The Renaissance

The birthday of Rotary, February 23rd, is celebrated throughout the length and breadth of the movement. Of all days in the Rotary calendar it is considered the most important. It is not remarkable that this is so. To celebrate birthdays, whether of individuals or of movements, is very human. In the case of Rotary, with its unprecedented rise from obscurity to vast influence within the span of thirty years, birthday celebrations were inevitable; they were the best means of demonstrating loyalty, and of renewing and invigorating faith. Inspiration is to be found in the thought that as the world revolves, it brings a procession of national groups to consciousness of the arrival of the natal day. There is inspiration in the thought that the sun never sets upon Rotary.

Among the not unwholesome attributes of man, is reverence. In dark ages, it raised him above the brute world into a kingdom of his own; it gave him incentive to move onward and upward toward an idealism, the height of which was limited only by his perception. Primitive reverence was extravagant and unrestrained. Birthday celebrations in Rotary are apt expressions of the restrained and rationalized reverence of modern times.

Evolution is natural, orderly, economic, and constructive. Revolution is the reverse; yet both have played their parts in the advancement of civilization. Marking the close of the middle ages, the moral and intellectual standards of the European nations changed so completely that the period was designated the renaissance, or rebirth; it was almost revolutionary.

The progress of Rotary has been mainly evolutionary; one change has followed another in orderly sequence, and yet the history of the rise of the movement reveals a period when the expansion of purposes and ideals was so pronounced that it may well be designated the period of Rotary’s renaissance. Like all other revolutionary periods, it was a time of disillusionment, disenchantment, anxiety, hope, fear, despair, conflict, and heartache.

Had Rotary not been subjected to the stress and strain of its never to be forgotten renaissance, had it not been born again, there would be little to celebrate. Rotary’s rebirth, with the exalted hopes, higher purposes, and expanded vision, was the greatest of all events in the eventful life of the movement.

The rumblings of the renaissance began to be heard during the latter part of 1906; it began-in earnest in 1907 and continued until 1913. During that period Rotary expanded from a local group, gathered together in the city of Chicago for mutual advantage and fellowship, to an organization of international vision and nobility of purpose.

In the beginning of Rotary’s renaissance there was little to justify fond hopes and profound ambition, but the one element to all substantial achievement in all fields of human endeavor was present, and that was faith. Without faith Columbus could never have fought his way against wind and wave to the western hemisphere. Without it, the brilliant Galileo and the patient Pasteur would have remained at the level of mediocrity. Without it, Rotary would have remained a lone maverick of clubdom.

Frequently have the words been heard, “You little thought that Rotary would become the worldwide power for good that it is today. You builded better than you knew.” It is obvious from this and other expressions that the current belief is that the character of the present movement and its wide spread was entirely unforeseen and largely accidental. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The plan was conceived in anxious, earnest reflection, and was painstakingly carried out.

Under circumstances somewhat similar, President Hoover said: “People seem to have the idea that there is some sort of miraculous operation in accomplishment; that somebody conceives a perfect and complete plan, which can simply be charted and placed in operation. Things never happen that way. Something needs to be done. Mistakes are made — but that does not matter; one must press on. One day’s work at a time.”

Little which is worthwhile comes without effort. It could not be appreciated if it were so to come. Rotary was not the result of a stroke of genius; in fact, there is little if anything, even original about it. There is wisdom in the expression, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

To the world in general, the most unique feature of Rotary is its so-called classification plan, by which membership is confined to one representative of each business and profession; but even the classification plan is not original. Long before the birth of Rotary, a social club existed in London, the membership of which was based on vocational classifications.

The factors which distinguish the Rotary clubs from their early English prototype are the idealism, ambition, enthusiasm, and determination which have always characterized Rotary. Two other organizations of ancient origin embodied features which later found place in Rotary. One was an organization founded by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia which adopted the classification plan; and the other “La Sociét des Philantropes” with headquarters at Strasbourg, now removed to Nancy, was almost identical with Rotary in its idealism and purpose. Neither of these organizations became known to Rotarians until long after the birth of Rotary.

How far ambitions of Rotarians had progressed by 1910 can be easily ascertained by a perusal of the record of proceedings of the first Chicago convention. Briefly it may be said that in some of the addresses, the speakers predicted progress nearly equal to the present realizations.

The renaissance demanded more than mere extension, even though extension be to the farthermost corners of the earth. Something yet needed to be done; the purposes and the ideals had to be expanded to dimensions proportionate to the increase of physical growth. Somehow, the esoteric Rotary must acquire an exoteric outlook. With no lesser vision could ambitions be realized.

To accept the new doctrine, involved immense expansion of the old. To immeasurably expand a doctrine which had proven itself eminently satisfactory to the great majority was difficult. It is not easy to become a prophet twice in the same city. Where would the movements of the past have been, had it been necessary for the founders to admit their shortcomings to their followers?

Difficult or easy, the lack of vision had to be confessed if there was to be a renaissance in Rotary. Fortunately there were those in the rank and file who were in sympathy with the wider outlook and they so expressed themselves. In days of tribulation, sympathetic under standing is helpful; it tends to confirm one in his beliefs and to bolster faltering hopes. To pioneer, whether it be in the realm of physics or metaphysics, is to travel a lone some road and words of encouragement are frequently, sadly needed. Nothing is more disconcerting than the blank look of friends to whom one’s hopes are unintelligible. Oh, for a face alight with friendly enthusiasm. How it brightens life, and how sad the lot of him to whose friends his most cherished ideals are vagaries. Though such friends be speechless, their lusterless eyes tell the story. They might as well say, “I’m sorry; I wish that I could go along with you, but I simply can’t. I must be honest with myself and with you. There’s nothing to it; you have been dreaming.”

The needed words of encouragement eventually were spoken. On one occasion, a flood of eloquence served to illumine the shaded pathway. How serviceable words were in preparing minds for the new era, is difficult to determine. It is certain that mere words could never entirely serve the purposes of Rotary’s renaissance. The eloquence of deeds was needed, and even it might prove unavailing.

In such atmosphere, Rotary’s first public service was rendered. It consisted of initiating and promulgating the establishment of public comfort stations in Chicago. Of all the multitudinous undertakings of Rotary, the writer can not recall one more ambitious. Rotary’s first public undertaking resulted in the enrollment of every important civic organization in the city of Chicago, and also the city and county administrations, in its support. For more than two years the battle against indifference, vested interests, and so forth continued until eventually Chicago’s first public comfort station was established on the northeastern corner of Washington and LaSalle streets. The greater significance however, was in the fact that it was the precursor of thousands of similar services rendered by Rotarians throughout the world. Its lesser significance is to be found in the fact that the Rotary Club was raised to the rank of a civic organization in Chicago, to be counted on, henceforth, as an asset in the city. The head of the Y.M.C.A. expressed the prevailing sentiment when he said, “The Rotary Club of Chicago has now shown reason for its existence.”

It has been stated that the purpose of going into the field of civics was to camouflage the real purpose, which was profits. The writer can not speak authoritatively as to what was in the minds of others. He can speak regarding what was in his own mind. He was engrossed in the business of building up a club of the best possible kind. He had a vision of the possibilities of great expansion and he wanted to make his club worthy of its manifest destiny. Some who joined Rotary much later, have expressed them selves as amazed on discovering that Rotary was not full- fledged in the very beginning. It was not, and it would not have been in the natural order of things had it been so. In fact, to the thoughtful observer, Rotary is not full- fledged now, and the writer hopes that it will never arrive at that state, during his day.

There was, however, something better and that was the saving grace of discontent. It didn’t have to be imported from distant cities or countries; it was at hand in abundance sufficient for the purpose. Henry Ford was not satisfied with his first automobile; if he had been satisfied, his automobile business would not have prospered. He kept right on making automobiles, and producing new and better models as time went on.

The inventor of the first Rotary club was more conscious of its deficiencies than anyone else could have been; so conscious of them that he could not have thrown down his tools if he had wanted to do so. He kept on.

If there are still remaining any who continue to think that Rotary’s turn to public service occurred outside Chicago, they are mistaken. Rotary’s first introduction to that form of activity occurred in the city of its origin.

As the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined. The beginning had been made. Rotary was no longer to live within itself. But much remained still to be done in order to make the renaissance effective, and some of it could be better done in new fields, free from tradition, and where there was less to be undone. Forward-looking Rotarians of Chicago took it to such new fields.

Early in the year 1908, Manuel Munoz, a member of the Chicago club, was prevailed upon to carry the message to San Francisco. He pledged himself to interest some suitable resident of the city of the Golden Gate in the organization of a club. In Homer Wood, a young lawyer, he found the right man. Homer not only organized a club in his own city, but in conjunction with other friends organized clubs number three in Oakland, and number four in Los Angeles.