ROTARY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19437, 24 October 1925, Page 8

ROTARY

WIDE WORLD DOINGS NOTES FROM THE CLUBS With similar ingredients and the same formula, scientists can produce the same product in any workshop no matter where it is located. Given the objects and the ethics and the fundamentals of Rotary fellowship, business and professional men of any land or any race can produce a Rotary club. That has been proven in every quarter of the globe. As chemical of physical products may spojl or cease to function if not properly handled, so it is with the Rotary club, which requires proper handling after it has been formed. To be an officer or a member of a Rotary club is a responsibility as well as an opportunity. A Pilgrimage

When Everett W. Hill, President of Rotary International, arrived in Cleveland for the Convention, he had completed. a journey of approximately 50,000 miles in the interests of Rotary International. He had been able to visit Rotary clubs in twelve European countries, attend numerous intercity meetings, confer with the directors of many Rotary clubs, officials of Rotary International, and officials of the national unit of Rotary International— Association for Great Britain and Ireland. His official itinerary included France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, tind the British Isles. Accompanying President Hill on his trip was the chairman of Rotary’s Extension Committee, Will R. Manier, Jr., of Nashville, Tenn. While both President Hill and Chairman Manier travelled to and from Europe together, their itineraries while in European countries were different so las to give each an opportunity to cover different ground. It was a Rotarian pilgrimage that will be of inestimable value to the future of Rotary, and the fruits of which are already becoming apparent. A New Nation Guatemala is the most recent addition to the circle of nations represented in Rotary. The sole Rotary club in that country—at Guatemala City—has had an active and interesting career since its formation in May, 1925. Among the speakers who have appeared before the club were the Financial Advisor of the national government, who discussed the establishment of a central bank; the Minister of Italy to Central America, and the Minister of Mexico. The latter outlined problems of his native republic as they affected the country to which he was accredited. With these inspirational helps from without and with talks on sanitation infant mortality, and social hygiene given by club members and club officials, as well as by government officials in their capacity as private citizens, the club is gradually developing a programme of useful communal activities. The capital, Guatemala City, stands high up in the mountains and can be reached from either side by the transcontinental railroad. The city is noted .for its wide and regular streets, many planted with avenues of trees, and for its extensive suburbs. Boys’ Week Boys’ Week is no longer an experijment. Walter Head, chairman of the. National Boys’ Week Committee of the United States, emphasised this fact at the beginning of the year and the observance of Boys’ Week in 1925 has amply demonstrated that point. It is greater this year than ever and from the scattering reports which so far have been received, it is safe to say that Boys’ Week has been observed in fifteen different countries and more than three million boys participated in this activity.—The “Rotarian.” The Use of Words Someone discovered that the words “business,” “profession,” “occupation,” “concern,” and “establishment,” are all in use in Rotary literature and raised a question as to whether these five words mean the same thing or mean something different. After due consideration of the matter by those who ought to know it has been agreecf that in Rotary these words mean the same thing or at least may be used interchangeably to the extent that the term used by the Rotary club represents a commercial activity, an industrial activity, a professional activity, or an institutional activity, sufficiently independent to determine generally its own policies and exercises responsibility, even though the finan cial control and the final determination of the financial policy of any two or more such activities may be vested in one corporate body or individual ownership, provided that always such an activity shall in itself constitute a complete service to the public. The faregoing is a pretty long statement but it is an important one. There are other rules about membership and classification which are more generally known than the foregoing. Alaska’s First Club Considerable interest has been aroused throughout the territory of Alaska as a result of the organisation of the ■ first Rotary Club in Alaska at Ketchikan. The Rotary Clubs of Prince Rupert knd Seattle and Bellingham all sent delegations to assist in the ceremonies incident to the ushering in of the new club. Prince Rupert presented the Ketchikan Club with a Rotary emblem and Sydney Johnson, of Prince Rupert, the special representative who made the official survey of the new club, presented them with a British flag , which his battalion had carried while overseas. The Rotary clubs kre already bringing the two cities of Ketchikan and Prince Rupert closer together. Both cities are highly competitive, their principal industry being fishing, and both American and Cana* I di an boats are able to sell their fish in either market. The consequence bias been that a none too friendly feeling existed; but the formation of a Rotary club has brought, a new spirit into the communities. The Armies of Youth It is a military axiom that an army ean move no faster than its slowest unit. Similar assertion might be made for progress in other fields—for example the course of the nation will be no more speedy, no more direct, than can be guaranteed by the intelligence and stability of its rising generation. How are we to guarantee such intelligence, such stability? The home, the school, the church, the playground, the junior associations, and the industries are all agencies to which we have delegated a part of this great task.

What are the results? This author furnishes the following information: — Modern city life has greatly limited the influence of the home, one-third of all families live on the minimum subsistence wage, every third mother is a wage-earner, the average parent has had only a sixth-grade education, the divorce rate is increasing rapidly, and 90 per cent, of our crime is committed by comparatively young people. Furthermore 40 per cent, of our children do not finish grade school, only 10 per cent, graduate from standard high schools, and only fourteen out of each thousand finish college. Three-fourths of all boys from 6 to 18 are without systematic, religious training, and only 10 per cent, of American boys belong to the Boy Scouts. Somewhat similar statistics might be prepared for the boys who have no playground but the streets, for young men who are in “blind hlley” jobs.—-The “Rotarian.”