in addition the Clubs of their respective Districts elected a Rotarian of the District to serve on the Council on Legislation, which has been in session here discussing the merits of each Proposal, and preparing a recommendation on it as a suggestion for Convention action.

It must not be assumed that all the Delegates are familiar with all the things the officers and committeemen are familiar with. The majority of the Delegates are not. Some are at their first Rotary Convention. They are likely to be somewhat confused amid all the excitement. Some have come from Clubs and Districts where the prerequisite things have not been done as they should have been. The stating of them at the Convention will send Delegates home with an interest in seeing that they, hereafter, are done in their Clubs and

Districts. Education as to Rotary procedure must be a continuing effort.

Next there should be a statement that the Secretary of the Convention (or a reading clerk) will read the number and title, and a digested summary of each Proposal indicating what it seeks to create or change or accomplish. "The full text of the Proposal is in the booklet you have."

Doing this with each Proposal will set the stage for the intelligent discussion of it by thus helping everybody to understand it; or it may obviate any need for discussing it.

Then an explanation that action by the Convention is customarily voted in one of the following 6 forms:

If the conclusions of the Delegate body as to a Proposal is not clearly determinable by either voice or standing vote, a vote by printed ballots, including those for proxies, will be cast at the polling boxes the following day.

As each Proposal was filed with the Secretary it was in effect presented

to the Convention with a motion for its adoption. It has been referred to, and examined by the Council on Legislation, which has prepared its recommendation as to action on it.

We will now proceed to consider and act upon the Proposals, and if there is no objection to doing so, we will consider them in the same order they were considered by the Council.

Also with your consent we will proceed as follows: The number and title of a Proposal will be read, together with a digest of its substance. The recommendation of the Council will then be read. Then the Proposal will be open for discussion, and the Chair will first recognize as the first speaker, a representative of the Proposer. Following him others will be recognized. When you are ready to close the discussion, a motion for action by the Convention will be in order.

The Secretary (or a reading clerk) reads the number, title and substance of the first Proposal to be considered.

The Chairman of the Council then presents the recommendation of the Council together with the reason it and the vote on it. The Delegates have a right to know the vote as indicating the weight of

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the recommendation -- a unanimous recommendation naturally will have more weight with the Delegates than a 51 to 49 one.

The Chairman of the Council having presented the Council's recommendation, emphatically should NOT end it with a motion that the Convention concur in it -- not even if he has a right to do so by being also a Club Delegate as he may be. It is such things as this which indicate that control is centralized on the stage, instead of being on the floor of the Convention where it is supposed to be. Such procedure may succeed in a labor union, or a political gatherings, but it should not be used in a Rotary Convention.

There should be no conflict between the Board and the Council but this does not mean that the Board must control the Council. There should be no conflict between the "Board and Council" and the Convention. If there is any evidence or even a suspicion of such controls there is bound to be an unhappy situation. We should wholeheartedly recognize that the Convention is Rotary International and everybody cooperate to make certain the constructive and harmonious functioning of its Delegate body.

If the digested summaries are to be read to the Convention (as has been

suggested) it may not be necessary to print them in the Daily Bulletin; but as most Delegates take their Bulletins home with them having the reasons for the Council's recommendation in them would help them in reporting to their Clubs.

Every Rotarian should know not only what Proposals are made, but what action was taken on them, and the reasons for it. There should be readable articles post-Convention in the magazines explaining what happened to the Proposals and why.

It may be noted that I am endeavoring to have the Council recognized as an advisory body, and the Delegates in Convention as a legislative body. Such a recognition will be in harmony with the structural character of Rotary International.

It may seem that implementing my suggestions will require more time than present procedure does; but will not require much more and whatever it is, it will be time well spent in preserving the democratic character of the Rotary movement, which is needed to enable it to accomplish its mission in the world.

The greater the speed to get somewhere, the greater the danger of losing

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some things that are valuable. This is true in legislative procedure, as well as on the highway.

All thru the entire operation there must be an atmosphere of ascertaining the wishes of the member Clubs of the Association, the constituents of Rotary International, and accepting their decisions as expressed by their Delegates by their majority vote (or sometimes by a stated minimal majority, of two-thirds or whatever it may be).

In making my suggestions, I am not implying that none of the things I am suggesting is now being done, nor have I endeavored to foresee all possible contingencies related to them.

My suggestions are neither criticizing nor giving credit, but an effort to make clear my conception of something which is basic to having the democracy of Rotary work successfully.

Perhaps, what I am thinking about might be termed a psychological approach and attitude with relation to the groupings of Rotarians in Clubs, Conferences, Councils and Conventions, on the part of both rank and file Rotarians, and all those who from time to time are in positions of leadership and responsibility.

There must be thought by us all as to the way that groups of Rotarians and individuals in their groups, will or may react mentally or emotionally, not only to what is said and done, but to the manner in which it is said or done.

Isn't that what missionaries and social service workers are doing in contact with those whom they would help? Isn't that what the statesmen and leaders of all Nations, with relation to their citizens or subjects or those of other Nations, are doing (whether they realize it or not)? In the Rotary Movement where is special opportunity for success, because Rotarians are men dedicated to understanding and goodwill, and desirous of making their contribution to the peace of the world.

You have said that we must not let the mechanics of Rotary interfere with its spirit and object. You are right, Lou, - - we all can agree on that. But we may have to put more oil in the machinery, and make it work so smoothly that it will seem to be working automatically; and that means thoughtfulness of and helpfulness to each other, as we maintain freedom and democratic participation in achieving Rotary's destiny.

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After all, it has been the mechanics of organizing Clubs and holding Conferences, and Institutes, and Assemblies, and Conventions, which have been the vehicle which has carried the spirit and object of Rotary around the world.

If we are thinking of discarding some piece of Rotary mechanism, we should weigh carefully its relation to all the other pieces of Rotary mechanism.

While democratic participation in Rotary administrative work and legislative procedure must not be abandoned, with the further extension of the movement there may have to be some further decentralizing of those phases of it.

We have seen how over the years the Rotary movement developed a drift away from democratic procedure. We have found how difficult it is to get it back. Whenever we make changes, we must be careful that we do not thereby start it drifting again toward a possible future set-up, which will make it easy, after you and I are gone, to seize control of the organization, and pervert its purposes. It has happened in other organizations.

I am opposed to any centralizing trend that some day may permit a dictatorship for Rotary, no matter how unlikely may be at present any probability of it --

First -- because it may not be a benevolent one.

Second -- because it won't have the influence for the acceptance of "Service above Self" thruout the world that a democratic Movement will have.

Third -- because it will be another step toward doing away with democracy thruout the world, and substituting totalitarianism in Governments.

What is really needed right now is a research council to study the world that Rotary is facing, and how Rotary can find its place and fulfill its destiny in it. That means research on something more than legislative

Many years ago an automobile was stalled on a hillside in France

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The Rotarians riding in it got out and examined all parts of its machinery, finding no source of the trouble. Finally some one looked in the gas tank and found it empty!

The spirit and object of Rotary may need some reviewing.

Meanwhile I would like to see our present form of legislative procedure have a good tryout.

by Past Dis.Gov. Marianito F. Lichauco

We are not only the architects of our structures, but we must lay the bricks ourselves.

As Rotarians, we must not be satisfied with telling people about the Rotary principles and what them stand for, but we must ourselves live up to and apply these principles in our private, business and social life.

- - - - -

It’s harder to conceal ignorance than it would be to acquire knowledge.

"TEN COMMANDMENTS"

A Chinese banker in south Malaya has issued "TEN COMMANDMENTS" for his employees. They are :

1.  Don't lie. It wastes my time and yours. I'm sure to catch you in the end.

2.  Watch your work and not the clock. A long day's work makes a long day short, and a short day's work makes m7¢ face long.

3.  Give me more than I expect and I'll pay you more than you expect. I can afford to increase your pay if you can increase my profits.

4.  Keep out of debt. You owe so much to yourself that you cannot afford to owe anybody else.

5.  Dishonesty is never an accident.

6.  Mind your own business and in time you will have a business of your own to mind.

7.  Don't do anything here that hurts your self-respect. The employee who is willing to steal for me is can able of stealing from me.

8.  It's none of my business what you do at night, but if dissipation affects what you do next day, you will last half as long as you hoped.

9.  Don't tell me what I'd like to hear, but what I ought to hear. I don't want a valet for my vanity but I need one for my money.

10.  Don't kick if I kick. If you are worth correcting, you are worth keeping.

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THE CHALLENGE THAT CONFRONTS US

by Ches, Perry

I am here as an American Rotarian talking to his fellow American Rotarians to throw out a challenge to you amid the tumult and the shouting of Rotary's Golden Year.

Each year we all celebrate the Holiday Season, put up our trees and decorations, sing our carols, send out our cards, exchange our presents and then quickly slip back to just where we were before the advent of
Christmas and Hanukah.

My Club hopes to welcome you all at the great Golden Jubilee Convention in Chicago. It will be a thrilling culmination of this Golden Year in Rotary. It will be something long , to be remembered. But when the tumult and the shouting has died down, when 25,000 Rotarians have sung Auld Lang Syne, when yon have gone to your home and we have gone back to daily tasks -- what then?

Does the future hold any possibility that there may be something new in our Club meetings, our District Conferences, our International Conventions? Paul Harris and Harry Ruggles were not afraid to something new, something unique,  but that was 50 years ago. What was unique then is commonplace now. Is the

status quo of Rotary sufficient for another 50 or even another 25 years?

Rotary is a social movement and social-movement may develop a mentality, a way of thinking, in which the most comforting thought is the maintenance of that deadly thing
the status quo. When anything stops growing it begins to decay. Rotary should constantly stimulate our thoughts to travel thru unfrequented channels of our brains.

Social movements are conceived and born and, like human beings, may grow to maturity and then gradually slow down, and as we might say begin to develop asthma, bursitis, hardening of the arteries. They may live on indefinitely as something to be highly respected, something to belong to, something to be identified with, but not participated in. I suspect that there are even now men who belong to their Rotary Clubs merely because it seems to them to be the thing to do. If there are any such here I would like to direct their thinking into new channels of thought.

And I want to encourage our young men in Rotary who have been thrilled by the idealism of the Movement, to whom Rotary is a revelation, an inspiration, a call to service in a

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great adventure - - the making of understanding and good-will and constructive cooperation so widespread among the peoples of the world that there will be no more wars.

A false, a vicious ideology is spreading among mankind – an ideology that shouts for peace in world but we know that for many it must be the peace of abject slavery.

Various efforts are being made to defeat or contain that ideology without assured success. In Rotary there is a simple idea which, as people accept it, becomes an infusion that will produce immunity from the poison of that malignant ideology. We have proved its effectiveness in our own fellowship and now our thoughts should be concentrated on how to get this simple idea accepted by people generally. And that is Rotary’s over-all Objective. There is no time to be lost in such an endeavour for our human race is now increasing at the rate of 30,000,000 souls a year.

What an unhappy, fearful world we have in this middle of the 20^th Century. Not because any Rotarian or anyone else who has accepted and practised the Ideal of Service has ever renounced it but because so few, comparatively speaking, have ever heard of it. It is this ideal, the way of life it indicates, the Golden Rule of human relations, found in

All the principal religions, that shows us how to recognize the answer to the Christian’s prayer: "Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven." To get every man, woman and child to realize that this rule points the road to plenty, to health, to justice and to peace is Rotary’s over-all Objective.

Many others individually and in organizations are working to this same end but Rotary was called to experiment in presenting the ideal in a new way and for 50 years Rotary has been richly blessed to prepare itself for a great accomplishment.

Organizing another 8,000 Rotary Clubs and having another 400,000 Rotarians will be another great contribution and to a limited degree to the accomplishment of our over-all Objective but while we are thus doubling our membership how many millions or tens of millions of converts to Communism will have been made? They are being made you know – by men and women who believe in something not just once a week but every day, every hour. And what they believe they are selling to others with energy, enthusiasm and persistence. Do we Rotarians believe in the ideal of Service enough to sell it to others with energy, enthusiasm and persistence?

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A Rotary program which will with greatest speed multiply tremendously the number of people in our country and in all other countries who accept and practise the Ideal of Service in their lives whether they be shop-keepers or statesmen, laboring men or industrialists, teachers or bankers, share-croppers or plantation owners, newsboys or high school students is necessary. We must develop such a program and do a better job with it
than the Communists are doing with theirs. We must not assume that we can do our full part by contributing our annual dues or that by selecting from year to year a few of our fellow Rotarians to serve as Officers of Rotary international we can depend upon them to do all the necessary thinking on the subject. They will do a lot of thinking – they have to
do so as the administrative element of the Association, and they are doing a fine job of administration. We know they are doing their best to serve our Clubs. They may overlook some things. They may make some mistakes. If they feel that we are thinking with them they will be most likely to be thinking with us. Physically we can go also project our mental explorations and conclusions into that building. Thought waves go everywhere.

Rotary is a great democratic organization and it is constructive thinking by its constituents that makes a democracy successful. Our Clubs are the constituents of Rotary International and we Rotarians are the constituents of our Clubs. It is ideas that have come out of the Clubs that have made Rotary what it is today. What it will be in the future will result from ideas that come out of the Clubs. In his Club, in my Club, in every Club there are men who can give thought to the accomplishment of our overall Objective, and when thousands of Rotarians in this country and all over the world are doing so Rotary will truly be a living force in human relations.

To this end each Club must each of its members realize that he is the man with this message for all other men, women and children--that the solution of all the problems of human relations depends upon each individual accepting and implementing the Ideal of Service in all his or her contacts with others.

We have been considering the over-all Objective of Rotary, of Rotary Clubs and of Rotarians. Now let us turn our thoughts for awhile to the mechanics of the Association of Rotary Clubs – that is the laws or rules under which we assemble for our meetings

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Local, national, regional, and international or supernational. As we have to have such laws or rules our Clubs should be concerned to have them clear and workable and then not forget our responsibilities to make them work out successfully.

We know that those whom our Club and the other constituent Clubs have elected as International President, Directors and District Governors, and those appointed to Committees, will conscientiously endeavor to comply with the conclusions of the Clubs as indicated in Convention enactments or resolutions. However there are many things that have to be implemented by the Clubs. Let us see what some of them are at the present time.

Beginning this year our U. S. Clubs have two added duties:

One is the election at the District Conference of the best-qualified available Rotarian in the District as a Member of the Advisory Council on Legislation at the 1956 Convention. Has your Club devoted any thought as to whom it would like to have serve? The Clubs of each District must work out the procedure to nominate for and elect to this office. No provision has been made for expenses of such a Councillor to the Convention but this may come to pass as it can be done by R.I. Board.

Action. Our Clubs might be thinking about how their Councillor may be advised as to the conclusions of the clubs of his District as to proposed legislation.

The other new responsibility is that each Club in each Zone in the U. S. now has the opportunity to make a nomination (limited to Past R.I. Directors) for service on the Nominating Committee for President of R. I. in 1956-57. Has your club been thinking about making such a nomination? Forms for such nominations for the Committee will be sent to the Clubs by the Central Office between the 1st and the 15th of February. Any nomination must be filed with the Secretary of R. I. by April 1st. From nominations so made the Conventions Delegates will elect from each Zone the Member of the Committee. There is no provision that the names the Nominees will be made public prior to the Convention and if the Clubs would like to have this information so as to instruct their Delegates some thought should be given to asking the R.I. Board for it.

Did your Club suggest a good man to this year’s Nominating Committee for President of R.I. in 1955-56. It was your privilege to so participate in the administration of the Association.

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Has your Club advised its members of the more liberal provision (page 91 of the Seattle Convention Proceedings) in regard to a Club excusing, if its Board concurs, a Senior Active or Past Service member from attendance requirements?

Has your Club made a study of the new provision for biennial legislation and the filing of proposals to amend the Constitution and By-laws (pages 118-121 Seattle Convention Proceedings) so that your Club will be informed in the event that it should want to propose an amendment at any time? Does your Club consider that ordinary resolutions which merely express the sentiments of the Delegates can be acted upon every year?

Does your Club want a lively discussion on a Rotary subject? There was quite a debate at Seattle about using meetings of other Rotary clubs in keeping up one’s attendance record.

In the past, when there has been a divided opinion on some subject and a negative opinion, the proposal has been revised and brought up again. A Club could use this subject for a lively Club discussion. (See pages 78-89 of the Seattle Convention Proceedings.) At least one Club (Oklahoma City) has been studying it and has worked what it thinks will be an acceptable basis of agreement for an improvement of the present situation. Although there can’t be legislative

action again until 1956 your Club and mine might get a copy of Oklahoma City’s proposal, discuss it right now and see if it has any merit.

A Club discussion could be developed from another subject on which the Convention deferred action and that is whether a man’s eligibility to membership in a Rotary Club may be determined in part by his place of residence as well as by the location of his business. (Page 137 Seattle Convention Proceedings.) It is a fact that for years various suburban clubs have undertaken to settle this problem for themselves in favor of the residence. The idea of business profit from membership in a Rotary Club has now been so far forgotten and so over-shadowed by Vocational aand Community and International Service that it is not difficult to understand why some Rotarians feel that there is no good reason for insisting that the location of a man’s place of business must be a controlling factor for his membership in a Rotary Club.

The discussion of such matters of concern to us all will intensify the interest of Rotarians in our Association and prepare our Delegates for an intelligent and constructive participation in the business sessions of our Conferences and Convention.

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It will require somebody in the Club to be interested in getting this done successfully. It may be the President or one of the Past Presidents or perhaps some younger member to whom the Rotary Movement presents a real challenge.

In the smaller Clubs this can be done at regular meetings. In the larger Clubs it may be done thru representative Grass Foots Committees which will present their conclusions to the to the Club as a whole at Club meeting/or thru Club publication.

There are some scores of subject that could be the basis of Club discussions—subjects that not only have to do with the mechanics of Rotary but may lead to the accomplishment of Rotary’s over-all Objective. New ideas that may require several years of considering before settled one way or the other.

For example, is it necessary to continue to sell the fundamentals of the Ideal of Service year after year to all Rotary Clubs? After two or three years of existence as a Rotary Club isn’t it likely that the Club has a pretty thoro conception of the Ideal of Service, of the Object of Rotary and its four applications? Could it be possible to consider it an important function of the District Governor to sell the Ideal of Service to non-Rotarians? It may be a startling thought but it might have possi-

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bilities.

Incidentally there is the problem as to what method can be developed by which our Clubs can communicate with each to exchange ideas and conclusions. Those to whom we have given responsibility for the publication of The Rotarian feel that its columns should not be open to the discussion of any matters of Rotary program or procedure which the Board considers as controversial. Aren’t there such matters or proposals that are debatable subjects without having to be labeled as controversial? If we can’t discuss matters on which at present we disagree how are we ever going to reach agreement? Shouldn’t there be some method for a Club to suggest something for consideration by other Clubs?

If your Club wants to consider something that is really forward-looking get a copy of the Redistricting Committee’s conception of a possible future re-organization of the present over two hundres District in Rotary which was submitted by Chairman Bill Rastetter at the 1953 International Assembly. It will be good for several half hours of analysis.

Are our Clubs satisfied with the procedure in the advisory Council on Legislation and in the Convention? Is there too much speed to get the

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business over and get on with the entertainment? Could there be some improvements? It is the Club’s Convention and they can have the kind of Convention they want if they put their minds to it.

Wouldn’t a discussion of Convention legislative procedure make a good Club program? Do the members of the Council clearly realize that they are to study the merits of all proposals and present the Council’s recommendations to the Voting Delegates together with their reasons for making them--and then they are done. Isn’t it correct to say that they have no responsibility to see their recommendations are concurred in? Insofar as the members of the Council may be Voting Delegates from their Clubs, they have the same rights of participation as other Voting Delegates but, at this point in the proceeding, none

as members of the Council. It is the Delegates of the Clubs that have full responsibility for action on legislation. Of course they are glad to have the benefit of the Council’s recommendations but they are under no compulsion to follow them--altho they are likely to do so. Are our Clubs satisfied with the present procedure in which the Chairman of the Council presents its recommendation and immediately moves its adoption? Doesn’t that procedure tend to discourage discussion by

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The Voting Delegate and accomplish what in political bodies is considered as "railroading"?

If time permitted, other topics could be suggested but surely I’ve given you something to start thinking about.

Our Clubs have two responsibilities--

One is to convince all mankind of the importance or accepting and practicing the Ideal of Service as a way of life. There is encouragement for us as we note how many thousands of people today are doing this. We read about such people in The Rotarian, in Readers Digest, in Colliers and other magazines (unfortunately not very often in our newspapers) and we can be thankful for the Society of Friends, the Boy and Girl Scouts and Guides, the Christophers, the salvation Army, and the Churches of course, that are exemplifying the Ideal of Service. But a steadily increasing population needs every Rotarian in action.

The other responsibility is to take our Association set-up and its government such as outstanding example of constructive democratic functioning that it will be an illustration to the whole world that there can be peace among men of good-will and that democracy in a workable theory for Governmental action.

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This can be done by the conduct of our Clubs, of our Conferences, and our Conventions.

As an American Rotarian speaking to his fellow Americans, I want to conclude this hodge-podge of thoughts with a reference to our relations with our fellow Rotarians of the rest of the world.

The extension of the Rotary Movement has progressed so well--as it has had something so basic in the Ideal of Service--that very soon there will be more Rotary Clubs outside the U.S.A. than within it. When that comes to pass perhaps we American Rotarians may have to think things over a bit.

You and I get a thrill out of realizing that there are Rotary Clubs in 80 countries or geographical Regions -- all member Clubs with ours of Rotary International. But how much do we Americans know about Rotary around the world?

I know the sort of fellowship we have in the Chicago Club, the evident interest in and conception of the philosophy of Rotary that I and my fellow Rotarians have – but if I stop to reflect, I realize that there is no uniformity of Rotary behavior or Rotary thinking on the part of all 700m Chicago Rotarians.

Men come into our Club who have been officers or members of other Rotary Clubs and it shocks me to discover that some of them are disappointed in my Club. On the other hand some of us get around to visit other Rotary Clubs and we are disappointed in them.

Does a lack of complete uniformity of procedure and of thinking American Rotary Clubs mean anything serious? Not if we have tolerance among us. Fortunately despite our differences there is a certain basic unity among us even tho we differ in details.

But what do we American Rotarians know about Rotary Clubs in other countries? Are we assuming that they are all just like our American Rotary Clubs -- have the same sort of programs, do the same things, have the same conception of Rotary that we Americans have for the moment I am assuming that all Americans have the same conception of Rotary which in fact we haven’t.

The Rotary Movement in the USA reflects our American way of thinking and acting, our way of life. To us American Rotarians that seems natural and reasonable. Well then, must we not realize that Rotary in any other country will reflect the way of thinking and acting, the way

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of life, of the people of that country? This must be true whether it be in Britain or France or Italy or Brazil or Chile or India or Japan or Australia or Syria, or anywhere else.

Around the world there may not be complete uniformity of thought as to Rotary procedures or Rotary philosophy. A basic unity with regard to what really is fundamental in the Rotary Movement may be all we can hope for, and all that may be essential.

For most of the past 50 years Rotary has in fact been an American Rotary extending itself into other countries. We have set it up as an International Association and called it "Rotary International" Now "inter-national" means between nations and it is possible that Rotarians in other countries as understand it while we Americans have an idea that it means SUPER-national and it is easy for us to feel that way as long as we are in control of it.

Politically human society in general has not yet progressed beyond the national concept. Americans are not disposed to surrender their National Sovereignty. While the peoples of practically all countries have joined in an advanced effort to promote

peaceful relations, and to eliminate want and disease and injustice and was, they have done so as United Nations. Have we done likewise in our Association of Rotary Clubs or have we done something else? Have we a United NATIONS of Rotary Clubs or have we a SUPER-National Association of them? It is important that we have understanding on this point with our fellow Rotarians of other countries. So far as promoting the Ideal of Service but with reference to the government of an Association it may prove important.

When my Club was the only Rotary Club it was supreme but when San Francisco and Seattle and other Rotary Clubs came into existence my Club discovered that it had partners in the development of the Rotary Movement. So it is now. American Rotary must realize that in other countries it has partners in the maintenance and further development of the Rotary Movement and we Americans must recognize
them as full partners whether it is in a super-national or merely a multi-national Association.

The first extension of the Rotary Movement beyond the USA and Canada was to Britain and Ireland. British and Irish Rotarians were the North

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Americans’ earliest partners. The First World War almost caused a dissolution of the partnership but fortunately it was avoided and after the War the partners got together and worked out a revision of the Association program and of its Constitution—that’s when we adopted the name "Rotary International". Again in 1927 they collaborated in making some further revision of the constitution. But Rotary today is a multi-national, almost a pan-national Movement in which the British and Irish Clubs have maintained and probably will always maintain an Association of their own within R.I. Someone may think I should not mention this apparent inconsistency, that it is better for the rest of the world not to know about it but the rest of the world does know about it and American Rotarians should realize that it does.

As ideas and plans for the welfare of the Rotary Movement are brought forward by our partners, the Clubs in other countries, we Americans must be willing and able to see the value of such proposals, when they really have value, whether they be for local or regional application or for the program and the administration of the whole Movement. And we must be able to look at them from the other fellows point of view as well as our own.

What the pattern of the Association of Rotary Clubs will be in the years ahead may have to be determined before very long. There is something in process that may precipitate it. a

At the Seattle Convention we learned that a revision of the Constitution and By-laws of Rotary international is on the drafting board. One is about due. The present edition (plus some amendments) dates back 33 years to when there practically Rotary Clubs only in North America, Britain and Ireland. As I understand it the contemplated revision will be the work of three North American Rotarians. They are able and sincere and experienced and world-minded Rotarians and capable of doing a good job but we of North America must realize that in 33 years wee have acquired many partners in the Govenroment of our Association.

Is it likely that we North Americans would be entirely satisfied with the drafting work of two Australians and a New Zealander? Or of two Indians and a Pakistani? Or of two Brazilians and a Paraguavan? The Constitution and By-laws (at least the Constitution) that is produced in this Golden Year of Rotary should be so universal and so fundamental that it will stand for the next

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quarter century at least and do it practically without need of amendments, and it should be a composite work of the whole Rotary world.

The making and changing of our laws will not in itself accomplish our over-all Objective altho it may en-courage Rotary Clubs and Rotarians in its accomplishment.

In the making or changing of Rotary laws our effort should always be to simplify rather than to expand them and make them more complex. This is especially necessary as we have no Supreme Court in Rotary to interpret them with finality, and of course no police force to enforce them.

Our laws should be largely rules of procedure so clear to, and so acceptable by Rotary Clubs and Rotarians of every country that compliance with them will be considered a reasonable obligation.

In calling attention to the importance of realizing that we Rotarians of Canada and the USA have partners to share with us the responsibility of leadership in the Association it is not my intention to imply that we are immediately, or ever, going to be relegated to a subordinate position in the Association. We can still maintain out outstanding position but it won’t be merely because

we have a majority of the votes in Convention, or because the Central Office is located in an American City. The leadership of the USA and Canada among the nations o the world depends upon what we are and what we do in our own countries. Likewise leadership by North American Rotary in the Rotary world will depend upon what we are and what we do in our North American Clubs.

North American Rotary, that is Rotary Clubs and Rotarians in the USA and Canada, can retain their position of leadership by taking an informed and constructive interest in the administration of the Movement as it is today, particularly in their own countries, and by manifesting a broad-minded and sympathetic attitude toward the problems of Clubs in other countries and also to their ideas with regard to the Movement as a whole

Whether the character of our Rotary Association is determined to be inter-national or multi-national or super-national let it be based on the Golden Rule and the Four Way Test and its future success will be assured.

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the Rotary Movement but bear in mind that all we do in our Clubs, in our Conferences, in our Convention, in participation in a Movement which seeks to bring the human race to

realization that we all profit most when we all serve best, and when we all are doing that there will be peace in the world and happiness for the human race and for each individual in it.

Thank you for listening to my thinking out aloud.

Q. Should Rotarians hold membership in other service clubs?

A. Rotarians are urged to refrain from dividing their interest and energies by accepting membership in other service clubs.

Q. Can my club help in the extension of Rotary in a nearby town?

A. Yes. Each Rotary club should inform itself as to what nearby towns are prospective localities for new clubs and, after gaining the approval of the district governor and under his supervision, make a survey of these towns to determine whether or not they could support a successful Rotary club.

HOW to get along with people . . .

1. SPEAK TO PEOPLE -- there is nothing as nice as a cheerful word of greeting

2. SMILE AT PEOPLE – it takes 72 muscles to frown, only 14 to smile.

3. CALL PEOPLE BY NAME – the sweetest music to anyone’s ear is the sound of their name.

4. BE FRIENDLY AND HELPFUL—if you would have friends, be friendly.

5. BE CORDIAL – speak and act as if everything you do is a genuine pleasure.

6. BE GENUINELY INTERESTED IN PEOPLE – you can like everybody if you try.

7. BE GENEROUS WITH PRAISE – cautious of criticism

8. BE CONSIDERATE OF THE FEELINGS OF OTHER – it will be appreciated.