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PAGE TWO THE GASTONIA, (N. C), DAILY GAZETTE , , nrir Anniversary of ROTARY'S BlMTH;: I'll,.- '- . "-- ' -..v. '. .- ' I Mm GriginofRotary Seventeen years agoj Paul P. Harris, an ,' attorney in the City of Chicago, was tor ' xnented with an unmitigated obsession to ! achieve somethingof benefit to humanity. The. lonesomeness of the large city, the dull routine of business, and the earnest desire to. enlarge his circle of acquaint ances spurred him into decisive action. He invited three friends to his office a coal dealer, a raining operator, and a merchant tailor to whom he deliberately elucidated his idea of forming a club, a unique club, that would be wholly differ enttf rom any other existing organization ; a club that would promulgate the spirit of service, make business men better business men, develop a wide acquaint anceship, and afford its members an opportunity to serve society. This meeting occurred on February 23, 1905, and was the actual arrival of baby Rotary into a world that received her with open arms. Members consisted of one man from each business or profession, who "met in rotation at their places of business to discuss various questions that might arise from time to time, and to offer suggestions concerning the welfare of the community. In order to strengthen fellowship, it . was unanimously agreed that each member should call the other by his first name or by his nickname. Membership in the Chicago Rotary Club increased very rapidly and just three years after its inception, the second Rotary Club was organized in San Fran , cisco. The worthy movement spread along the Pacific Coast, crossed the con tines t, 8nd crept north and south on the Atlantic Coast. At the close of the year 1910, sixteen clubs had been organized in the United States. The initial Convention of Rotary Clubs was held in Chicago in 1910. The "Na tional Association" was formed at this Convention. But, two years later, at the Duluth Convention in 1912, Rotary evolved from a national organization to an international organization. Rotary has grown more rapidly since 1912 than during the first seven years. Today there are more than one thousand Rotary Clubs in the world with approx imately eighty thousand members. Al though the greater number are in the United States, the land of its birth, there ere now Rotary Clubs in Canada, New foundland,. Mexico, Great Britain, Spain, France, Ireland, Cuba, South America, South Africa, the Republic of Panama, Japan, China, India, Australia, New Zea&nd,the Philippine Islands and many other countries. Inquiries have been re ceived from Holland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Falkland Islands and British East Africa, which clearly manifest the far-reaching fame of Rotary. 19051922 v V v "He Profits Moil Who Serves Besl Rotary Achievements HI HATEVER achievement marks the history of the past seventeen years of Rotary activity is due en tirely to, and its ultimate worth is marked by, the manner in which each individual club has lived up to the creed that "HE PROFITS MOST WHO SERVES BEST." a The real achievement of Rotary lies in the way this spirit of service is re flected in the community in which a club has been established. Its activities are varied and numerous and are usually confined to those things which no other organization is formed to accomplish, although some of its greatest achieve ments, and necessarily its least known activities, have been in promoting work for and with other organizations along the lines which these other organizations are given public recognition of accomplishment. Thus during the great war, Rotarians, nominated by International Headquarters or the local club, at the request of government departments or war work organizations like the Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., etc., formed the nucleus groups about which were built many most active and efficient local organizations. Taking the achievements of all Rotary Clubs in the eastern and western hemispheres, they touch every phase of community life. Twenty-five thousand boys and girls who had quit school were influ enced to return last September through the activity of 114 Rotary Clubs in the "back-to -school " movement which began with the Blackwell, Okla homa, Rotary Club three years ago. That is just one of the phases of what is termed Boys Workone of the several special agencies through which practically every club in the international organization has been active. The principal branches of Boys Work, in addition to the Boy Scout ' Movement, are: Providing or organizing the community to provide boys camps, playgrounds and swimming pools; providing: surgical treatment for crippled children; giving boys vocational counsel; big brothering under privileged and delinquent boys; establishing dental clinics, etc. Governing Body 4 of Rotary The International Association of Roraiy ' Clubs, embracing more than one tbsu-.i sand individual Rotary Clubs, fune-: ! tions through a 'Board of Directors j which is elected each year at the annual r Convention. The Directors of the ; Association are a president, 'tfiiree vice-'j presidents, and a fifth member who :3 j the outgoing president end who remains ; -as one of the Directors for a year after ,l the expiration of his term as president, j v The headquarters or central otfxe of , the International Association is located' '. in Chicago, and departments are organ- j ized here for rendering efficient and ; individual service to all Rotary Clubs. , Constant contact is maintained with dis trict governors and committees as well as with each individual Rotary Club through its officials. "The Rotarian," a large magazine -devoted to Rotary, is published every month. . Verbatim proceedings of the International Convention are printed each year in book form. The fact that more than one million copies of reports, bulletins and publications are printed annually will suggest a fair idea of the ' enormous amount of work handled at the central office of the Association. Objects of Rotary To encourage and foster: High ethical standards in bv.v-.irArd professions. The ideal of SERVICE cs tii basis of all worthy enterprise. The active interest of every Rotarian in the civic, commercial, social and moral welfare of his community. The development of a broad acquaint anceship as an opportunity for service as well as an aid to success. The interchange of ideas and of busi ness methods as a means of increasing the efficiency and usefulness of Rotarians. The recognition of the worthiness of all legitimate occupations and the dig nifying of the occupation of each Rota rian as affording him an opportunity to serve society. Literally millions of dollars have been expended in boys work activities initiated or pushed to a successful issue by Rotary Clubs and by Rotary Clubs in associa tion with other organizations. For in stance, in Buffalo, New York, the sum of $500,000 was raised for a high school stadium; in Minneapolis a transportation line for crippled children was established so these children could go to school and the Minnesota legislature acknowledged Rotary as the author and vigorous pro ponent of its legislation providing for adequate schools for such children. These are but two specific instances of thousands of actual undertakings. Even an approximation of the amount of money involved would be a wild guess, but the monetary value pales to insig nificance in comparison with the community service rendered in the de velopment of these activities. But Boys Work, as stated before, is only one of the many achievements. Second to none in Rotary activities comes community service. Rotary Clubs in many cities have been instrumental in arousing a civic pride and consciousness that has resulted in the preparation and adoption of city beautiful plans; erection of club houses for soldiers and community settle ment houses; the providing of night schools for aliens, and their instruction in the fundamentals of Americanism. Better public highways,"get-together" meetings of farmers and business men, communitysinging, employment of visiting nurses, safety-first campaigns; in fact, a complete list of the various activities of Rotary Clubs would include nearly every phase of man's endeavor toward making his city, his state, and his country a better place in which to live. There are innumerable instances where Rotary Clubs have been called upon for service in times of great stress. Probably the most striking example was at the time of the influenza epidemic in the United States and Canada, when many clubs were suddenly called upon to make surveys of hospital facilities organize available local resources for fighting the epidemic, and securing nurses from less-afflicted communities. Published by the Members of the ROTARY CLUB of This City
Gastonia Daily Gazette (Gastonia, N.C.)
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Feb. 23, 1922, edition 1
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