INTRODUCTION

This book of general Rotary information is written in order to assist the young members, present and future, to learn much about the origin of Rotary and the men of the early days who made it what it is today.

There is a lack of desire or perhaps just a lack of time in our present busy existence for our young members to dig out and absorb the facts. Without knowing of these pioneers and their devotion to Rotary, there is a danger of losing much of the inspiration of the early leaders as most of our new members in fact never will have any knowledge of' how Rotary was born and developed.

These early men had to work and build whereas now there is danger of our members just taking it all for granted.

There are few members now alive and active in Rotary who were active as far back as 1915 to 1920. We have few in our ranks today who had the great privilege of attending both the 25th and 50th Anniversary Conventions held in Chicago in 1930 and 1955.

Very few of our present members had the privilege of knowing Paul Harris, Silvester Schiele, Harry Ruggles, Ches Perry, Charlie Newton and Arthur Frederick Sheldon,. It is my hope that this book and others to follow will make it easier for the interested Rotarian to acquire much of the early history with a minimum of effort.

Page 2.

A word of explanation regarding the makeup of my four books may be necessary.

At the start, one book of 300 pages was planned. Then expanded into two, and later three books of about 1200 pages. Then four of 1600 pages.

This made it necessary to prepare rather a complex and lengthy index and in some cases the numbering may be a little confusing.

An attempt has been made in the reference index to group all items relating to Ches. Perry or Paul Harris and other in a manner that allows the reader to easily locate all the articles on these important men.

Also, there are spread through the four Books numerous short but very fine items from outstanding men.

If the job was just beginning it would be easy to improve on the layout but the re-typing job would be imposing.

It is the writer's hope that the information herein contained will be of assistance to the young Rotary student who wants information but lacks the time needed to dig same from hundreds books, pamphlets, brochures, etc.

In over 1600 pages I expect some errors will be found. Any reader who finds one or more will please advise me so a correction may be made.

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Miscellaneous - No attempt has been made to index the small items numbering in the hundreds that will these four books. Some gems taken from the Clip Sheet and from The Rotarian and from many fine weekly bulletins been indexed.

It may seem to some readers, assuming there will be some, that the page numbering is confusing. At the beginning only one book was planned and then No.2 - No. 3 and No.4. Finally4 books of over 1600 pages have been put together.

I must admit there will be some errors but I hope the young Rotarian who is anxious to know how Rotary started and developed will find a world of interesting information. It has been my good fortune to have known the leaders in Rotary from Paul P. Harris to Luther Hodges who will be President of R.I. in 1967-68. It was great to have known these men intimately. All but with two exceptions. I never met Silvester Schiele and Arthur Frederick Sheldon. I am sorry I missed these two fine men.

I am anxious to make sure that some great names will not be forgotten. Men who never were President of R.I. but contributed greatly to its success. In this list I would include Silvester Schiele, Harry Ruggles, Charlie Newton, Arthur Frederick Sheldon, the one and only Ches Perry, Daddy Allen, Geo. Harris, James W. Davidson, Sam Botsford and hundreds of others. Of Canadians beside Jim Davidson I would have to mention Wm. C. J. Burchell of Halifax (District Governor 1916-17)

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and still with us. He is the senior past international officer in Canada. Also Dr. Donald Alexander MacRae of Halifax and later Toronto who contributed so much in the early days of Rotary. P.A.C. MacIntyre who really was the spark plug who got Winnipeg organized in.1910. This was the first club outside U.S. Jim Ryan who was the first District Governor in Western Canada 1915-16. Canada has produced four fine presidents. The Rev. E. Leslie Pidgon of Winnipeg, Dr. Crawford C. McCullough of Ft. William, John Nelson of Montreal and Arthur Lagueux of Quebec. Britain has contributed some great men. especially in those early days. Mentioning names is very dangerous when there are many who could be mentioned.,

Then we must not forget the thousands who have worked in the local clubs and districts and made fine contributions.

So long as we remember our two official mottos "He Profits Most Who Serves Best" and "Service Above Self" and practice them in our daily lives Rotary will grow in numbers, and in strength.

We must not rest on our record as there is still much to be done. The job has only been started.

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There are some apparent inconsistencies in these books but this is bound to happen. One is explained on Page 26A in connection with Arthur Frederick Sheldon as to when he first used the expression "He Profits Most Who Serves Best".

Another is in connection with the first Community Service Act. In these books I record that a doctor's horse died and the club passed the hat (1906) and collected $150.00 to buy a new horse. In The Golden Strand, Emerson Gause relates the story and says it was a missionary’s horse. I got the story direct from Ches Perry, Harry Ruggles and Charlie Newton. In the April 1965 issue The Rotarian records the missionary story. I wrote Karl Krueger, and after some investigation he said my story was correct.

Rotary is almost 62 years old and all the originals have left us, also no records were kept in the early days and some things had to be settled by guesswork. As an example Rotary is supposed to have started on February 23,1905. I have in my possession a printed letterhead used by Chicago No. I from 1906 until 1911 and on the top are these words "The Rotary Club of Chicago was organized in 1904". I am told that no one ever took exception to this printed word until some years later. Anyhow it does not matter. Rotary has done a great job. Let us of 1966 and others to come carry on.