The following letter, from Paul P. Harris to the organizers of the Dallas Rotary Club, was made available through the courtesy of the Rotary Club of Dallas. Dallas was organized April 20, 1911, but was not chartered until April 9, 1912, four clubs after Winnipeg made Rotary international. This letter, to Marvin E. Martin, discussed the issue of secrecy in Rotary. Even in the response to Martin's inquiry, Paul Harris was teaching the new Rotarian the principles of the organization, without ever indicating that he thought that the club might have been doing something it shouldn't.

Submitted by RGHF historian Doug Rudman


June 3, 1911

Mr. M. E. Martin, Pres.
Dallas Rotary Club
Dallas, Texas

My Dear Mr. Martin:

Mr. Chesley R. Perry, National Secretary, recently called to my attention your letter of the 26th inst., addressed to him. I note with sincere gratification the report of progress and the optimism and enthusiasm which characterizes your letter. It portends good things, and I feel sure that some day the Rotary Club of Dallas will take its place well up in the ranks of Rotary, and that it will well represent our territorially greatest and one of our most progressive states.

In regard to the policy of secrecy, we suppose, of course, that you mean that such policy will prevail only until you become organized, and during such period the plan is probably good. Eventually all Rotary Clubs must come out into the light and building toward that end, must at such time be good enough and strong enough so that they can bear the strongest light of day and most careful inspection.
Your new experiences are old experiences. Pretty nearly every club has about the same thing to go through. It has even occurred to some of our newest clubs that they should remain secret organizations; the thought, of course, being prompted by the suggestion that members might lose caste in their neighborhood or be ridiculed by their competitors if their connection with an organization, one of the purposes of which is to benefit the members individually, become known.

There is but one answer to this, and that is to preserve the equilibrium between public and individual activities, and then you will never have occasion to be ashamed of your organization nor afraid to have its purpose fully known. The business benefits will not be lessened. They will eventually be greatly increased by such policy.

The National Association will always be glad to help you.

Please reconsider your conclusions regarding sending at least one delegate to the Convention. You cannot possibly afford to miss it. You could not if the cost were ten times as great.

I am particularly pleased to learn that you are not to be satisfied with anything short of the best possible members. Adherence to such plan will assure te best results.

With kind regards and best wishes, I beg to remain,

Yours very truly,

Paul P. Harris

Dear Rotarians,

You can help the District 7870 Foundation's (501-c-3) endowment to maintain the Little Red Schoolhouse (www.littleredschoolhouse.us) in Wallingford, VT , the boyhood home of Paul Harris, by purchasing a brick, paver, or gear tooth in the new Memorial Garden (see below) with their choice of engraving. RI does not give any funds to maintain buildings such as this Rotary icon.

Also can own a piece of Rotary history as I have the outside light fixtures that were recently replaced after many decades years of lighting the LRS. Anyone can email me rab-dds@comcast.net for the pictures, condition, size, weight, etc. of the lights (there are three of the green enamel ones which may have to be rewired but in very good condition and the lantern light in somewhat rusted condition which was above the door) and make a bid.

Bids accepted until 1 December 2012.

Richard A. Berryman DDS (RGHF member)

DG 2014-15 District 7870

RGHF also supports the LRS at www.rghf.org/donors 

 

Dallas #39

Follow steps to become an RGHF Wiki History Library user.

1) Request an account click here

2) Fill up the form. Tell us more about you in more than 50 words. Yes.

3) Check your Email.

4) Allow us to verify your application.

5) Check your Email.

2 Follow two simple steps to contribute your information.

1) Read more help files about Viewing / Adding / Editing Articles

2) Search your district / club / convention and add information.

3 The Routine on this WIKI

1) Visitors not allowed to submit

2) Users allowed to submit / edit articles

3) Moderators allowed to publish articles.

4) Collaborators Allowed to publish articles with Media (images/videos)

5) Sysops checking the Interlinking and Monitoring Catagories/Contents.

4 How you can climb up the ladder.

1) You need to be a active wiki contributor on RGHF historylibrary.org

2) You need to start with basic User level first.

3) You need to have good idea about Zones/District/Clubs/ Localities.

4) You need to proactively support the wiki with continous feedbacks on corrections, etc.

 

For more information on our fellowship and to see our private Facebook page, please join us at www.joinrghf.org

For comments on any of our features, visit www.historyfan.org and add your comments to the current feature on Facebook

 

Take a one question poll on membership retention