Paul Harris on what Rotary will be in 100 years

“May our happiness increase with
our usefulness. What Rotary will
be one hundred years hence,
none living can imagine.”

By Rotary Heritage Communica-
tions staff

Rotary founder Paul Harris was
a semi-regular contributor to The
Rotarian magazine, and the Feb-
ruary issue often included an an-
niversary message from him.

In 1915, he wrote, “We are pas-
sing our tenth milestone now. May
our happiness increase with our
usefulness. What Rotary will be
one hundred years hence, none
living can imagine. There is noth-
ing impossible to Rotary now.”

Harris noted that Rotary had de-
monstrated its ability to “contrib-
ute toward the world’s supply of
happiness” in terms of promoting
ethical business practices within
vocations. He felt that same idea
would extend beyond the walls of
the offices and shops, and imagin-
ed Rotary as “the harbinger of a
general world-wide philosophy of
business and of life, with happiness
as its goal.”

While conceding that he couldn’t
see into the future, Harris did pre-
dict that Rotary would become in-
creasingly necessary for its ability
to make the impossible happen.

On its tenth anniversary, Rotary
had been an international organ-
ization for almost three years.
There were 141 clubs in only a
few countries. Today, there are
more than 35,000 clubs in more
than 200 countries and geo-
graphic areas.

How do you imagine Rotary 100
years from now? What will we
achieve?

• Learn more about the history
  of Rotary
• Send us a photo of what your
  club is doing to celebrate the
  anniversary