The
Joseph A. Caulder Collection
Past Rotary International Director 1928-29
- Regina, Sask., Canada
"Eyewitness to Rotary International's First 50 Years"
JOSEPH A. CAULDER - An eyewitness to Rotary International's first 50 years.
Album 2 - Joe Caulder Articles about Early Rotary History
|
Internal Links
|
WHY ROTARY FUNCTIONS EVERYWHERE To anyone who has visited Rotary Clubs in many countries, the query must arise. One visits London, Paris, Milan, Stockholm, Cairo, Jerusalem, Bomb , Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc. and then visits a small club of 20 to 50 members in Finland, Israel, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Australia, Macao, Japan, Ecuador, etc. and after serious thought he must decide that these small town clubs in little known areas are all carrying out Rotary's objectives. To be sure, in a different manner but by comparison in their local areas, doing a grand job. Those wise men who in the years 1905 to 1920 charted Rotary's future, made some wonderfully wise decisions. They laid down few rules and after years of argument, in St. Louis in 1923, the convention decided against one big project for Rotary and left it to every club to decide what the individual community needed. One only has to look at the Rotary Club of London, England, watch its very precise operation, and note its influence, and then go a mile or so to one of the 90 odd smaller clubs in greater London, to see how well Rotary functions EVERYWHERE. How fortunate that wise and good men were at the helm in those early days! J. A. C.
THE
ANGLO-SAXON RACES ARE NOT GOD'S OWN CHOSEN PEOPLE. Too often people of this imperfect world get the idea
their race is something special. Perhaps even favored by the Creator to lead
the other peoples. Perhaps our own Anglo-Saxon race may, on the whole, have
such feelings. A trip to far away underpriviliged people and a few d s
with the better people of that area (not the richest or best educated of
necessity) will likely change such a viewpoint. We in America are too prone to judge the Chinese people
by the laundryman or the small Chinese cafe owner who has had to fight his
against great odds. Let this man visit Taiwan (Formosa, the name we know
better) and drop in on the Rotary Club of Taipei and stay long enough to get
to know the leaders, and our visitor will be in for a shock. Or visit the
Hong Kong club, or better still, the District Conference which is usually
held at Hong Kong, and which area now includes the clubs of Taiwan and Macao
and Hong Kong, and he will be a strange man if he fails to note the
courtesy, the education and the kindness of these people. Their thousands of
years of culture has produced many wonderful people. Or, go to one of the
Arab countries and have the pleasure of meeting some grand souls who can
neither read or write but who are grand people. The Rockefeller Foundation, after years of study and
research, reports; "That given equal opportunities for good health and
training, all peoples of the world are equal in brain capacity except only
the Bush-men of Australia and the Pigimies of S. W. African". J.A.C.
ROTARY IN GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND. Some of us remember the real early days of Rotary in North America. At our conferences we sang "Little Prairie Flower" and "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", etc. and even as we drew our breath we likely remarked "This Rotary stuff will never go over in G. B. or in Europe, etc." We forgot to remember that Rotary headquarters never told us to not act foolish at times or to always be sedate. We followed our founder, Paul Harris, in addressing all his close friends by their first name. No such rule was ever formulated at Rotary headquarters. In North America we like it so we do it but in few other places is it done. In England, Ireland and Scotland they think different and act different. They are more subdued, not such backslappers. In 1913 eight clubs then in operation in Great Britain got together at Liverpool and formed the British Association of Rotary Clubs. No affiliation with Chicago. They had sent a delegation to the Buffalo Convention in August 1913 and perhaps they felt they knew a better way. Many years later R.I.B.I. came wholeheartedly into R. I. However, they developed in their own way. The war broke out in 1914 and the few clubs in G.B. did a magnificent war work. Perhaps that is why Rotary developed so fast and on such a sound basis in G.B. Now in 1959 we find 880 clubs in G. B. and I. Also the women founded The Inner Wheel in 1923 and now have about 600 Inner Wheel clubs. Most of them active in good works. G. B. & I. has produced two fine Presidents for R.I. Sydney W. Pascal 1931-32 and Tom Warren 1945-46. They have three or four good looking prospects on the sidelines now. Rotary has gone over in a big and worthy way in "The Old Land". J. A. C.
EARLY DAYS OF ROTARY IN WESTERN CANADA. Some names stand out very clearly in all areas of the world where Rotary was planted and later developed. We must not forget these names. It was in 1910 that P. A. C. MacIntyre, on a visit to New York, was taken to Rotary by a friend. Pac, as he was then called, liked Rotary and enroute home to Winnipeg he took a day off and went to the Public Library and had a few hours with Ches. Perry, who had joined Number One in January 1908. On his return to Winnipeg he told his friend Walter J. Clubb about this Rotary thing. Along with a Mr. Morley they got the club organized in November 1910. This was the first club outside the U.S.A. It grew and prospered. In 1912 the National Association Convention was held in Duluth and these Winnipeg boys were there. At once a resolution was passed to change the name from "National Association" to "International Association of Rotary Clubs". This carried. W. J. Kobold was Winnipeg's first President. Walter J. Clubb was made an Area Vice-President in 1912. When districts were formed in 1915 all Western Canada became District No. 18. Jim Ryan of Calgary was the first District Governor. Stu Campbell of Winnipeg was Governor in 1916-17. The first conference was held in Victoria in 1916. The Vancouver and Victoria clubs were organized in 1913 and Calgary in 1914. Jeff Lydiatt of Calgary was Governor in 1917-18. W. S. Archibald of Winnipeg was the first man in Western Canada to be a member of the International Board and that was for the year 1914-15. F. J. C. Menlove of Winnipeg was an Area Vice-President in 191.3-14 and Frank Higgins of Victoria in 1914-15. There were no more after 1914-15. About this time the name of Alex R. McFarlane of Vancouver crops up and he was on the R. I. Board in 1924-25. The name of Dr. Crawford C. McCullough of Ft. William, Ont. ranks high. District Governor 19th in 1919-20; First Vice-Pres. R. 1. 1920-21 and President of R. 1. in 1921-22. Another great name is Rev. E. Leslie Pidgeon of Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal. He served as 3rd Vice-Pres. in 1915-16, also 1916-17 and President of R.I. in 1917-18, and as Immediate Past President in 1918-19. Leslie was our first President from Canada and Crawford our second. One of the greatest names of all from Western Canada was James W. Davidson of Calgary who served on the R. I. Board in 1926-27. See his photo and story in another part of this album. J.A.C. EARLY DAYS OF ROTARY IN EASTERN CANADA. In 1912 Mr. James K. Pickett, General Manager of the Imperial Life Assurance Company of Canada, while on a business trip to Western Canada, was taken as a guest to the Rotary Club of Winnipeg. On his return to Toronto he told his Toronto Manager, R. W. E. Burnaby, about what he saw and how he liked it. Burnaby got busy and after much correspondence with Ches. Perry and Paul P. Harris (mostly carried on by Wm H. Hall of the American Surety Co.), the Rotary Club of Toronto, No. 55, was organized on November 28th, 1912 with 40 members. Early in the year Paul Harris, then the first President of the National Association (not International Association until August 1912) appointed Mr. Burton E. Pfeiffer of Buffalo to help in the organization. On Mr. Pickett's trip west he had hired a Brandon bank manager to come to Toronto as Toronto manager of the Imperial Life. At the organization meeting Pickett and Burnaby boosted this Brandon man for President as they felt it would be good for business. So Wm. A. Peace became Toronto Club's first President and at the Buffalo Convention in 1913 he was made an Area Vic&-President and served for two years. Burnaby moved out of Toronto shortly after and lost his membership but always was keenly interested in the Toronto Club. Mr. Burnaby died in 1959. In 1915 when districts were organized, Thomas G. Wells of Montreal became the first Governor of District 17. Dr. Bruce A. Carey of Hamilton succeeded Wells as Governor in 1916-17. Chas. N. Butcher became the first Director from Canada on the Board of R.I. in 1914-15. Area Vice-Presidents ended with June 1915. Bill Peace is active in 1959. Burton Pfieffer now lives in California but is keenly interested in Toronto number 55. There are many outstanding names in Rotary in Eastern Canada. From Toronto; Sidney B. McMichael who was Host Club Convention Chairman for the Toronto Convention in 1924 and 1942. Sid instituted The House of Friendship in 1924 and set up the Convention programme outline which is still in use. Of the Toronto Club; Dr. John Gilson, International Board 1923-24; Harry Stanton, Wm. J. Cairns, International Board 1936-37 and many others. Eastern Canada has produced two International Presidents, John Nelson of Sun Life, Montreal, R. I. President 1933-34 also Arthur Lagueux of Quebec City, R. I. President 1950-51. These names are not an attempt to place their seniority and many more could be named who gave Rotary great and valuable service. J. A. C. CHICAGO IN 1905. When the young lawyer Paul P. Harris chose Chicago for the place where he would begin the practice of Law, he picked a fast growing but also a wild and naked city and one ruled by crooked politicians. Paul could not help but know this. In the year 1905 Upton Sinclair had written "The Jungle" and the book that made him famous. In this book the author exposed to the world the crime and filth of Chicago. The book must have done much good. Surely no place needed Paul Harris more than did Chicago. He had spent five years seeing the world and studying people after graduating in Law from Iowa State in 1891. He had hung out his shingle at the old Unity Building, now 127 N. Dearborn, in 1896. Times were very bad and had been for six or seven years. In Chicago men who worked on the killing floor in the packing houses got 15 cents an hour and there was no Employers Liability laws such as we were to know about a few years later. If a labouring man was injured his pay stopped and no one cared what became of him. It was in this atmosphere Rotary began in room 711, Unity Building on February 23rd, 1905. Four men were there: Harris, Schiele, Shorey and Loehr. Now 1959 we see over 10,000 clubs in 115 countries and areas of the world with about 480,000 members. How interesting it would be if we had a machine to record all the good done by Rotarians since February 23rd, 1905. J. A. C.
FAMOUS QUOTES. Sir Harry Lauder - "Rotary is a golden strand in the cable of Friendship". Sir Anthony Eden - "Rotary can do more for the world than all our Ambassadors combined can ever do". . Pat Montford of Dublin, Ireland at the St. Louis Convention in 1923. - "If we had had a Rotary Club in every city in Ireland we would never have had a revolution". Author Unknown - "A good man like ripening corn in the wind, humbly bends his head". Cliff Randall - "Let us not lose the earth in our headlong rush to conquer the stars". By Phil Lovejoy from a statement made by an elderly lady waiting for a late train after she noticed his Rotary button. "I see you are a Rotarian and I know that a better community any results from the formation of a Rotary club therein". Phil Lovejoy - "Small clubs can't always be doing great things but they can always be doing small things in a great way". Dr. Crawford C. McCullough in 1921. - "If we ever are able to make 25% of our members dedicated Rotarians we will have the most powerful organization in the world outside the Christian Church". Dr. Crawford C. McCullough - "It is a fortunate man indeed who can count 6 real true friends who will stand by him regardless of the cost". J.A.C.
|
| Copyright© Daniel W. Mooers |
Rotary® and Rotary International® are registered trademarks of Rotary International Webmaster: dwm@mooers-law.com |