THE OPTIMISTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16549, 13 May 1914, Page 4

THE OPTIMISTS.

A NEW MOVEMENT. CLUB STARTED IN WELLINGTON. Last year many prominent business men in England and Scotland decided to do something to organise optimism. Pessimists, they contended, seemed to come together naturally but the optimists were not organised as such. Tiro clubs mere formed, one in London and one in Scotland and the movement is spreading rapidly. The Optimist Clubs mean business. Last week a New Zealand branch of the movement was started and an optimists club is an accomplished tiling in Wellington. The secretary, Mr F. Rasey, is at present in Christchurch and yesterday gave a reporter a few particulars of the movement. u Wo moan to form branches in tho centres,” Mr Rasey said, “and get tho optimistic feeling into every business and factory in New Zealand. We are out to create a better feeling between employer and employee, between firm i and firm. Tho optimist movement is intended to break down the mistakes of former generations and the prejudices that prevent men of all classes from understanding each other and mutually aiding one another. One of the prominent members of the Optimist Club in London said ‘ I believe that

every badness man would bo bettor i ho introduced the right spirit ol optimism and I believe that its applies tion to business routine would b< beneficial both for the man and th( business.’ Need I say, therefore how strong is my belief that organiser optimism, or the aggregate result oi the combined deliberations by a gather ing of business men who respect thi; creed would accomplish a very greal deal towards a realisation of theii city’s progress, the nation’s prosperity and the world’s industrial peace.* “ This movement,” continued Mi Rasey, “ is as much for employees a: for employers. We mean to start £ branch in Christchurch and let subbranches be established in largo firms or by the waterside workers or wherever a sub-branch could be formed, Wo have another object. Many rcer in business are not making a success of things. If they knew where there was an, organisation for mutual help where they could get the advice of good business men and obtain literature oi a helpful inspiring character, it mighi make all the difference between failure and success. In Wellington the movement has boon taken up with enthusiasm and most of the prominent business men of the city havo expressed an intention to assist. The initial cost should bo very small indeed. “ The London branch has adopted a creed written by Elbert Hubbard. It runs ns follows:—‘lf you work for a man for goodness sake work for him. If ho pays yon your wages that supply bread and butter, work for him, speak well of him, stand by him and stand by the institution' he represents. If put to a pinch an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. If you must vilify, condemn, and eternally disparage, why, resign your position and when you aro outside damn to your heart’s content. But as long ns you are a part of the institution do not condemn it, loosening the tendrils that hold you to the institution and with the first high wind that- comes along you will l>e uprooted and blown away in the blizzard’s track, and probably you will never know why.’ We have elected a committee to draw up rules aud we mean to make this movement —purely a British movement—a guo* cess.”