Hundreds of small towns and cities, all but dead so far as civic consciousness was concerned, took on new life and strove to make themselves the best and most progressive in the country. Boys’ bands sprung up wherever it was possible to take root. Boys’ camps were inaugurated. Languishing Chambers of Commerce revived and new Chambers of Commerce organized where there had been none before. Rotarians were more than propagandists; they frequently constituted the entire working force. Those who could not contribute money, contributed labor. Rotarians in small towns became jacks during the construction of camps. Anyone who could drive a nail could qualify as a carpenter, while druggists and grocers became bricklayers and plumbers when occasion demanded. The women served appetizing lunches and eventually won for themselves the endearing term of Rotary-Anns.

There never had been such doings since barn-raising days. Not the least in importance, was the change in demeanor of the citizens. Years seemed to have been shaken off; they were boys again. Old grouches began to smile, and ancient feuds languished for want of sufficient animosity to keep the fires burning. Community service proved its worth.

In the larger cities where social welfare work was better organized the expression of good-will manifested itself in different manners, generally through cooperation with existing agencies. In Great Britain and other countries outside the North American continent, forms of service suitable to existing needs were rendered.

Inspired by the example of Rotary, many other organizations dedicated to similar purposes came into existence in the United States and Canada, Kiwanis and Lions standing next to Rotary in point of membership. Rotary welcomed all and considered it a privilege to give them assistance — an attitude of mind for which Rotary has been amply compensated in the splendid achievement of these kindred organizations.

Boy work which had occupied the center of the stage for some years was destined to have a rival. A splendid citizen of Elyria, Ohio, came into Rotary bringing his own pet propaganda with him. In fact, he made application for membership in the Rotary Club of Elyria for the express purpose of getting the backing of Rotarians for his enterprise; the care, cure, and education of crippled children. To write the story of Edgar Allen is to record one of the greatest humanitarian achievements of all time. His selection of Rotary as an agency through which to secure for such unfortunates the birthrights to which they were entitled was a high honor to the movement. Acting mainly through Rotarians, the International Society for Crippled Children has brought about the organization of more than forty state and provincial societies to promote the interests of crippled children.

If the reader has had his doubts as to whether the raison d’être of Rotary has not been sufficiently established, let it be known that tens of thousands of handicapped children are being rehabilitated, raised from dependency and afforded opportunity to live happy, useful lives through this ministration. All honor to Edgar Allen and his associates in this noble work.

In the meanwhile those to whom Rotary’s great opportunity seemed to be in vocational service, that is, in providing high standards and ideals in the business and professional world, were not idle. Through their influence, scores of national trade associations were organized on vocational lines in the United States, and codes of ethics were adopted. Even conceding it to be true that the adoption of codes of ethics by national associations is no guarantee that the members of such associations will live up to the standards established, it cannot be denied that the fixing of such standards is a splendid impulse in the right direction.

Some of the most influential leaders of Rotary were deeply impressed with the possibilities of this activity; they contended that Rotary was an organization of business and professional men, and should devote itself exclusively to business and professional problems; that the plan of confining the membership of clubs to one representative of each vocation had significance in vocational service, and no significance whatever in community service, which should draw on all citizens willing to help.

Such Rotarians also convincingly contended that vocational activities were preferable because they enabled Rotary to project its influence to non-Rotarians through national and international trade associations. If Rotarians would assume the role of business evangelists, the standards of trade would soon be raised to high levels.

Theoretically the advocates of centering all thought on vocational service presented a formidable case. A world wide organization, dedicated solely to the purpose of raising standards of trade, would not be merely of direct value; it would be of indirect value, in that it would bring about a better understanding between nations; but Rotary had not begun its career with any one single purpose paramount to all others, and it was late in the day for a second renaissance.

In the smaller towns and cities the need of community service was manifested in every quarter. There was nothing abstruse about it; it called for action rather than study or the exercise of the imagination. To one who employed few, if any clerks or helpers, the employers employee relationship seemed not a serious matter.

Certain leaders who were not adverse to community service, were nevertheless of the opinion that clubs should not participate as clubs; that they should go no further than to encourage their members to take part in community activities sponsored by other organizations, except in rare instances where there were no other organizations qualified to act; in which cases, Rotary clubs might take up the work until other agencies could be organized for the purpose.

The theory was that inasmuch as membership in Rotary clubs was confined to one representative of each vocation, Rotary could best act as a propagandist, making the needs known and assisting in mobilizing forces to carry on. A limited number of the opposition even went so far as to charge the advocates of boy work and crippled children work with insincerity, contending that they were not so much interested in the work as they were in squaring themselves against the implications of selfishness resulting from the exclusiveness of representation.

Boy work and crippled children work zealots were were not content to be dismissed with a theory. or with charges of insincerity. They were not interested in refinement of reasoning. To them, service was the ideal, and the role of the propagandist seemed an attempt to avoid responsibility. They had no fears of things being overdone. What they did fear was that splendid opportunities for service might be lost and that Rotary might eventually become merely another banquet-eating, cigar-smoking, song-singing, speech-making, back-slapping aggregation of clubs. They had no orthodoxy other than the orthodoxy of service. They were willing to leave preaching to the preachers; they wanted to do things here and now, and wanted fellow-members to join with them.

Rotary clubs had become service clubs, not in name only but in fact also. They turned their hands to any and all community undertakings in need of their services with such alacrity that their more philosophical brothers rose up in alarm lest their own pet theories be swept from the boards entirely.

The climax came in 1923 during the course of a convention in St. Louis. All possibilities of a schism were prevented by the adoption of a memorable resolution, designated as number thirty-four, by virtue of which all clubs were granted complete autonomy in relation to club activities, but were admonished against permitting any activity to obscure other features of the movement. The resolution was wise, timely, and satisfactory to the opposing factions. It cleared the atmosphere. It was mainly the contribution of a brilliant and devoted Rotarian from Nashville, Tennessee.

Can a club of fifty or a hundred members influence the character of a small city? It has been clearly proven that Rotary clubs do influence the characters of the cities in which they are established. The influence naturally is most noticeable in the smaller communities. Many a dejected, spiritless town of the Main Street variety has been revived and invigorated. Existence can become drab indeed in small towns where there is no public spirit and where home-folks are given to bickering and gossip. If the spirit is what it should be, life should be at its best in the smaller communities.

Rotarians of small town clubs have frequently, with deep feeling, stated that the advent of Rotary has wrought wondrous changes, that contentions and petty jealousies have given way to civic consciousness and enthusiastic cooperation.

Dr. Charles E. Barker, formerly physical director for Mr. Taft while he was president of the United States, is responsible for the statement that the complexion of the small towns in America has been entirely changed by Rotary and the other organizations which have followed its lead. As Dr. Barker had visited nearly one thousand of them, he knows whereof he speaks. Cooperation is the keynote of happy community life.

The influence of Rotary has frequently been brought to bear upon inter-city relationships through inter-city meetings. Such meetings between the representative business men of neighboring cities have on many occasions resulted in the suppression of bitter rivalries and in the promotion of the cooperative spirit. Intercity meetings have for many years been a feature of Rotary in cities both large and small. It was the writer’s privilege recently to attend a joint meeting of the Rotary Clubs of the rival cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles. The goodwill manifested in representatives of those two highly competitive cities was interesting indeed. Year after year the two clubs visit back and forth, the members traveling nearly one thousand miles in the accomplishment of their most laudable purpose.

Frequently intercity meetings are attended by representatives of the clubs of twenty-five or thirty neighboring cities; district conferences have brought representatives of as many as one hundred different cities together, and international conventions have brought representatives of half a hundred nations together. Rotarians, while traveling in their own country or abroad, attend Rotary club meetings when possible. By consulting their international directory they can ascertain when and where the weekly meetings are to be held. Meetings in the larger cities are sure to be attended by many visiting Rotarians and special attention is given them. The record attendance of visitors was made by the Chicago club during the course of a convention of the National Educational Association. The great majority of the members of the Association were Rotarians and eight hundred attended.

The Rotary Clubs of Belfast and Dublin, Ireland, held frequent joint meetings throughout the critical period of dissension between the north and south of Ireland.

Rotary has given special study to reconciliation of conflicting interests and has accomplished wonders in this direction through the simple expedient of bringing opponents and rivals together in the atmosphere of good-fellowship. Where fires of animosity burn or smolder is Rotary’s opportunity. Has the farming element in a community lost faith in the business men? Then the business men will be hosts to the farmers; there will be songs and entertainment, and there will be straight-to-the-point talks, from which both sides will gain much information and better understanding will surely result.

Rotary has an appreciable influence even in the larger cities. To one accustomed to life in large cities, the influence of Rotary is discernible in the churches, chambers of commerce, social clubs, lodges, golf clubs, craft associations, school systems and, in fact, wherever men congregate.

Can fifty men change the character of a small city? Yes, even one can, either for good or evil. If the home-life of a society leader is impure, his example will be followed by others. If he lives a life of service to his community, his town will be a better place in which to live.

The activities of Rotary cover a wide range of public and private service. Members may make selection of their activities according to their special tastes and aptitudes. There are comparatively few all-round Rotarians who throw themselves into all of the recognized activities. An all-round Rotarian is an exceptionally desirable citizen, one who would be an asset to any community in which he might be located. From such, most of the leaders are chosen.

An all-round Rotarian is interested in:

1st —Club Service: That is, in matters pertaining to the administration of affairs in his club.

2nd—Vocational Service: That is, in matters pertaining to the ethical conduct of his business or profession.

3rd—Community Service: That is, in matters pertaining to the welfare of the community in which he lives.

4th —International Service: That is, the promotion of international good-will and understanding.

Dr. Stephenson of Edinburgh contends that there is in reality only one object, and that is the promotion of the service concept as the most suitable motivating influence in life. What we now term objects, he considers ways and means of accomplishing the one and only object. International Secretary Perry thinks of service as Rotary’s super highway and of the four principal activities as the four lanes constituting it.

The devastation resulting from the world war emphasized the importance of promoting international goodwill and understanding, as nothing else could. To Rotarians of European countries, which are in such close proximity to each other and where thoughts of possible future conflicts are always uppermost in mind, the activity is of transcendent importance.

Rotary constitutes a new approach to a most vexing problem. Here is a world fellowship of business and professional men who have united themselves in the ideal of service. In the atmosphere of fellowship, happiness is found. An international fellowship of men bound together by a common ideal, the ideal of service, is truly inspirational. To such fellowship great things are possible, even the advancement of understanding, goodwill, and international peace.

To all Rotarians, the opportunity afforded them by Rotary to participate in the effort to promote international goodwill is precious indeed. The activity contains the essential elements of a great movement — idealism, comprehensiveness, catholicity, — and is eminently adapted to Rotary’s spiritual outlook. If the writer had come into Rotary with precisely the same background of experience as Rotarians of Britain and Ireland, France, Germany or Belgium, it is quite likely that the good objective would assume such formidable proportions that all else would have been obscured from his vision.

If, on the other hand, his bitter and soul-trying experiences had been the field of industrial relationship, it would be quite natural that he would have been tempted to focus all thought and attention on that gravely important question. Rotary, being an organization of business and professional men, is eminently qualified to cope with such problems.

The writer doesn’t feel either, that he is in a position to take exception to the thousands of Rotarians, whose big hearts are full of sympathy with the unfortunate and who, like the Good Samaritan on the road to Jericho, find themselves as they lift the fallen and minister to their needs. Nor is he disposed to criticize the position of those who believe that Rotary’s greatest field of usefulness is in guiding the courses of the lives of the youth who will bear the responsibilities in the years to come.

The writer has implicit confidence in the sincerity of the proponents of the various forms of service. Fearing the prevailing sin, that great enemy of progress, indifference, as he does, he is not concerned so much with the question as to what the service is to be, as he is with the question whether or not Rotary is to make good its high sounding slogan, “Service above Self.” He is little inclined to shout “Don’t” to any worthy effort. It is his belief that the best results can be achieved through adherence to the present program of giving the membership a reasonable selection of activities from which to choose those best suited to the individual taste and to local conditions.

Entire agreement is too much to expect. Presumably no two of the one hundred and fifty thousand Rotarians are in entire accord as to the way in which Rotary can make the most of itself. That men do not think alike is no more remarkable than that they do not look alike. Shades of thought are far more variant than shades of color and as difficult to change. One’s belief is dependent upon so many influences — temperament, heredity, environment, experience, — that leaders must temper their judgment with patience and kindly forbearance. No dogmatic Rotary can be serviceable.

While debate as to the relative importance of the various labeled and catalogued activities has continued long and loud, and while Rotary shepherds have been desperately trying to drive and to coax their sheep into prescribed pastures, many of the sheep have insisted on selecting their own grazing spots. This condition has led to speculation as to where they would go if left to their own resources. In the larger American cities, many might wend their way back to the green pastures from which they started in 1905, there to luxuriate in the companionship of their kind, and let it go at that. The gregarious instinct is elemental and frequently overshadows all other considerations. It has been the cement that binds in Rotary. Neither Rotary, nor any other movement, can get along without leadership.

It is characteristic of the times that the results in all organizations — in churches, chambers of commerce and elsewhere, — are obtained through the efforts of a comparatively limited number of devoted and determined leaders who are prepared to sacrifice time, effort, and means in the accomplishment of their objectives. The thoughtful leader will study the tastes and needs of his followers with the end in view of accomplishing the greatest possible good for the greatest possible number.

The thought that the minimum possible benefit from Rotary contacts is well worthwhile is a source of satisfaction to those who serve the movement. No one can attend Rotary club meetings with the necessary regularity with out finding his life enriched by the friendly contacts, and his mental and moral outlook improved by the cultural programs presented.

Knowledge of the objects of an organization is a prerequisite to its fair appraisal. Measured by the yardsticks of a chamber of commerce or a charitable organization, the results achieved by Rotary would not be satisfying, nor would measurement of the two above-named organizations by the Rotary yardstick be satisfying, and yet many are prepared to pronounce judgment without adequate information, either as to objects or accomplishments.

It is manifest that Rotary could not hope to compete successfully with the commercial clubs nor with the charitable organizations in their respective fields. It may also be freely admitted that Rotary falls far short of doing all that it might do within the limits of its objects.

Rotary’s objects are exhortations, not inhibitions; they encourage the active, not the passive life. Members are appraised according to their deeds, not according to their words.

Rotary clubs (from one in number to more than a thousand, including many thousands of Rotarians) have participated in the following community activities:

Advisory councils
Coordination of service activities in the community; council usually consists of members of all organizations interested.

Athletics
Sponsoring of high school athletics and of installation of athletic facilities.

Aviation
Sponsoring airports, amateur aeronautics, etc.

Back-to-school
Campaigns to encourage school attendance.

Bands
Financing and promotion

Beautifying cities

Big Brother activity

Blind
Care for

Boy Scouts

Boys’ clubs

Boys’ life survey

Camps
Fresh air, T.B., cripples, etc.

Chamber of Commerce
Sponsoring establishment

Charity
Promoting organization of associated charities, drives for relief funds, employment bureaus, community kitchens, etc.

Citizenship and Americanization

Civic improvement
Promoting fire protection, traffic regulation, public works, zoning, tax reduction, etc.

Code of ethics for high school students

Community chest

Organization of and donations to

Community houses
Providing community building especially for young people’s centers or foreign groups.

Community leaders
Organization of leaders’ club

Community surveys
Of social agencies, transportation,
finances, schools, etc.

Crippled children

Exchange of youth
Foreign students, tours abroad

Extra curricular activities
(for school children)
Sponsoring oratorical or essay contests, safety-first campaigns, etc.

Health
Promotion of public health, dental clinics, pure milk, nursing service, etc.

4-H clubs

Hobby Fairs

Hospitals and clinics

Illiteracy campaign

Juvenile delinquency
Cooperation with courts, investigation of cases; paroled boys.

Libraries
Public and school

Miscellaneous
Sponsoring song contests, community celebrations, music festivals, etc.

Motion pictures
Better-films campaigns

Nurseries
Day nurseries

Parks and playgrounds

Recreation
Sponsoring community facilities for adults and children.

Rural urban acquaintance

Scholarships

Student aid
Helping students to earn their way, get loans, etc.

Student loan funds

Swimming pools

Underprivileged children

Vocational guidance for young people

Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A,

The above mentioned activities have in the aggregate accomplished much good and they have, at the same time, served another purpose. They constitute a symposium of experiments and thus have met with varying degrees of success. Some of them will be repeated again and again, and some doubtless will be discontinued. Perhaps Rotary’s greatest opportunity has not been revealed as yet; we shall patiently, persistently continue our exploring.

The following quotation is from page one of “Rotary — A Business Man’s Interpretation,” by Frank Lamb:

“There is a nursery poem of six blind men of Indostan who went to ‘see’ an elephant. The first, bumped into his broad and sturdy side and began to bawl, ‘God bless me! but the elephant is very like a wall.’ The second, finding the tusk, was sure ‘the elephant is very like a spear.’ The third, grasping the squirming trunk averred, ‘the elephant is very like a snake.’ The fourth came into contact with one of the great legs and to him “twas clear enough the elephant is very like a tree.’ The fifth, who chanced to touch an ear, was confident, ‘this marvel of an elephant is very like a fan.’ While the sixth seizing upon the swinging tail, ‘I see,’ quoth he, ‘the elephant is very like a rope.’

“And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong.”—John 0. Saxe.

“Most Rotarians are much like the six blind men. Some particular object, some special activity or some product of Rotary impresses them as most important and straightway they exclaim, ‘This is Rotary!’ The fact that others find some other fundamental or are more interested in a different activity or attracted to another of Rotary’s relations does not help them to see the whole of Rotary, but instead they begin to argue, ‘What is Rotary,’ and the discussion waxes as warm and the findings about as conclusive and pertinent as that of the six blind men of Indostan.”

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