How Do Members View Their Privileges

A just appraisal of the movement cannot be made with out giving a measure of consideration to what Rotarians themselves think of their organization. Aside from natural bias, they ought to be the best judges. What value do Rotarians place upon membership?

There are indications from which conclusions can be drawn. Rotary is thirty years of age. Although there has been little more than one year of Rotary for every century of the Christian era, there are at present nearly
four thousand clubs. The clubs therefore range from one to thirty years in age.

Since February 23, 1905, the day when the first Rotary club had its first meeting, up to the present time, comparatively few clubs have given up their charters. When one considers the ephemeral nature of many organizations, the longevity of Rotary clubs is surprising, particularly so in view of the fact that all clubs must be active in order to retain their charters. Even during the depression, Rotary has held its own remarkably well. At the present time the increase in the number of clubs and the increase in the membership of existing clubs, steadily continues.

But how about attendance? Do the members attend, or do they merely hold membership? The answer to this question is that each member must attend at least sixty per cent of club meetings or forfeit membership. Sixty per cent is the minimum; the average is much higher, and it is increasing, not decreasing — a healthy indication. During the early days of Rotary, an attendance of one hundred per cent of the club’s membership was an unusual event; today one hundred per cent attendance is hardly worthy of mention. If a club holds a series of consecutive one hundred per cent meetings, it will command attention, providing the series is long enough. A dozen or fifteen consecutive one hundred per cent meetings are no longer remarkable; thirty or forty are, though there are Rotary clubs which have held consecutive one hundred per cent meetings weekly for more than a year, and one club kept a perfect record throughout a three-year period. The records of some individual members continue without break for a score of years. Members having such records, are most naturally anxious to preserve them. Continuous good health is an essential, because illness does not excuse absence so far as the records are concerned.

Of course, such results would not be possible were it not for the constitutional provision whereby members absent from their home cities are credited for attendance at meetings of Rotary clubs in other cities.

There must be some strong attraction to lure busy men from their offices once a week, year in and year out. Rotary is ever virile, active, enthusiastic, and never has there been a finer esprit de corps. We have a cause and will to serve it.

It is not always convenient to set aside an hour and a half at noontime for attendance at club meetings. Attendance frequently necessitates many miles of travel. There have been extreme cases in which attendance at important meetings has necessitated hundreds of miles of travel. In the face of such evidence it is fair to conclude that members think well of Rotary.

A Rotarian writes as follows: “Just as Rotary blends the practical and the ideal, so Rotary blends good fellow ship and informality with respect and dignity. It has long been an unwritten law, but a well-respected law, that no speaker before a Rotary club is at liberty to use off-color stories or say anything before the Rotary club that he wouldn’t say if the wives and daughters of the Rotarians also were present. Just as the meeting of the Rotary club is neither the time nor the place for the off-color story, so the club publication is not the place for anything that may offend any member or his family. The fact that such a story may be funny does not entitle it to a place in a Rotary publication.”

There are values which men rate above dollars and cents, and at the top of the list stands friendship. The writer has been deeply impressed at times in the strength of the appeal which friendship makes and in the number whom it influences.

Friendship thrives in the atmosphere of Rotary where formalities and artificialities are brushed aside; where men, regardless of rank and station, meet on a common plane. It is customary, though not compulsory, in American Rotary clubs, to use the first name in greeting fellow-members. It comes naturally to some, while others acquire the habit gradually. Few fail to adjust themselves to the custom. In a large percentage of cases the novitiate is happily surprised at the ease with which he acquires the habit, and after it has once been acquired, embarrassment is at an end.

The members are drawn from all ranks in business life, though the average rank is high. The bank president may find himself sitting at luncheon by the side of the proprietor of the tonsorial establishment in his building, and if he does, the chances are that he will be glad of the circumstance and enjoy the contact.

Not infrequently both father and son have membership and enjoy the fellowship together. In such cases, it is often difficult to determine which gets the more, the younger or the older man. The roster of most clubs includes the names of several semi-retired business men of advanced years, who retain membership because of the enjoyment they experience in the entertaining and cultural programs and in the spirit of the meetings.

The writer recalls the case of an, elderly and partially invalided Rotarian, now passed to the Beyond, who had entirely completed his years of business service. He traveled nearly twenty miles for the purpose of attending the weekly meetings, and the chair reserved for him was seldom vacant. It might be difficult for the author of “Babbitt” to determine what Bob Beck got from Rotary, but it is safe to assume that he got something which he deemed worthwhile. It may have been a hand-shake which paid him for his long Journey, or possibly a smile. One of the best one-word sermons ever preached is the sermon “Smile”; it cheers men in all walks of life and provokes friendship. Smiles quiet the tempests that rise in the hearts of men. The writer once saw an angry and vociferous crowd of men and women who had been unreasonably delayed at a railroad station on a hot summer afternoon, calmed and pacified by the irresistible magic of a smile. Smiles warm one in the winter, cool one in the summer, and cheer one all the year around.

There are on the face of the earth, those to whom such doctrine is mere piffle. They consider themselves high above such things. From the exalted heights of their imaginations, they look down scornfully upon such childish exuberance.

Fortunately for the rest of mankind they, and not those whom they look down upon, are the abnormals. They are not more discerning than the average of men; they are less discerning. They judge others by their own standards and their standards do not meet with the approval of men.

The late Cyrus Curtis, who, through his publications, The Saturday Evening Post, The Woman’s Home Journal, and The Country Gentleman, exercised a more powerful influence on the thinking of the American people than any other publisher, was one among many whom the superior mortals above-mentioned could not claim as their own. Mr. Curtis was an honorary member of three Rotary clubs,— Portland, Maine, his native city; Philadelphia, the city of his adoption; and Miami, Florida where he spent his winters. Mr. Curtis was a regular attendant at Rotary club meetings whenever circumstances permitted. Would it have shocked the sensibilities of the superior’ minded men to hear the sage and venerable publisher accosted by his first name? It didn’t shock Cyrus Curtis. To Rotarians, he was always Cyrus, and he loved it.

During the course of a dinner on his yacht, one of the most beautiful in the world, Cyrus Curtis told the writer that his greatest regret was that so few of his friends could take time from their business to enjoy long cruises with him. Cyrus Curtis loved his fellowmen and to him their hand-shakes and smiles were not mere piffle; they were what made life worth living.

Henry Ward Beecher expressed the spirit of Rotary when he said:

“Nothing on earth can smile but man. Gems may flash reflected light, but what is a diamond flash compared to an eye-flash and a mirth-flash? Flowers can not smile — this is a charm that even they cannot claim. It is the prerogative of man; it is the color which love wears, and cheerfulness, and joy — these three. It is a light in the window of the face, by which the heart signifies that it is at home and waiting. A face that cannot smile is like a bud that cannot blossom and dries upon the stalk. Laughter is day, and sobriety is night and a smile is the twilight that hovers between both — more bewitching than either.”

Rotary aims to encourage the enrollment of young members. Youth is enthusiastic and determined and contributes much to the movement. Youth, middle-age, and old age, all have their parts to play, and all can profit greatly in their contacts with each other. In many instances the abundant energies of youth, and capital supplied by older members, have been combined with telling effect.

Rotary has frequently proven a blessing to the older members when the day for retirement from business comes. Many not only attend meetings of their own clubs but also meetings of numerous other Rotary clubs. Rotarian visitors at many clubs frequently out-number the local Rotarians in attendance.

Cicero was responsible for the statement that in advanced years men must turn their minds to the affairs of state; it was but another way of saying that man must, as he grows older, wean himself from thoughts of himself if he is to realize life in full measure. This is a wonderful world to one who is really of it. Every revolution of the earth on its axis, brings new wonders to view. Kaleidoscopic changes in the affairs of men fascinate the thoughtful observer. Opportunities to play worthy and interesting parts in the game of life abound on every hand, and yet in the face of all this plenty, members who have occupied important positions frequently think that they have nothing to live for when their day for retirement comes.

If one thinks that he has been robbed of all that life holds dear, be might with advantage turn to David Grayson’s books and read “Adventures in Contentment” and “Adventures in Friendship.” Life is always worth while to him who enjoys the companionship of good friends.

Is there anything more pitiable than one who approaches the end of the Journey with nothing to think about except himself? Self will soon cease to exist, but time goes on forever. Long after we shall have been summoned, the world we have learned to love will still be struggling on. There is significance in the words of the old hymn, “Pull for the shore, sailor, pull for the shore. Leave the poor old stranded wreck and pull for the shore.”

Labor is a blessing, not a curse. It gives one the satisfaction of feeling that he is pulling his own weight, but life is more than labor and business should not be permitted to absorb one’s entire being. It has been said that the average life in the United States of a business man, after retirement, is three years. If it is true, it is a startling demonstration of the truth of the saying that it is easier to rust out than to wear out. What a pity that in this world of so many needs there is so little that retired business men can find to make life interesting. The first sixty-seven years of the writer’s life have been high times. He wouldn’t have missed them for anything. During the last four years he has been on the retired list, so far as his law practice is concerned; the result of a nervous breakdown caused by over-drawing his account. After he had liquidated his obligations to nature for overwork, he contracted another for over-rest before he eventually succeeded in getting his books balanced. He is now transacting his business on a cash basis, and enjoying life. Manifestly he must get back into business if he is ever to be at leisure again.

The late Dr. Francis Patton, the venerable past president of Princeton University, with hearing greatly impaired, and eyesight almost gone, found absorbing interest in writing. He told the writer that he and Mrs. Patton, the latter totally blind, had made a great discovery; they had discovered that human happiness was not dependent upon the possession of either eyesight or hearing. His affliction had thrown wide open the doors to a beautiful world of thought; doors which succeeding events had almost closed at times. What can an enfeebled man, bereft of hearing and eyesight, do? If his heart is unimpaired, if he has the courage of a Dr. Patton, he can still find a way to make himself useful, and thus find happiness.

Men who during many years have been absorbed in business, frequently find that physical ailments which seemed of little importance during the days of urgent business, after retirement press forward for attention and soon become more engrossing than business ever was; in fact, they become the victim’s business, and a worrisome business at that. A checkup at the hospital may help some, assuming that the diagnosis is favorable; but an idle mind will get into mischief. Wealth will not help; the chances are that wealth will aggravate the misery. One may be fortunate in being too poor to worry about his health; it is difficult to worry about two things at one time and do both worries justice.

The things that will be helpful are not the ponderables of life; they are the imponderables — kindliness, neighborliness, friendliness, and love. Unless one can successfully cultivate such attributes, in many instances leisure proves unbearable and life soon terminates. How different with Dr. Patton. He rose above material considerations. In a sense very different from that intended by Lord Byron, he worked the mine of youth to the last vein of ore.

William Lyons Phelps, Professor Emeritus of English Literature at Yale, and loved by all Rotarians because of his sweet philosophy of life, says that one’s happiness depends upon the diversity and depth of his interests; and Professor Walter Pitkin, of Columbia University, in his admirable book “Life Begins at Forty” states that the life expectancy of professional men exceeds that of business men; that the life expectancy of business men exceeds that of laboring men; that the best way to keep the body in good condition is through keeping the mind in good condition, and the best way to keep the mind in good condition is through keeping it stimulated by wholesome, active thoughts on a wide range of subjects.

While in Glasgow recently, the writer learned of another remarkable instance of a Rotarian who had found himself. For fifteen successive years he has been lying on his back, incapable of moving either body or limbs. His fast failing sight has made even reading impossible, and yet this heroic man greets friends who call, with ringing laughter. He wrote recently that his so-called affliction was anything but that; on the contrary, it had proved to be his richest blessing. A mutual friend reports that the so-called afflicted is continuing to carry on, and that his noble example is serving to reinforce the courage of many disconsolate. We who are in the enjoyment of life’s normal blessings should be ashamed, in the light of such fortitude, to give way to petty grievances. Equipped with such spirit as that of Dr. Patton and George Walker, one can bear up under the most grievous burden that circumstances can impose. Their experiences make it easier to imagine what Mr. H. G. Wells meant when he said that our present civilization is merely the raw material out of which it is possible for men, if they so incline, to create something really worthwhile.

The following excerpt from an article appearing in a recent number of “The Pinion” published by the Rotary Club of Sydney, Australia, is refreshing:

“If ever there was an object lesson for you and for me, it lies in the later years of Rotarian Sir Edgeworth David whose death is chronicled in this issue.

“Bent, racked with pain, and moving with great difficulty, that cheerful, kindly, uncomplaining soul fought his way to and fro — to the University, to Rotary — clutching his way on trams with extreme difficulty. Sometimes a Rotarian would give him a lift back after lunch, but more often than not Sir Edgeworth crept quietly around the edge of the crowd, and made his own laborious way, hating the very thought of giving trouble. So, while we rolled at our ease in cars, that poignant, white-haired soul, with his habitual haversack and stick, battled his way through the riotous and noisy city. The dignity and the courtesy of him were like a blissful breeze from the cool heights.”

“A little more tired at close of day,
A little less anxious to have our way;
A little less ready to scold and blame;
A little more care of a brother’s name;
And so we are nearing the journey’s end,
Where time and eternity meet and blend.”
—Roflin J. Wells.

Rotarian Eddie Guest, who explores the depths of everyday affairs for overlooked beauties, thinks that there is nothing in nature more beautiful than the maple tree in its autumnal coloring. To his poetic fancy, it is a pageant, a grand outburst, a final celebration just before the leaves fall off and die; it reminds him of the final days of some old folks he has known. I am sure that Eddie would have included Sir Edgeworth’s name on his list of inspiring celebrants had he known him.

Under the Rotary plan, business is an important part of life but it is not the all of life. It is recognized that there are arable areas in life well outside that part assigned to business. He whose vision extends no further than the field of business is to be pitied; it matters not what his success in that field may be. What will he have to fall back upon when business reverses come? How will he occupy himself when his time for retirement comes? Rotarians who are true to their cause will have interests to fall back upon. The Rotary philosophy of life will serve in good stead. Public service is the best kind of hobby; it is far more satisfying than collecting coins or postage stamps.

Health and happiness count far more than material possessions. The outdoor life contributes to both health and happiness; therefore, let us cultivate a love of the outdoor life. It is full of interest whether our particular hobby be birds, flowers, or landscapes. My own hobby is landscapes. Give me a view of long rolling hills with well-kept farms, contented cows and sheep grazing on the hillsides and a meadow lark, thrush, or robin singing in the distance. I have never been able to determine which is the more beautiful, the hills of Scotland with their gorse and rhododendrons in the spring, or the mountains of New England with their sugar maples in the fall. Both are exhilarating. Jean revels in sunsets and I enjoy them with her.

One retired friend of ours has taken up painting and another, gardening. The latter is to be seen in his garden from the awakening of the first crocus in the Spring until the last chrysanthemum goes to sleep in the Autumn. Another friend loves books and revels in the companionship of the great thinkers of all time. These are simple, wholesome pursuits and available to all, rich and poor.

During the course of years, many interesting testimonials of the value of Rotary have come to the ears of the writer. Rotarians have frequently called at his office and occasionally, with tears coursing down their cheeks, stated that Rotary has been the greatest influence which has ever come to their lives.
Women have told him that Rotary has been the making of their husbands; that they have been far more considerate and thoughtful since becoming Rotarians — better husbands and fathers than ever before.

Granting that some of these expressions may have been overdrawn, the results which these witnesses claim to have discovered are precisely the results which Rotary is striving to attain. Rotary aims to be practical, and hopes to enrich life; its philosophy is a wholesome philosophy. Rotary is without dogma, and tolerant at all times.

While the objects of Rotary do not include any reference to the domestic relationship, it naturally follows that father and son days and ladies days, which are frequently featured, serve to reveal parental and conjugal responsibilities, as does also boy work, crippled children work, and so forth. The member who finds satisfaction in opening opportunities to boys in need is not likely to be indifferent to the needs of his own son.

The friendly spirit of the Rotary club meetings frequently serves to change the member’s entire outlook on life. There are miraculous qualities in friendship. The writer can call to mind men who, to use the Biblical phrase, have been “born again.” For example, there was in a small city of Illinois a man, whom we may call John Smith. He was a man of indomitable purpose, who through his own unaided efforts had created a huge manufacturing plant of national fame. His eighteen hundred employees were always sure of their pay, but they were given in no uncertain terms to understand who was boss. Smith was a man of iron.

He worked from early morning until late at night, and he could always be found “on the job.” His devotion to business had obscured all other interests in life. He walked from his home to his office and from his office to his home, bowing neither to right nor left. He neither had friends nor felt the need of them; he was self self-centered, austere.

One day while visiting one of his offices in a distant city, his manager asked him to attend a Rotary club meeting. Smith accepted the invitation, though he would have preferred to have lunched elsewhere. His impressions were not favorable. There was too much noise and confusion, too little dignity, and the singing was not up to standard. After the meeting, however, many of the incidents came back to him and as he thought of them it seemed to him that there was something about the spirit manifested that reminded him of something which had once been in his life and had passed out. Eventually he determined to restore that something, and when he returned to his home city, he organized a Rotary club. His fellow members thought so much of the newborn John Smith that they elected him president for six consecutive years. A few years later, when he built a beautiful home, he caused a large Rotary wheel to be fashioned in cement and given conspicuous position in the front of the house so that passersby might see it and realize that there lived a Rotarian.

Three years ago, John Smith paid an installment of four hundred thousand dollars to the John Smith foundation for dependent boys and crippled children.

Does it not seem strange that so capable a man should have permitted himself to have gotten into such a rut as he formerly was in, and is it not amazing that he could have been lifted out and landed on the broad highway of life again by so simple an expedient, as the friendship of his fellowmen? The fact is, that until he came, through Rotary, into intimate social contact with men, he simply did not know them. When he once knew them he became aware of their fine qualities and loved them.

John Smith departed this life recently and when he realized that the end was near, he said to the writer, “It is not the question, Paul, how long we are to be here; the question is, have we finished our jobs?” In the passing of John Smith, the writer lost a staunch friend whom he greatly admired.

Among other provisions in his will was one by virtue of which thousands of helpless children will come into the birthright which Merciful Providence must have intended for them. John Smith had finished his job and was ready to lay himself down for well rest. Thousands now sing the praises of the once friendless John Smith and his friends bear testimony that the miracle of John’s new birth was the result of the friendly spirit of Rotary. To some of the so-called intelligentsia, John Smith might seem beyond understanding, but to those who knew him best, he was no quandary.

Men have expressed wonder that so simple an idea has carried so far; that it has made itself at home in so many nations. To the writer’s mind, the effectiveness of Rotary is partially due to that very attribute, its simplicity. There are thousands of John Smiths in Rotary, who are enjoying fuller and richer lives by virtue of the simple and yet miraculous attribute of man, friendship. Whatever critics may have to say, these men of position and character are ready at all times to rise and call Rotary blessed.

“He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory was benediction.

Adult males only are eligible to membership in Rotary clubs, and the curriculum constitutes a splendid course in adult education. In Rotary the practical values of every’ day life are brought out, and members are taught ways of making themselves useful. According to old standards, when a boy finished school, his educational work was supposed to have been completed, whether it had extended beyond the sixth grade or stopped short of there. According to the new standards, life throughout is viewed as an educational process. All praise to the adult educational movements which seek to give older members of trade and professional organizations, opportunity to keep up-to-date in their practices. Rotary sympathizes with their efforts. One is never too old to learn.

Weekly Rotary club meetings, committee meetings, board and intercity meetings, district conferences, district meetings of presidents and secretaries, meetings of the board of directors of Rotary International, international assemblies, and Rotary International conventions are all calculated to awaken civic, national and international consciousness, raise standards of thought, broaden vision, and to help in promoting better understanding between members of different groups.

Not least in importance in the Rotary curriculum is the education which comes through contact with fellow members. The secretary of the Rotary Club of Chicago once remarked, “Chicago Rotarians seldom realize that they are better for having known B. 0. Jones, but they are.” Truer words could not have been spoken. “Sunshine” Jones has for twenty-four years been carrying help and good cheer to thousands. He is Rotary’s ambassador to the afflicted. It is an honor to be elected president of a Rotary club; it means that the members have stamped the president- elect with approval; it also means that he who has been thus honored stands an exponent of Rotary ideals. During his entire year he is to appear before the membership, week after week. To many he becomes a model after whom, consciously or unconsciously, they fashion their lives. It is a still greater honor to be elected president of Rotary International. He who occupies that post stands as an exemplification of Rotary to the entire membership. Whatever be his nationality he stands as an example of the manhood of the country he represents, and the Rotarians of other countries are thereby given a new vision of his country. The mere exhibit of a fine, manly, modest personality does wonders.

Three Canadians and one Englishman are of the number who have thus far been the recipients of Rotary’s highest honor, and the Americans who know and love them have kindlier thoughts of Canada and England than they have ever entertained before. Each has made magnificent contribution to the movement. Rotary International has been extremely fortunate in its selection of presidents. It would be impossible for the writer to over-express his appreciation of their joint and several contributions to the movement; it would be impossible for him to over-estimate their loyalty, their devotion, the sacrificial spirit which they have so frequently made manifest. He wishes that it might be permitted him to write the stories of their various administrations, but to do so would be to write the history of the movement and would require several volumes. The writer has no doubt that it will be accomplished in the course of time.

The following is certainly not intended as a catalogue of the virtues of the men who have served as international presidents but rather as the impressionistic views of the writer as to specially outstanding characteristics of each international president which have contributed signally to the advancement of the interests of the movement:

The writer might add that his own name is generally included in the above list. He has had the privilege of knowing each and every one of his fellow Past Presidents intimately and considers himself singularly blest in their friendship.

The writer is also frequently referred to as the founder of Rotary. When James Davidson and Colonel Layton Ralston of Canada left for their pilgrimage to Australia and New Zealand for the purpose of establishing Rotary clubs in those countries, they expressed a desire to meet the writer personally and one of them at that time, said that it did not seem to him proper to depart on so important a mission without first having met the founder of Rotary. He who is called the founder, expressed his appreciation of the sentiment, but also said that it was quite possible that the value of his work had been over-estimated, whereupon Chesley Perry remarked: “I suppose, Paul, that the desire to see you is somewhat akin to the desire men have to see the source of a great river.”

The analogy appealed greatly, yet it had one fault. We know that rivers do not have their source in any one spring. We know that rivers are the sum total of the hundreds of rivulets which course down the hillsides and pour their volume into the channel of the great river. And thus it is with Rotary. Rotary is the sum total of the contributions of hundreds of big-hearted, broad-minded men who have given of themselves to the movement. If, however, Rotarians must have, one to think of as the spring, they must also remember that rivers have currents as well; strong, resistless currents that run unceasingly. Rotary has its current, persistent, indefatigable Ches Perry.

Rotary’s spread throughout the Far East has been an unusually fine testimonial of the devotion of members, who have been willing to sacrifice their own important business affairs in the interest of the cause. The late James Wheeler Davidson heads the list. Jim, whose varied experiences included service as press correspondent in the Russo-Japanese War, American Consul in the Far East at several places, Arctic explorer with Admiral Perry, and President of the Rotary Club of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, visited Australia and New Zealand with Colonel J. Layton Ralston (then president of the Halifax Rotary Club and subsequently Canada’s Minister of National Defense), and established Rotary clubs there. In 1928 he and his wife Lillian Dow Davidson, and their daughter Marjory were invited by the board of Rotary International to make a tour of the Levant and Orient in the interest of Rotary, with the expectation that he would be gone about eight months. Their journey, occupying actually two and a half years, took them from Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and Palestine to Iraq, Syria, Persia, India, Ceylon, Burma, Malaysia, the Netherlands Indies, and Siam, and thence to China, Manchuria, Korea, Japan, and the Philippines.

More than a score of Rotary clubs in these countries are a tribute to Jim’s energy and personality. In a few cases he found self-organized clubs desiring recognition as Rotary clubs, lacking only knowledge of the procedure. He had equipped himself in advance with letters of introduction from men of high rank in the political and business life of several countries. In many places he was able to persuade the highest public officials to participate actively in the organization of Rotary clubs, in the hope that they would serve to bring Europeans and natives together. Usually the rigid caste lines and social customs gave way before his genial contention that Rotary clubs should be as truly representative as possible of the leading business and professional classes of the city without regard to religious, political, or even social differences.
The Davidsons experienced many hardships but Providence seemed to protect them. An auto smash-up on a road through a Malay jungle happened immediately in front of a clump of thatched huts from which the natives sprang to rescue the party from drowning in a ditch. Jim had several varieties of fever, and Marjory was seriously Ill as the consequence of an insect bite. And still they kept on planting Rotary clubs in the Orient. Jim brought together groups of business and professional men of as many as fourteen nations, while Lillian kept Rotarians throughout the world on the qui vive of interest through writing illuminating articles for “The Rotarian.”

The brother of the King of Siam, Prince Purachatra, became the founder president of the new Rotary Club of Bangkok, Siam, and Malay Sultans became members of others.

East of Suez, Jim wrote that serious problems were arising in the Far East and that the only agency that was even trying to develop better understanding between these various national, racial, and religious groups, was Rotary. The chain of Rotary clubs he established from the eastern Mediterranean on through the Orient to China and Japan, forms a series of outposts from which good-will, tolerance, and international amity will be radiated among the count less millions of people mixed together in Asia.

Among the Rotary clubs organized by Jim are those at Athens, Greece; Jerusalem, Palestine; Cairo, Egypt; Bombay, Delhi, and Madras, India; Colombo, Ceylon; Rangoon, and Thayetmyo, Burma; Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Ipoh, and Kiang, Federated Malay States; Batavia, Bandoeng, Malang, Semarang, Java; Medan, Sumatra; Singapore, Malacca, and Penang, Straits Settlements; Bangkok, Siam, and Hongkong, China. In addition he surveyed Istanbul (Constantinople), Damascus, and Bagdad, where conditions were not, in his opinion, favorable for a Rotary club at that time.

Jim was far from well when he and his family embarked upon their great expedition but the man who had faced the rigors of Arctic winters was not one to shirk responsibility. He heard the call and responded to it. When he returned, it was manifest to his friends that he had spent his all. He survived a brief period only, but he had carved his name on the imperishable records as Rotary’s ambassador deluxe, first and foremost of a long and distinguished line of men who have given of themselves generously in the interests of Rotary and without compensation other than their inward satisfaction in having done a good job well.

There have been thousands of other instances where the sacrificial spirit of Rotarians has found expression in diverse and sometimes individualistic ways. At the head of the list of individualists appears the name of George W. Harris, of Washington, D. C., the friend of each and every President of the United States who has held office during the last thirty years. George’s peculiar fancy is to serve in the capacity of Sergeant-at-Arms at the annual International Assembly. Year after year he travels at his own expense to the assembly city wherever it may be, frequently bringing his family with him. He is now known to everyone. Swiftly he glides about in the performance of his tasks. His devotion glorifies a post which few would have chosen.