United Service Club

“ On a cold January day 50 years ago in Landrum, South Carolina, 15 quiet citizens led by John West Harris founded the Beta Club and dedicated themselves to the promotion of leadership, honesty, achievement, and community service among high school students throughout the United States. The motto that was adopted by that infant club was: "Let us lead by serving others." ”

“ The United Service was the favourite Club of the Duke, who might often be seen dining here on a joint; and on one occasion, when he was charged 1s. 3d. instead of 1s. for it, he bestirred himself till the threepence was struck off. The motive was obvious: he took the trouble of objecting, so that he might sanction the principle.
Among the Club pictures is Jones's large painting of the Battle of Waterloo; and the portrait of the Duke of Wellington, painted for the Club by W. Robinson. ”

“ The Veterans' Club, for which the Lord Mayor is to hold a meeting at the Mansion House on Thursday, June 22nd, at 3.30, is the nucleus of a movement to offer the chance of rest and convalescence to those who have fought and suffered in defence of their country; to secure suitable employment for those whose service is finished, and friendly help in the hour of need. ”

“ In the cantonment cities the young women were organized into patriotic leagues and clubs, and these co-operated with the soldiers in giving entertainments and socials, and in those cities where the work for girls was most active there it was that Community Service as a whole was most successful. When the first soldiers’ club was equipped at Des Moines, one of the chief factors contributing to its success was the organization also of four girls’ clubs with a total membership of one hundred and thirty. ”

“ It is managed entirely by the members of the Department. There is no caste line or snobbery in the institution, and for the first time the people in the different bureaus are becoming acquainted with each other, and enjoy the opportunities of club life. The idea should be extended. We should have in the city of Washington a great service club, covering a block of land, containing fifteen or twenty thousand members, in which for a trifle per month we could get all of the advantages of the finest social and athletic club that New York contains. ”

“ The National Service League has consistently given the warmest support to the Territorial Force from its inception, recognizing the great superiority in organization and capabilities that this Force provides as compared with the old Volunteer Force. ”

“ The USAFC will help unleash our armies of compassion, enhance homeland security, provide additional service and volunteer opportunities in our communities, and help people in America and around the world to meet important needs. ”

“ They believed that all officers and men of the three branches of the service and all enlisted women, whether they served at home or abroad, should be eligible and urged to join one thoroughly democratic and comprehensive organization. They knew that any organization leaving out one or more elements composing the military service of the United States would be forced to compete constantly with the organization or association so discarded. ”

“ Need it be said that in any event, going along with the team, and taking an active interest in its ups-and-downs, is not only a service officer's duty, but a rewarding privilege, if he is a real leader? In this respect, he has a singular relationship to any group that represents his unit. He becomes part of their force, and his presence is important not only to the team but to the gallery. It is not unusual to hear very senior officers excuse themselves from an important social function by saying, "I'm sorry, but my team is playing tonight." ”

“ Just as there are two sportsmen’s societies, so there are two clubs—two rival clubs, known, quite properly, as the Union Club and the Peace Club, where every evening, before dinner, the half-pay captains and the retired merchants come to play whist at a penny a point. The members are kindly men, honest and peaceful; but there is not one of them who is not firmly convinced that any other club but his own is the resort of ill-bred fellows, not fit associates for himself or his friends. ”

“ The Travellers' Club dates from 1819, the Union from 1821, and the United University from 1822.
The Union Club is composed of noblemen, members of Parliament, and gentlemen of the first distinction and character who are British subjects, and has 1,250 members. Election is by open voting in the committee. Foreign and Colonial persons of distinction may be made temporary honorary members. The entrance fee is twenty-one guineas; the annual subscription ten guineas.
The United University Club has 1,000 members, of whom 500 belong to Oxford and 500 to Cambridge. The King is a member. ”

“ Supported by all the force of government, and intrinsically formidable by their union, the Clubs had long existed in defiance of public reprobation, and for some time they had braved not only the people, but the government itself. ”

“ The labor and youth groups, in addition to being the largest, are also those most actively charged with supporting the regime. Labor union members are active in auxiliaries of the militia and in the military reserves. The UTC membership spans most of the age group that is drafted into the regular armed services and the security forces. Within the services it forms units throughout the organizational structures that either direct or actively assist in political indoctrination programs and manage sports and recreational activities. ”

“ Enthusiasm was on the wane, and it was plain enough to any but those holding out for some Utopian idea of the advantages to be derived in having only well-to-do men for volunteers, that a diminishing subscription list and inability of officers to continue the constant drag on their purses was not only a serious factor in attendances at squad and company drills, but was undermining discipline, and eventually would bring the majority of corps into little else than shooting clubs; an organization not at all desirable or in any way meeting [Pg 5] the demand for which the volunteers were raised. ”

“ The great event of the day was the reception tendered the veterans and citizens from Chicago, Hyde Park, Pullman, South Chicago, and the town of Lake. They numbered over 3,000, and arrived in the evening, after stopping en route at Danville, Ill., and Crawfordsville, Ind., to participate in demonstrations. The Chicago contingent comprised 800 members of the Union Veteran Club, commanded by its President, Capt. John J. Healy; 600 members of the Veteran Union League, led by Capt. James J. Healy; the Blaine Club, Second Regiment Band, and many smaller clubs. ”

“ The good that these clubs have already accomplished is a sure indication of the great benefits that will come to each member if he remains loyal to his organization and does all within his power to promote the interests of the whole. I have attended meetings of many of these clubs, upon many occasions, and I know whereof I speak when I say that "in union there is strength." Is there any better place to discuss the subject of supply and demand, the subject of prices, the merits of plants and cut flowers, than a florists' club? ”

“ The object of the National Club is to promote Protestant principles, and to encourage united action among Protestants in political and social questions by establishing a central organisation to obtain and spread information on such questions, by affording facilities for conference thereon, and by providing in the metropolis a central place of meeting to devise the fittest means for promoting the object in view. ”

“ We do severally solemnly swear and affirm that we will protect, aid and defend each member of all Union clubs, and will never make known in any way or manner, to any person or persons, not members of Union clubs, any of the signs, passwords, proceedings, purposes, debates or plans of this or any other club under this organization, except when engaged in admitting new members into this organization. ”

“ One great object of the Club is to establish the Benevolent Fund of the Battalion on a sound financial basis, so as to be in a position to deal with necessitous cases connected with the 17th Battalion, and it is thought that this is the only way. It is intended that the Club should be self-supporting, and assistance is hoped for, morally and financially, of all those who are interested in the affairs appertaining to the old Battalion. ”

“ Best of all, one could go to the Club and actually be warm and comfortable in the American style, a boon not to be lightly regarded in these islands where people all winter long huddle in freezing rooms round lilliputian grates. Enlisted men controlled the club, maintained it, and selected their stewards, cooks and attendants from their own ranks. Upon everybody concerned, the Club reflects the highest credit. ”

“ During my State of the Union address last January, I asked all Americans to give at least two years, or 4,000 hours over their lives, to serving others. And I created the USA Freedom Corps to help Americans find volunteer opportunities. Whatever your talent, whatever your background, each of you can do something.
America needs retired doctors and nurses who can be mobilized in emergencies; volunteers to help police and fire departments; and transportation and utility workers trained to spot danger. We have created a new Citizen Corps to enable Americans to make their own neighborhoods safer. ”

“ We drove rapidly through very spick-and-span streets to a little square where the sentry at an iron gate denoted the Officers' Club. In the anteroom four or five officers in field-grey uniform were lounging. As we entered they sprang to their feet and remained stiffly standing while the Major presented them, Hauptmann Pfahl, Oberleutnant Meyer ... a string of names. One of the officers had lost an arm, another was very lame, the remainder were obvious dug-outs.
"An American gentleman, a good friend of ours," was the form in which the Major introduced me to the company. ”

“ When they have not gone skylarking or grown tired of bridge they devote their leisure to organizing clubs other than those of the uplift. There are all sorts, from the Society for the Abrogation of Bathing Suits at the seaside resorts to the League at Mewville for the Care of Disabled Cats. Most of these clubs are all officers and no privates. That is what many of them are got up for. Do they advance the world in grace? One who surveys the scene can scarcely think so. ”

“ Men and women in many of the state institutions will be glad to contribute a share in service. Thomas Mott Osborne, while warden at Sing Sing, organized through the Mutual Welfare League a large class of men who enthusiastically gave up their evening periods of recreation in order that they might knit for soldiers in foreign fields. ”

“ For now that it is known that the Government will employ non-professional officers only as company officers under professional field officers, no one will take a volunteer commission with the idea of serving for many years from subaltern to commanding officer. What has hitherto been the volunteer force will therefore become a force administered by professional paid officers. It will cost more, and it will become a branch of the Army. ”

“ School Board Policy 5610 concerning "Student Clubs and Organizations" recognizes these student clubs as a "vital part of the total education program as a means of developing citizenship, wholesome attitudes, good human relations, knowledge and skills." App. 488. Board Policy 5610 also provides that each club shall have faculty sponsorship and that "clubs and organizations shall not be sponsored by any political or religious organization, or by any organization which denies membership on the basis of race, color, creed, sex or political belief." ”

“ These clubs are numerous in New England and the Western States, and have a large membership, which is composed exclusively of reformed men. The common platform upon which they all stand is: 1. Total abstinence. 2. Reliance upon God's help in all things. 3. Missionary work to induce others to sign the pledge. In Newark, N.J., there is a club with a membership of over six hundred reformed men, nearly all of whom have been rescued in the past three years, through the efforts of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of that city. ”

“ The War Camp Community Service worked in the localities surrounding the camp, where it aided the citizens in efficient expression of their universal spirit of hospitality and friendliness toward the troops, maintained clubs for soldiers on leave, provided information bureaus, recreation and entertainment, and, in general, helped to create and preserve between the men in training and the community in which they were located a normal and helpful social relationship. ”

“ Such corps as the dockyard volunteers, at all those great establishments, public and private, should be replaced on an improved system;—a system which should avoid expense and encroachment on a valuable part of their time, which were the failings of their original organization, and occasioned their being broken up.
The noble spirit which originated the volunteer movement is one of which the nation may justly feel proud; it exhibits and fosters a patriotic and military spirit in the country, which will render us more fit than any other people to cope with a powerful enemy. ”

“ Ira Cole show their appreciation of the amateurs who have visited them, and conclude an issue of thoroughly entertaining quality.
The Providence Amateur for June introduces to the United another local press club of great enthusiasm. Owing to some unauthorized omissions made by the printer, this first issue is scarcely representative of the club's entire personnel, but that which still remains affords, after all, a fair index to the character and ideals of the new organization. The editorials by John T. Dunn are both frank and fearless. ”