Through circumstances not immediately material here, I found myself considerably
mixed up last week-end with Rotary Inter- national's annual conference. Rotary, a most admirable movement, initiated in Chicago in 1905, is not as well known as it deserves to be, though there are Rotary Clubs in some seven hundred towns and cities in the United Kingdom. The feature of them is that member- ship is confined to one representative qnly of every trade and profession, though rather fine shades of classification admit of larger numbers than might be expected on this basis. Weekly luncheons followed by speeches or discussions are the chief outward sign of activity, but in fact Rotary actively inculcates high ideals for both individual and corporate life—particularly in the field of industrial and international relations and as between trader and customer. Fellowships are provided for the exchange of students between this country and America, and the rotary badge (rotary, because the first few members in Chicago held their meetings in each other's offices in rotation) in the form of a miniature wheel gives a rotarian the entrée to any other rotary club he may come across in his travels at home or abroad. Rotary knows no political or religious distinc- tions ; it seems to be filling an important and increasingly valuable place in national life. * * * *
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