CRP. No. 105C MARCH, 1959
ROTARY INFLUENCE — PASTE PRESENT AND FUTURE
A Challenging and Provocative Talk
To Rotary Clubs of District 644
by
CHESLEY R. PERRY
Chicago Rotarian
1958 — 59
President and Fellow Rotarians:
It is a pleasure to be here today with the
Rotary Club bringing to you all the greetings of President
Herb Blakeslee and my fellow members of the Chicago Rotary
Club.
With Founder Paul Harris and others I did
have some part In organizing the Association of Rotary Clubs
49 years ago and then served as Secretary of the Association
for 32 years while it grew from 16 to 5,000 Clubs— but
that’s ancient history.
In the period since then I’ve been having
experiences similar to yours for what happened was that when
I re tired from office in Rotary International some 17 years
ago my Club immediately put me at work again at the grass
roots level to serve first as secretary and chairman of Club
committees then as a director and vice president and then as
its president, and now I am a past president and still
serving on Club committees.
With this personal reference you will
understand that what you will be getting today are simply
some thoughts of a contemporary fellow Rotarian from a
neighbor Club.
Frankly I shall not try to amuse or entertain
you but merely let you know what’s on my mind with the hope
that it will encourage some if not all of you to do some
similar thinking about the Rotary Movement.
I am doing this because I am convinced that
the Movement will not and can not achieve its destiny until
the lull potentiality of the Movement is recognized and re
leased by the interested, devoted and constructive thinking
about it by all of us in our Clubs.
Rotary Influence in the U.S.A.
My first thought is that our Rotary Clubs of
the U.S.A. should be something more than just another group
among many luncheon club groups which I fear they have be
come, or may become, in the public’s estimation and possibly
in the minds of some of our own members.
Every now and then some American Rotarian
after visiting Rotary Clubs abroad comes home to tell us:
“You know, I believe Rotarians in other countries take
Rotary more seriously than we do in the USA.”
If such observations are correct ones, you
and I should be concerned about them. Did our predecessors
export something they had enthusiasm for but which we no
longer take seriously at home?
Our American Rotary Clubs are jolly centers
of good fellowship and at least the most of them are engaged
in some worth-while community service project. And in
addition we definitely are interested in the progress of the
Movement in other countries, in having our over seas
contacts, in the Rotary Foundation’s advanced study
fellowships for better understanding and our own District
student fellowships.
But my second thought is that without losing
our inter national outlook or our fellowship with Rotarians
all over the world our American Clubs should give thought to
being mutually engaged in some activity that will be a real
contribution to the welfare of our Nation.
Extension should continue until every city,
town, village and trade center with the required number of
classifications has been brought into the fellowship of
Rotary International; Foundation fellowships, student
exchanges, inter-city and inter-country visits,
targets-to-shoot-at, vocational service conferences,
information institutes and forums, community service in each
Club’s territory all these should continue to have our
attention.
But We Might Do Something More
You and I as Rotarians are internationalists
but still we are Americans who are concerned about the
welfare of our Nation.
We should be able to agree upon and have the
courage to tackle some worthwhile project of service to our
Nation one in which all our Clubs or at least a majority ot
them could be actively engaged at approximately the same
time.
As an illustration consider the Four Way Test
which has had a notable acceptance in business and
educational circles. The Rotarians of Daytona Beach, Florida
have even achieved a city-wide adoption of it as a basis for
good relations among all the citizens of that city. What an
effect it would have upon our Nation if several thou sand
American Rotary Clubs were today accomplishing
simultaneously or progressively the same thing in their
respective cities and towns!
As something not so dramatic but with its own
potentiality we could consider the ‘Wheel Clubs” of high
school students sponsored by so many Rotary Clubs in Florida
and Georgia. Hasn’t their usefulness in training youth to be
good citizens in a free economy, and perhaps some day good
Rotarians, been well demonstrated? Couldn’t the Rotarians of
many other States also be interested in sponsoring similar
clubs in their high schools?
We think ours is the most democratic Nation
in the world — but only about 50% of its citizens go to the
polls to vote. In some other Free Nations the voting percent
ages are in the 80s and 90s. We certainly have room for
improvement. What might be the leadership influence of a
quarter million Rotarians if they unitedly gave attention to
this problem? Would voting on Sun day after Church services
instead of on Tuesday increase the American percentage? We
might at least discuss it?
Thousands of Clubs working on or considering
the same project at approximately the same time would give
their Rotarians a community of interest and a keener sense
of fellowship as American Rotarians, a greater interest in
theft own. and other Rotary Clubs, increase attendance at
our District Conferences bringing us there for the
discussion of our mutual project.
In addition to these and other suggestions
that might be made there is one serious and threatening
situation in our Nation which calls for prompt attention by
all of us who still believe in honesty and morality and
thoughtfulness of and helpfulness to others in human
relations.
As Oliver Goldsmith wrote a hundred years
ago:
Ill fares the land to hastening ills a
prey
Where wealth accumulates and men decay.
All media of public information keep pointing
out the prevalent and increasing dishonest, immoral and
amoral, aggressive, unethical and frequently criminal
practices which have become common in so many phases of
American life.
Not only are our people generally becoming
infected by the virus of getting everything possible without
regard to the welfare of others but an organized coterie or
coteries of shrewd and aggressive men without con science or
scruples of any sort are successfully extending theft slimy
tentacles and antis into and around labor unions, businesses
and industries, political parties, courts and law
enforcement agencies, and city, state and federal government
law-making and administrative services.
Many of the American people from fear of
consequences to themselves or their families or their
interests are be coming “fellow-travelers with the hoodlums,
making “sweetheart contracts” with them, etc.
And, concurrent with the evident success of
syndicated gangster operations, there is a startlingly
steady in crease in the criminal behavior of Individuals and
groups, especially those of younger years.
It is true that such things have been going
on for many years but they have now reached the point in
their development to cause J. Edgar Hoover, chief of the F.
B. I., and others in position to know the facts, to endeavor
to awaken the Americans people to conditions which if not
checked and controlled, will inevitably lead to the decline
and fall of the American Republic even as the Roman Empire
declined and fell and the invaders came in.
The communists are expecting it to happen and
are stalling along until it does.
Apathy and Indifference to such a situation
will permit the forces of evil to keep on profiting and
corrupting, robbing and murdering, growing in power until
they will actually take over the country.
Governmental investigations will not cure it
— merely expose it a little more. Laws on the subject are
“dead letters” unless the people support them and cooperate
in their enforcement.
Patriotic, determined and courageous business
and professional men and other citizens must face up to the
situation, although it may require sacrifices as great as
those required in time of war.
I am not suggesting that any Rotary Club or
the American Rotary Clubs collectively should take the field
against the forces of evil, but the Club discussions of the
situation would be educational to us as individuals.
Possibly out of such discussions might come
ideas for a plan of procedure that would be welcomed by all
good citizens? Rotarians as individuals could participate in
implementing the plan as could other citizens.
The fact that Rotary Clubs were discussing
the situation would be an influence for other groups to do
likewise.
Discussion or Listening Clubs
My third thought Is that if we are interested
in having our American Clubs influential in any important
way in our Nation, we should make them discussion Clubs in
stead of merely listener or spectator Clubs which many of
them are, or are inclined to be, at present. We listen to a
speaker or look at a movie only to forget what we heard or
saw as soon as the program is over — if we remain until It
is over.
Our interest in anything is greatest if we
are participating in it. A discussion gives opportunity for
participation.
Of course it is much simpler to plan and
conduct a speaker-to-be-listened-to program, or have a
travelogue or some other film, than it is to organize and
conduct a discussion program but every Club has someone in
it who can ar range discussions—draft him for such service.
Here is one suggestion for a discussion Club
and a unique one among luncheon clubs:
First after the call to order have the
speaker, or panel or other presentation of an important
message or proposal— then have the luncheon served and while
eating seriously discuss what we have just listened to—after
that the announcements, closing song, etc.
Such a schedule would permit and induce
member participation in the program of the meeting.
Incidentally every issue of The Rotarian
magazine has some article on an interesting subject that
could be read to the Club (by a good reader who would
present it forcefully) and then discussed across the table
or tables during the Luncheon period.
Perhaps some sections of this talk could be
used for “buzz sessions” at Club or fireside meetings.
If the Rotarians of 5,000 American Rotary
Clubs were each week democratically devoting a half hour to
the discussion of a matter related to the welfare of the
Nation or of their State or community it would be front page
news at home and abroad.
It might induce other groups to emulate our
example. It might induce the American people to become a
thinking, reasoning, democratic people.
Cliff Randall, our present International
President, gave us last July a forward-looking message about
facing the future for review in our clubs, or In fireside
meetings, or for our thoughtful reflection as individual
Rotarians. And again in the December issue of The Rotarian
magazine Cliff explained more fully what he considered our
opportunity to help face the future in a changing world. How
much attention did we give to it? Why not, for an early
meeting, dig up the December magazine and have the
President’s article read (by a good reader) as the opening
section of the meeting and then discuss it at the table (s)
while eating?
We must realize that each year it costs us
“dues-paying, card-carrying” Rotarians thousands of dollars
to have an International President. We elect him to give us
leader ship in our efforts to accomplish the mission of the
Rotary Movement. Are we responsive to his leadership?
We should be. If we are not what’s the use of
having an Association of Rotary Clubs with a mission?
A Glance at the Past
There are today in our country more than ten
times the number of Rotary Clubs and Rotarians there were
many yeas ago when the Movement was really influential. Let
us take a quick glance back to that era of influence.
To begin with: the founding of the
Association of Rotary Clubs newly 50 years ago and the
efforts of the Clubs and their Rotarianism to activate the
Golden Rule influenced the formation of Kiwanis, Lions and a
score of other similar clubs all animated by the Ideal of
Service, and stimulated various other groups and
organizations to activities in community service.
Rotary Clubs and Rotarians were definitely
influential in fostering the growth and success of the
recently organized Boy Scouts of America; and later by
establishing Annual Boys Week, they focused public attention
to the need of service to boys.
They awakened and led a public interest in
the plight of crippled children which has dotted the country
with hospitals and homes and schools and camps for them.
They adopted and published a code of ethics
for business men which led to the organization of hundreds
of trade and business associations.
During World War I they were influential in
staffing the Department of Justice’s set-up against
sabotage; and in the development of a remedial program for
deplorable conditions adjacent to military training camps —
the USC clubs of today are an outgrowth of that program.
In the past American Rotarians were united in
thought and action to improve conditions in their country.
Are we so united today? Well-known and respected as our
Clubs may be, are they recognized as an influential force
for the welfare of the Nation?
Some commentator on the original Rotary Club
wrote:
“Those Rotarians seem to think they can make
the
Golden Rule work not only on Sunday but seven
days a week.”
And Paul Harris and his fellow Rotarians
accepted the same conclusion as a correct one — that was
what they were doing in trying to be thoughtful of and
helpful to each other.
Moreover they later discovered that the
principle of what Christians call the Golden Rule is found
in the teachings of all the chief religions of the world.
These thoughts of mine do not seek to alter
or change the character of the Rotary Movement but to
encourage my fellow Rotarians and especially the younger
ones, to see it as it really is and to have a vision as to
its potentiality now, and in the future when automation does
all the work and all men live lives of leisure.
As Solomon the son of David, wrote: “Where
there is no vision the people perish And so do Movements
without vision.
It is our responsibility to activate the
Golden Rule principle — in our way or ways, in our country
while Rotarians of other countries are doing likewise in
their countries.
We can do so not only by the way we live our
individual lives, conduct our avocations, etc. but by
persuading our fellow Americans of all classes to be
thoughtful of and helpful to others, and by evincing a
united influence in matters that will make for a healthier,
happier, saner American Nation which appears to have lost
its sense of a proper social balance.
Rotary Must Continue to be Democratic.
Now let us look at the larger picture for a
few minutes:
You and I certainly are interested Rotary
Movement to encourage and happiness on this earth through
the principle of the Golden Rule to all society everywhere.
Each Rotary Club, each Rotarian, has a
mission to assist In achieving this basic objective as
rapidly as possible. You and I have a duty to help carry out
that mission, and to transmit the responsibility for doing
so to everyone who accepts membership in our Clubs.
That we may not forget this responsibility
the Rotary Movement must continue to have a truly democratic
character with a democratic participation by us Rotarians in
our Clubs, in our Conferences and in our Conventions Every
Conference and every Convention is composed of Delegates
from the Clubs some voting some non voting but all
privileged to speak.
Why are you and I entitled to wear a little
emblem button which reads “Rotary International”. It is
because our Clubs are the constituent members of Rotary
International and you and I are the constituent members of
our Clubs. Thus we Rotarians are Rotary International and
thus you and I have responsibility — collective as well as
individual.
We Rotarians elect delegates from our Clubs
to represent at Conferences and Conventions the wishes of
our Clubs which means our wishes.
Through the delegates of our Clubs in
Convention we determine the laws and policies of the
Association, elect the officers to administer them, and
establish the amount of dues we pay to provide for the
expenses of the Association.
That is the way the Association was
established. That is the way it operates today and that Is
why you and I have responsibility for its operation.
The officers, directors, and committees
national (all established by the Clubs to them) will
encourage, assist, counsel Clubs in implementing the
programs Clubs have agreed upon.
In turn our Clubs must be promptly
cooperative with such leadership and through to demonstrate
the effective body moving forward to its objective.
A Rotary Club to the Association is like a
cell in the human body which functions as its cells
function. To be a live cell a Rotary Club must not only be a
center of good fellowship and have some local community
service project but have concern about the administrative
activities of the Associated Clubs (Rotary International)
and the achievement of the basic objective of the Movement.
It must participate in the Conventions and Conferences, in
the development of better plans and procedures and programs,
in the making of new laws or the revision or amendment of
existing ones, and in the nomination and election of the
officers of Rotary International.
At present we can see distinctly two serious
challenges to the achievement of the Movement’s destiny.
One is the unexpected increase in the human
birthrate and the contributions of science to the
prolongation of people’s lives — the population explosion.
This may mean more Rotary Clubs but does it mean more
Service above Self?
The other is the spread of an ideology of
atheism, dishonesty, and brutality which seeks to replace
the spiritual and intellectual happiness of men with a
work-horse and cattle-like way of life for the mass of
humanity.
To keep pace with the first of these
challenges it is obvious that we must do some prompt and
intensive planning for within a few years there will be over
200,000,000 people in the USA alone, and within 50 years
probably live or six billion humans on the earth. There Must
be a comparable expansion of Rotary idealism here and
abroad.
In response to the second of these challenges
and as a preventive of and an antidote to the effects of its
poisonous philosophy we must find ways to accelerate a
universal acceptance of the Ideal of Service, for wherever
communism spreads there can neither be Rotary Clubs nor
democratic thoughtfulness of and helpfulness to others.
Communism’s conception of human relations is a challenge to
the whole world. Rotary must meet it everywhere in the world
and that includes our own country.
Constructive thinking in and among our Clubs
is needed. Our undertaking is a big and difficult one. You
and I can not complacently assume that we can leave all
thinking and planning and worrying about it to the few
Rotarians we call to service front time to time as officers
and committeemen of the Association. Concern about the
Rotary Movement should be as keen in each Club as it is at
the Headquarters in Evanston.
Interesting Others
As I said before extension work should
continue. There should be more Rotary Clubs and more
Rotarians. But organizing a Rotary Club is not the only
thing that can be done to accomplish Rotary’s mission. Not
all people can become members of our Rotary Clubs, or of
other service Clubs, nor do they need to be in order to be
thoughtful of and helpful to others.
While we can not take all people into our
Clubs, Rotary can, if Rotarians will, show them the way, or
help them find the way, to accept and practice the idealism
of Service above Self.
To how many non-Rotarian fellow Americans are
you and I deliberately, convincingly, conveying our
conviction as to the way to achieve success in the pursuit
of happiness? We seem to be content to let others pick it up
from casual contacts with us or with our magazine. That is
not sufficient. The tempo of life today is too fast for such
complacency.
As discussion Clubs we could discover ways to
persuade men, women and children to adopt the Ideal of
Service as their way of life.
In this changing world, while the geophysical
scientists are concerning themselves with travel in outer
space, colonizing the moon, etc., Rotarians should be in
effect social scientists studying and teaching human
relations on a service basis, for wherever men may go or how
they get there human relations problems will still exist.
Incidentally your Club and mine are in an
important Rotary District. Other Districts are important too
but here Rotary had its beginning. From here Rotary spread
west and east, north and south. Here is, and we hope always
will be, the Headquarters of the Movement. Here lived and
now rests in peace Founder Paul Harris. Here should be the
most interested, active and constructive Rotary Clubs of the
world. Every Club in District 644 should be a Rotary
research center for the Movement.
An atom in its quiet state is just a
constituent part of something — but there is latent power in
an atom.
A Rotarian may be just a quiet member of a
Rotary Club — or he may be a spark-plug in it.
A Rotary Club may be just a quiet member of
Rotary International - but think of the latent power in our
5,000 American Rotary Clubs with the brain power, the-
thinking power, the reasoning power there is in the member
ship of any Rotary Club, in this Club, to determine the
future influence of the Rotary Movement.
An explosion of such power in one Club could
set off a chain reaction in the Movement which would—not
destroy but save the world.
As this out-pouring of one Rotarian’s
thoughts comes at last to its end I hope you are thinking of
the influence upon our Nation, upon every phase of American
life, if practically all its people were living their lives
in accord of the Ideal of Service — and of the influence of
such a Nation in the world.
Is that a crazy dream? Perhaps no crazier
than must have seemed the dream of an enthusiastic delegate
from New York at the close of that first Convention of 16
Clubs in 1910 when he prophesied that within a hundred years
there would be a thousand Rotary Clubs — while actually the
1000th Club was chartered in just 11 years.
Faith and enthusiasm based on a conviction
caused it to happen.
As they did the astonishing development of
10,000 Rotary Clubs within 50 years.
It has been a privilege to dream out aloud to
such an attentive audience. If anything I have said causes
any of you to step up your serious thinking about Rotary, I
shall be happy— whether you agree with me or not.
Dreaming with a motive can be fertile
thinking.
So let’s dream of having a Nation where
interrogations there are affirmations that It that It Is
Fair To All Concerned, thoughtful of and helpful to others,
dignity of individual men is unquestioned.
We might start with: How wonderful it would
be if Rotarians could, so to speak, “rotarize” our Nation.
And next: Well, I suppose it might be done —
strange and unexpected things are happening in these times.
From there it will be difficult to refrain
from dreaming about how it could be done — and if enough of
us do that it will be done.
(This
speech was written and delivered just 13 months prior to
Perry's death, and was provided by our RGHF Committee
member PRID Ted
Gifford, who was at that meeting in 1959)
