When the first Rotary clubs were formed at
the end of the first decade of The 20th century, they were almost all
unashamedly business orientated. Members would recount
dealings with fellow members, and in some clubs, these were even
recorded in a 'Transactions Book'. There was a feeling, however,
that the efforts of such a group of worthy and influential men
should be put to more charitable use in their communities, and
'Service' became a key word in Rotary. In 1909, Rotary adopted the
motto - "He profits most who serves best". This slogan had
originally been devised by Arthur Sheldon, in a journal he edited,
called 'The Business Philosopher'. Because it appeared to give an
'ethical' tone to an organization that was predominantly there for
mutual business opportunities, this motto caused much criticism.
Curiously, although Sheldon was involved in the starting of clubs in
Britain, British Rotarians never really took on the motto.
There seems to have been an in-built antagonism to imported slogans,
although the British clubs were happy enough to give 'service’ and
their efforts particularly during the two world wars, amply
testified to this. As a matter of interest, in 1949, RIBI actually
decided officially not to promote the slogan on the grounds that it
appeared to give undue emphasis to 'profit', While the rest of
Rotary continued to use the slogan, indeed, it still appears on the
website of such clubs as Salida RC, there was a growing feeling
that some modification was needed, if only to the word 'He'!!
Thus in 2004, the Council on Legislation decided to change the motto
to "They profit most who serve best", thereby removing gender
specific terminology. In practice, this slogan is rarely used in
Rotary although it is still a Secondary motto.
