CO State Papers and Addresses

refused to yield one iota in the matter of its rights as a Free State, I welcome
you new Legionnaires to an organization that is well worthy of your loyalty.
I urge you to be not only Legionnaires, but ACTIVE Legionnaires. Attend the
meetings of your Post, learn to the fullest the story of what the Legion is
doing, value as you do your citizenship in this great Country, your pledge as
expressed in the Preamble to the Constitution of the Legion, from which I
have quoted above.

You are joining an organization that is one of the bulwarks of your
Country. Take up the fight with those who were on the ground before you,
work shoulder to shoulder with them that no matter what comes or threatens,
the people of America, your families and friends, your wives and children may
know greater security, may perhaps be saved from dire catastrophe that
otherwise might well be visited upon them, were it not for the activities of
such splendid organizations as the American Legion has proven itself to be
in the twenty years of its existence.

DISTRICT CONFERENCE OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL

May 9, 1939
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

THE Rotary Ideal of Service has always seemed to me to add something
extremely worthwhile to the life of any community, and of any nation. It
is an influence that could not fail to leave its definite impress for good upon
the daily lives of many thousands of thoughtful people, not only upon those who
actually are enrolled under the banners of Rotary, but also on other thousands
who, in the daily contacts of life and business, come face to face with the high
ethical standards of conduct by which the true Rotarian regulates his own
life and actions.

To have such a group of fifty, or one hundred, or several hundred men,
representing practically every calling in a community, and each an outstanding
representative of his particular calling is an asset to any city or state. To
have such a group applying daily in their personal, community and business life
the unselfish doctrine that man progresses and fulfills his destiny only as he
helps those about him to progress and realize their true purpose in life, is
something so thoroughly desirable in every way that it is a poor community
today that has failed to appreciate the social, civic and economic benefits to
be secured by the establishment of Rotary in its midst.

When we examine further than this, however, and call to mind that one
object of Rotary is the advancement of understanding, good-will and inter-
national peace through a world fellowship of business and professional men
united in the ideal of service, then and then only do we get the full import
of Rotary in the world of today. Then and only then do we arrive at a correct
estimate of its accomplishments, and of its tremendous potentialities, as a
leavening influence for Peace throughout the nations.

Because the members of Rotary are, as a class, among the more influential
element in their community, Rotary throughout the world must wield an in-