ROTARY was conceived and founded in 1905 by the late Paul P. Harris, a Chicago lawyer. The idea came to him, he tells us, out of his own loneliness as a stranger in a great city. His original conception was simply that of a Club for business men who had some use for each other beyond that of merely making money out of each other.
He mentioned the idea to three friends: Silvester Schiele, Hiram
Shorey and Gus Loehr, and the first meeting among these four 'constituent
members' of Rotary took place on 23rd February, 1905. Rotary was
thus built from the start on the basis of fellowship among business
men. The name 'Rotary' was also given to it almost immediately
from the fact that the members met in rotation at each other's
offices.
At an early stage, however, the suggestion was made that the members
of Rotary ought to help each other in business, and it would appear
that the 'single classification' rule, by which the Club contained
no business competitors, began with that end in view. It is at
any rate admitted that mutual business service - the placing of
orders between fellow members - was for some time considered as
a duty to be encouraged. The strictly altruistic basis of membership
did not develop until later. Nowadays any attempt to use Rotary
for the purpose of getting business is firmly discredited. It
would certainly be a shock to the Rotarian of today to know that
in the early days of the National Association of Rotary Clubs
of America the 'Fifth Object' of the Movement was: 'To advance
the business interests of the individual members of the affiliating
Rotary Clubs.' In the same year (1905) the Chicago Club - the
Mother Club of the Movement, known as 'old No. 1' - came formally
into existence.
In 1908 the second Club was formed in San Francisco. In 1910 representatives
from 14 of the 16 Clubs then in existence met in the first Rotary
Convention in Chicago and formed the National Association of Rotary
Clubs of America. Paul Harris was elected as President and Chesley
R. Perry as Secretary. ('Ches' Perry held the position of Secretary
of the Movement until he retired in June 1942.) In the same year
Rotary spread beyond the borders of the United States by the formation
of the first Canadian Club - that of Winnipeg. In 1911 it crossed
the Atlantic, Clubs being independently organised in Dublin, London
and Belfast. Accordingly, in 1912 the American Association changed
its name to the International Association of Rotary Clubs ('I.A.R.C.').
Meanwhile, in 1911, the Second National Convention adopted a statement
of Rotary's principles and aims - called in American phraseology
its 'platform'. From this statement the following may be quoted:
Recognizing the commercial basis of modern life is a necessary incident in human evolution, the Rotary Club is organized to express that proper relation between private interests and the fusion of private interests which constitutes society...
The Rotary Club demands fair dealings, honest methods and high
standards in business. No obligation, actual or implied, to influence
business exists in Rotary. Election to membership therein is an
expression of confidence of the Club in the member elected, and
of its goodwill towards him. As his business is an expression
of himself, he is expected actively to represent it. Membership
in the Rotary Club is a privilege and an opportunity, and its
responsibility demands honest and efficient service and thoughtfulness
for one's fellows.
By 1914 eight Clubs had been formed in Great Britain and Ireland,
and these then formed themselves into the British Association
of Rotary Clubs (B.A.R.C.). Although it was an organization independent
of the International Association and its original constitution
did not impose any affiliation on its member Clubs, such affiliation
was officially recommended. Before B.A.R.C. had been formed the
International Association had recognized the British Clubs by
appointing a British Rotarian as one of its Vice-Presidents. The
position thus arose that, while there was still no official connection
between I.A.R.C. and B.A.R.C. some Clubs in Great Britain might
be member Clubs of the latter only; and other Clubs might also
be 'affiliating Clubs' of the former, with representation on the
Board of I.A.R.C. In 1916, however, the model constitution adopted
for B.A.R.C. Clubs laid it down that all its Clubs should be in
affiliation with both organizations.
By this time I.A.R.C. had divided the Rotary world into Districts
under District Governors, and had constituted the British Isles
as one of these Districts. In 1917 the Board of B.A.R.C. decided
that its President for the time being should also be, ex officio,
District Governor of I.A.R.C. One or two important developments
of policy had meantime taken place. In 1915 I.A.R.C. adopted the
'Code of Ethics' for the individual Rotarian, as a statement of
moral standards which the latter should observe in his business
relations. This 'Code' (which has never been enthusiastically
endorsed and promoted in the British Clubs, largely owing to the
traditional British dislike of moral declarations) is still nominally
current but is no longer officially promoted.
In 1916 Boys' Work was officially inaugurated as a field of Rotary
activity, and the onus of individual rather than corporate responsibility
for Community Service was recommended. In 1921 the first International
Convention on this side of the Atlantic took place at Edinburgh,
and from that date the real spread of Rotary in the British Isles
commenced. There were then 48 Rotary Clubs in B.A.R.C. and in
the same year headquarters in London were established and a professional
Secretary was appointed. Hitherto, from its earliest days, the
constantly growing Movement had owed more and more to the devoted
labour and enthusiasm of its Honorary Secretary, Dr. Thomas Stephenson,
of Edinburgh, who died in 1938.
The organization at last took its present form when in 1922 the
International Association of Rotary Clubs became Rotary International,
and the British Association of Rotary Clubs joined it under the
terms agreed for the establishment of 'national or territorial
units' by becoming 'Rotary International: Association for Great
Britain and Ireland'. Nevertheless, for over 40 years thereafter,
vigorous argument rose from time to time as to the merits of a
centralised or a decentralised form of government for a Movement
such as Rotary International. In these arguments, and in the discussions
to which they gave rise, the position of the only 'territorial
unit' (that in Great Britain and Ireland) was to be a focal point:
and it was only in 1968 that the matter was finally settled. In
that year a mutually acceptable formula was found, and the necessary
provisions for the recognition and the continued existence of
the 'territorial unit' within the international Movement were
embodied in the constitutional documents of both Rotary International
and 'Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland' (the title
agreed upon in 1938).
Between the founding of 'Rotary
International' in 1922 and the present day, two of the more important
developments to note have been the adoption of what is known as
Resolution 34 - 'the policy of Rotary towards community activities'
- in 1923, and of the Aims and Objects Plan in 1927. 'Resolution
34' was a complete expression (so far as Community Service is
concerned) of the policy of personal rather than corporate responsibility
already adumbrated in 1916. In 1933 the Association, at its Scarborough
Conference, adopted what is regarded as a more precise interpretation
of it and one which is, moreover, made to apply to every aspect
of a Rotarian's responsibilities.
The Aims and Objects Plan was devised by Rotarian Sydney Pascall
(afterwards the first European to be elected International President)
and Secretary Vivian Carter and introduced into R.I.B.I. in 1925.
In 1927 it was officially adopted by the International Convention
for the whole of Rotary. At first, however, it consisted only
of Club, Vocational, and Community Service. International Service
was added a year later.