January is the Vocational Service Month of Rotary. It may be the right time for all of us to review and to observe one of the guiding principles of the Rotary Movement world-wide. These principles have been developed over the years to provide Rotarians with a strong, common purpose and direction. They serve as a foundation for our relationships with each other and the action we take in the world.
The Four-Way Test (四大考驗) is a non-partisan and non-sectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships. The Test has been translated into more than 100 languages, and Rotarians recite it at club meetings:
Of the things we think, say or do
- Is it the TRUTH?
- Is it FAIR to all concerned?
- Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
- Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
我們所想、所說、所做的事，應事先捫心自問:
- 是否一切屬於真實?
- 是否各方得到公平?
- 能否促進親善友誼?
- 能否兼顧彼此利益?
In the 1930’s during the midst of the Great Depression, an American Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor devised a simple, four-part ethical guideline that helped him rescue a beleaguered business. The statement and the principles it embodied also helped many others find their own ethical compass. Soon embraced and popularized by Rotary International, 《The Four- Way Test》today stands as one of the organization’s hallmarks. It may very well be one of the most famous statements as our “Self-examiner of Ethics”.
Herbert J. Taylor, author of 《The Four-Way Test》
The Four-Way Test in Vocational Service
The Four-Way Test》 has played a dominant role in Vocational Service because of its use as a clear and simple method of measuring “the things we think, say, or do.” It has worked effectively in putting Vocational Service ideals into practice. For example, Rotarians in Quaker Bay, Ohio, U.S.A., have held meetings at the places of business of members to explain 《The Four-Way Test》to employees and have contributed copies to them; in San Pablo, The Philippines, framed copies of the Test have been presented to 200 well-established business firms. In Murphysboro, Illinois, U.S.A., the Test has been helpful in labor relations as its importance to both labor and management has been stressed in the settlement of disputes.
Many times an activity which finds its start in one field of Rotary service grows and touches upon other phases of the Rotary program. Although originally used almost exclusively in the field of Vocational Service,《The Four-Way Test》 has been moving into other phases of Rotary activity so that now the Test is displayed in Club meeting places, is widely used in the
schools, has been presented to governmental officials, etc. For example, the twenty-right- member Rotary Club in Erin, Tennessee, U.S.A., sent the story of 《The Four-Way Test》to every family in the county. In Tuticorin, India, the Test has been displayed on the screen of local motion picture theatres. Members of the legislature of several states of the U.S.A. have been recipients of the Test through the courtesy of the Rotary Clubs. In Caxias do Sul, R. G. do Sul, Brazil, the Test is a permanent reminder to the residents of the city by its display on a monument which the Rotary Club placed in the public square.
In this new century when the social media of various formats are so popular on the Internet, Rotarians and Rotary clubs are presenting messages in words, or producing speeches, musical motion pictures, drama videos, etc., in promoting《The Four-Way Test》through these mass media tools to members of the public-at-large.
A Hong King Rotarian’s Viewpoint
George Ernest Marden, Governor 1949-1950 of the 57th District, addressed at the 42nd Rotary International Convention, Atlantic City, U.S.A., June 1951, on his cognition of《The Four-Way Test》. Marden, a Briton, first joined Shanghai Rotary Club (上海扶輪社) on 16 October 1925, and later served as its President in 1928-1929. He moved to the British Crown Colony Hong Kong after the Pacific War (1941-1945) and joined the Hong Kong Rotary Club (香港扶輪社).
It is some years since it was first suggested to Rotary clubs that they encourage their members in the use of what was called《The Four-Way Test》and you will all by now be familiar with its simple emphasis on truth, justice, friendliness, and helpfulness, presented by means of the desk plaque or the framed card ... ...
Many of us have launched independent business careers and please God men ever will, with a little capital, much hope, some doubts, and a determination to spare neither time nor effort to succeed, and I doubt whether we have (by and large) in the beginning, consciously added to this the thought that our success shall be attained honestly or ethically. Indeed, we are more likely to have intended to get there by hook or by crook than by any planned adherence to copy- book maxims.
But we will quickly have learned that a business needs something more than capital, more than staff, plant, or material or stock, more even than that “know-how” which is nearly indispensable – it needs the germ of that yeast of goodwill which will in a favourable climate multiply and increase so that it becomes the very business itself.
There are perhaps some substitutes for goodwill. In fact, they sometimes masquerade so successfully under its name that auditors and accountants mistake them in balance sheets and appraisals. Such things as favourable locations, monopoly in its various forms, or even the personality of the operator himself, but consider how vulnerable they are. Where the public is bound to the business only by the galling tie of necessity, immediately an alternative source of supply or service is uncovered the fatal lack of goodwill becomes apparent and the downgrade is reached.
But if profit is an essential, don’t be misled into believing that there is a God-given right to a minimum of customers. Nothing has ever been written into a free constitution, or grown up with the experience of centuries to give anyone an inalienable right to sell his goods to people who don’t want them. He must earn the sale not only with adherence to those fair-trading practices which certain developed economies have made necessary, but by reputation, quality standards, and honestly of dealing and purpose. The small man has not the protection and advantage of trademarks and brand names, essential though they are both to seller and purchaser in the wider field and he must offer something in their place – the certainty in the minds of his customers that they are getting a fair deal.
Is it the TRUTH, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? There is an old proverb used by the business man of my youth and earlier, some of you may have heard it. “Don’t cry ‘Stinking Fish’”. This belongs to the era when every apprentice was expected to learn what were called “the tricks of the trade”.
Rotary encourages its members to scorn any tricks in any trade that are not to the direct advantage of the customer and the Rotary form of the old proverb is very different from the original. It is “Don’t sell stinking fish”.
Is it FAIR to ALL concerned? Your goodwill and your reputation for honesty depends upon your treating your customers or clients or constituents---call them what you will---your readers or your public if you are an author or a journalist---with impartial fairness. Don’t overlook that it says all concerned; that includes your employees---the girl who may have to stand too long and the commuting assistant who must wait over for a later train.
Will it build GOODWILL and better friendship?
Will your customer appreciate it even if he won’t want to come right around and thank you for it there and then?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to ALL concerned?
Do you know deep inside you that it will be good to happen?
Ask yourself these four questions in relation to your customer or client, your employee or partner, your stockholder or banker.
Remember that the number of men who got themselves or their business out of trouble by worry and concealment in the hope of better days is not ten percent of those that got deeper and deeper in that same trouble. Realize that frankness brings the help and assistance of all interests concerned and you will be convinced as I am, that honesty is still the best policy!
Watergate, War, and The Four-Way Test
“If we had stopped to apply The Four-Way Test, there would have been no Watergate.”
~~ John Dean
United States lawyer John Wesley Dean III, who served as White House counsel from 1970 to 1973 under President Richard M. Nixon, addressed the District 5670 (Kansas, U.S.A.) Conference on 3 May 2003. The grandson of a Rotarian, Dean examined what might have taken place at the Watergate Hotel if Rotarians had been in charge of the White House. (Nixon, an honorary Rotarian, resigned as United States President in 1974 under threat of impeachment for covering up a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.) Dean’s speech, which provides a new perspective on one of the most fateful decisions in United States history, is presented here, edited for length.
Since 1943, Rotary clubs everywhere have looked to, and shared with others, an ethical testing tool that is wonderfully simple and remarkably telling. This test is not a code, not a creed, not a religion. Rather, it is an assessment device, a basis for inquiry---or more simply stated---a checklist to help one find the right thing to say or the right thing to do.
If《The Four-Way Test》has been found wanting or somehow defective, after over a half- century of use, it is a well-kept secret. To the contrary, the Test has only proven itself more reliable with the passing of time.
With this reality in mind, I decided to put《The Four-Way Test》to a critical examination. It started with my asking what kind of guidance might I have gotten as counsel to the president during Watergate if I had applied it. But first I found myself thinking about a more current and more important problem, the potential of a war with Iraq, which was then looming. Let me briefly tell you what I found.
Is it the TRUTH?
Sadly, presidents often find it necessary to be less than truthful about war. This is a question that all interested citizens should ask, and if we cannot get the truth, there is a fundamental flaw in our system.
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Can any war ever be fair to all concerned? Was it fair to the Southern plantation owners when Sherman crossed Georgia with a torch? What about all the soldiers and civilians who died in wars during the last century? For a war to be fair to all concerned it must be pursued impartially and that pursuit must be honest. The war must also be free from self-interest. And the war must conform with established rules of war and have merit and importance.
Will it build goodwill and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
If the reason for the war is not true, if the conduct of the war is not fair, it is rather obvious that the war is not going to create goodwill and better friendships.
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
You can’t know all who are concerned. I don’t believe that Taylor [Rotarian Herbert Taylor, the Test’s author] wanted you to know how it affected persons with whom you have no direct or indirect impact.
The key to this Test is not necessarily the answer to the questions. Rather it is what asking the questions forces you to do, to think. To appreciate the impact of your words and actions on others, you will discover the right thing to say or the right thing to do. Or I should say, what is right for you to say and do.
I was about 10 years old when I attended my first Rotary meeting with my grandfather, who was an active Rotarian his entire life. But it was not until your district governor, Mack Teasley, mentioned《The Four-Way Test》that I became truly aware of it. I have now used it more times than I can recall. I’ve made it part of my thinking. Indeed, I only wish I had known about it earlier.
My wife, Maureen, asked me: “Aren’t you going to answer these questions on war in your talk?” I don’t believe《The Four-Way Test》is designed for me to tell you my answers. Nor for you to tell me yours. 《The Four-Way Test》is not an outline for a sermon. It is not a design for lecture. Nor is it a search for the definitive answer to each question. I perceive《The Four- Way Test》as a personal reckoning device, a private syllabus for each of us to employ.
I am going to tell you without fear of contradiction that had those of us in the Nixon White House who were involved in Watergate stopped to apply《The Four-Way Test》---even if occasionally---there would have been no Watergate. In short,《The Four-Way Test》works, it will work for any issue---if only we are willing to use it.
Author of《The Four-Way Test》
One of the world’s most widely printed and quoted statements of business ethics is《The Four- Way Test》, which was created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor when he was asked to take charge of a company that was facing bankruptcy.
Herbert J. Taylor (18 April 1893 – 1 May 1978) was a mover, a doer, a consummate salesman and a leader of men. He was a man of action, faith and high moral principle. He was an active Rotarian, an American business executive, civic leader and sponsor of Christian organizations
Born in Pickford, Michigan, United States of America, on 18 April 1893, Taylor worked his way through Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. After graduation, he went to France on a mission for the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) and the British Army Welfare Service. In the First World War, he served in the U.S. Navy Supply Corps. In 1919, Taylor married Gloria Forbrich, and the couple set up housekeeping in Oklahoma, U.S.A., where he worked for the Sinclair Oil Company. After a year, he resigned and went into insurance, real estate and oil lease brokerage. With some prosperous years behind him, Taylor returned to Chicago, Illinois, in 1925 and began a swift rise within the Jewel Tea Company.
Taylor has been a Rotarian since 1923. He was a former member and Past President of the Rotary Club of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, and was later a member and President in 1939-1940 of the Rotary Club of Chicago, Illinois. He has served Rotary International as Governor of the 147th District in 1940-1941, Director in 1944-1945**, First Vice-President in 1945-1946**, and as President in 1954-1955. (**Joining the same boards with Taylor in 1944-1946 as director and vice president was Dr. Chengting Thomas Wang (王正廷博士) from The Republic of China 中華民國.)
During the World War II, Taylor was a member of the Illinois War Savings Staff Committee and Vice-Chairman of the War Department Price Adjustment Board in Washington, D.C. He was a Past Director of the American Management Association and of the Aluminum Wares Association. His hobby was boys’ work, and he was the sponsor of one of the largest boys’ camps in the U.S.A. He was a former Chairman of the National Boys and Girls Week
Committee for the U.S.A. Taylor was also a member on the Board of Governors 1941–1942 of the Illinois Crippled Children Society.
A Methodist in religious faith, Taylor co-founded the Christian Workers Foundation (CWF) in 1939. He served on the boards of several such institutions including Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (U.S.A.), Youth for Christ, Young Life, Fuller Seminary, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Christian Service Brigade, Pioneer Girls, and the Chicago Billy Graham Crusades.
The other positions he held in the commercial sector were: Board Chairman, Club Aluminum Products Company, Chicago, Illinois; Director, Chicago Federal Savings and Loan Association; Director, Monarch Aluminum Manufacturing Company, Cleveland, Ohio; Director, First National Bank, Barrington, Illinois; Director, Chicago Better Business Bureau.
Taylor was Member of University Associates, Northwestern University. He was conferred Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) (honoris causa) by Houghton (New York) College. He also authored 《The Four-Way Test》《The Ten Marks of a Good Citizen》《The Twelve Marks of a True Christian》, and《God Has A Plan For You》. Taylor has been inducted into the American National Business Hall of Fame. He featured on the cover of 28 February 1955 Issue of the 《Newsweek》.
Taylor and his wife had two daughters, Gloria Beverly and Romona Estellene. They lived in Park Ridge, Illinois. Taylor died on 1 May 1978. At the time of his death, Taylor was the Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Club Aluminum Products, Inc.
Creation of The Four-Way Test
In line for the presidency of Jewel Tea Company in 1932, Taylor was asked to help revive the near-bankrupt Club Aluminum Company of Chicago. The cookware manufacturing company owed US$400,000 more than its total assets and was barely staying afloat.
Taylor responded to the challenge and decided to cast his lot with this troubled firm. He resigned from Jewel Tea, taking an 80% pay cut to become president of Club Aluminum. He even invested in the Company US$6,100 to give it some operating capital.
He believed himself to be the only person in the Company with 250 employees who had hope. Looking for a way to resuscitate the Company and caught in the Great Depression’s doldrums, Taylor, deeply religious, prayed for inspiration to craft a short measuring stick of ethics for the staff to use.
His recovery plan started with changing the ethical climate of the Company. The first job was to set policies for the Company that would reflect the high ethics and morals God would want in any business. Excerpted below is the story as told by Herbert J. Taylor in his own words:
Back in 1932, the Creditors of the Club Aluminum Company assigned me the task of saving the Company from being closed out as a bankrupt organization. The Company was a distributor of cookware and other household items. We found that the Company owed its creditors over $400,000 more than its total assets. It was bankrupt but still alive.
At that time we borrowed $6,100 from a Chicago bank to give us a little cash on which to operate.
While we had a good product our competitors also had fine cookware with well-advertised brand names. Our Company also had some fine people working for it, but our competitors also had the same. Our competitors were naturally in much stronger financial condition than we were.
With tremendous obstacles and handicaps facing us we felt that we must develop in our organization something which our competitors would not have in equal amount. We decided that it should be the character, dependability and service mindedness of our personnel.
We determined, first, to be very careful in the selection of our personnel and, second, to help them become better men and women as they progressed with our Company.
We believed that “In right there is might” and we determined to do our best to always be right. Our industry, as was true of scores of other industries, had a code of ethics but the code was long, almost impossible to memorize and therefore impractical. We felt that we needed a simple measuring stick of ethics which everyone in the company could quickly memorize. We also believed that the proposed test should not tell our people what they must do, but ask them questions which would make it possible for them to find out whether their proposed plans, policies, statements or actions were right or wrong.
I searched through many books for the answer to our need, but the right phrases eluded me. So I did what I often do when I have a problem I can’t answer myself---I turn to the One who has all the answers. I leaned over my desk, rested my head in my hands and prayed. After a few moments, I looked up and reached for a white paper card. Then I wrote down the twenty- four words that had come to me. Considerable time was spent in developing four short questions. Here are the four questions:
- Is it the TRUTH?
- Is it FAIR to all concerned?
- Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
- Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
I called it “The Four-Way Test of the things we think, say or do.” I placed this little test under the glass top of my desk and determined to try it out for a few days before talking to anyone else in the Company about it. I had a very discouraging experience. I almost threw it into the wastepaper basket the first day when I checked everything that passed over my desk with the first question, “Is it the truth?” I never realized before how far I often was from the truth and how many untruths appeared in our Company’s literature, letters and advertising.
After about sixty days of faithful constant effort on my part to live up to the Four-Way Test I was thoroughly sold on its great worth and at the same time greatly humiliated, and at times discouraged, with my own performance as president of the Company. I had, however, made sufficient progress in living up to the Four-Way Test to feel qualified to talk to some of my associates about it. I discussed it with my four department heads. You may be interested in knowing the religious faith of these four men. One was a Roman Catholic, the second a Christian Scientist, the third an Orthodox Jew and the fourth a Presbyterian.
I asked each man whether or not there was anything in the Four Way Test which was contrary to the doctrines and ideals of his particular faith. They all four agreed that truth, justice, friendliness and helpfulness not only coincided with their religious ideals, but that if constantly applied in business they should result in greater success and progress. These four men agreed to use the Four Way Test in checking proposed plans, policies, statements and advertising of the Company. Later, all employees were asked to memorize and use the Four-Way Test in their relations with others.
The checking of advertising copy against the Four-Way Test resulted in the elimination of statements the truth of which could not be proved. All superlatives such as the words better, best, greatest and finest disappeared from our advertisements. As a result, the public gradually placed more confidence in what we stated in our advertisements and bought more of our products.
The constant use of the Four-Way Test caused us to change our policies covering relations with competitors. We eliminated all adverse or detrimental comments on our competitors’ products from our advertisements and literature.
When we found an opportunity to speak well of our competitors we did so. Thus, we gained the confidence and friendship of our competitors.
The application of the Four-Way Test to our relations with our own personnel and that of our suppliers and customers helped us to win their friendship and goodwill. We have learned that the friendship and confidence of those with whom we associate is essential to permanent success in business.
Through over twenty years of sincere effort on the part of our personnel, we have been making steady progress toward reaching the ideals expressed in the Four-Way Test. We have been rewarded with a steady increase in sales, profits and earnings of our personnel. From a bankrupt condition in 1932 our Company has paid its debts in full, has paid its stockholders over one million dollars in dividends and has a present value of over two million dollars. All of these rewards have come from a cash investment of only $6,100, the Four-Way Test and some good hard working people who have faith in God and high ideals.
Intangible dividends from the use of the Four-Way Test have been even greater than the financial ones. We have enjoyed a constant increase in the goodwill, friendship and confidence of our customers, our competitors and the public and what is even more valuable, a great improvement in the moral character of our own personnel.
We have found that you cannot constantly apply the Four-Way Test to all your relations with others eight hours each day in, business without getting into the habit of doing it in your home, social and community life. You thus become a better father, a better friend and a better citizen.
Profound in its simplicity, the Test became the basis for decisions large and small at Club Aluminum.
But any test must be put to the test. Would it work in the real world? Could people in business really live by its precepts? One lawyer told Taylor: “If I followed the Test explicitly, I would starve to death. Where business is concerned, I think《The Four-Way Test》is absolutely impractical.”
The attorney’s concerns were understandable. Any ethical system that calls for living the truth and measuring actions on the basis of benefits to others is demanding. Such a test can stir bitter conflict for those who try to balance integrity and ambition. Sizzling debates have been held in various parts of the world on its practicality as a way of living. There are always some serious-minded Rotarians, not to mention skeptics and negative thinkers, who view《The Four-Way Test》as a simplistic philosophy of dubious worth, contradictory meaning and unrealistic aims. The Test calls for thoughtful examination of one’s motives and goals. This emphasis on truth, fairness and consideration provide a moral diet so rich that it gives some people “ethical indigestion.”
But at Club Aluminum in the 1930s, everything was measured against《The Four-Way Test》. First, the staff applied it to advertising. Words like “better,” “best,” “greatest” or “finest” were dropped from ads and replaced by factual descriptions of the product. Negative comments about competitors were removed from advertising and company literature.
The Test gradually became a guide for every aspect of the business, creating a climate of trust and goodwill among dealers, customers and employees. It became part of the corporate culture, and eventually helped improve Club Aluminum’s reputation and finances.
One day, the sales manager announced a possible order for 50,000 utensils. Sales were low and the Company was still struggling at the bankruptcy level. The senior managers certainly needed and wanted that sale, but there was a hitch. The sales manager learned that the potential customer intended to sell the products at cut-rate prices. “That wouldn’t be fair to our regular dealers who have been advertising and promoting our product consistently,” he said. In one of the toughest decisions the Company made that year, the order was turned down. There was no question this transaction would have made a mockery out of《The Four- Way Test》the Company professed to live by.
By 1937, Club Aluminum’s indebtedness was paid off and during the next 15 years, the firm distributed more than US$1 million in dividends to its stockholders. Its net worth climbed to more than US$2 million.
Too idealistic for the real world? 《The Four-Way Test》was born in the rough and tumble world of business, and put to the acid test of experience in one of the toughest times that the business community has ever known. It survived in the arena of practical commerce. Eloquently simple, stunning in its power, undeniable in its results, 《The Four-Way Test》 offers a fresh and positive vision in the midst of a world full of tension, confusion and uncertainty.
Adoption of the Test by the Rotary World
In 1942, Richard Vernor of Chicago, then a director of Rotary International, suggested that Rotary adopt the Test. The Rotary International Board of Directors approved his proposal in January 1943 and made《The Four-Way Test》a component of the Vocational Service program, although today it is considered a vital element in all Five Avenues of Service.
Herbert J. Taylor transferred the copyright to Rotary International when he served as Rotary International President in 1954-1955, during the Rotary organization’s golden anniversary. He retained the rights to use the Test for himself, his Club Aluminum Company and the Christian Workers Foundation.
Today, more than eight decades since its creation. Has the Test lost its usefulness in modern society, as some critics maintain? Is it sophisticated enough to guide business and professional men and women in these fast-paced times?
Is it the TRUTH? There is a timelessness in truth that is unchangeable. Truth cannot exist without justice.
Is it FAIR to all concerned? The substitution of fairness for the harsh principles of doing business at arm’s length has improved rather than hurt business relationships.
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? Man is by nature a cooperative creature and it is his natural instinct to express love.
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned? This question eliminates the dog-eat-dog principle of ruthless competition and substitutes the idea of constructive and creative competition.
The final test is in the doing. William James, the noted psychologist, once said: “The ultimate test of what a truth means is the conduct it dictates or inspires.” At the heart of Rotary today is 《The Four-Way Test》— a call to moral excellence. Human beings can grow together. Modern business can be honest and trustworthy. People can learn to believe in one another.
At the 1977 Rotary International Convention, James S. Fish of the U.S. Better Business Bureaus said: “To endure, the competitive enterprise system must be practiced within the framework of a strict moral code. Indeed, the whole fabric of the capitalistic system rests to a large degree on trust . . . on the confidence that businessmen and women will deal fairly and honestly, not only with each other, but also with the general public, with the consumer, the stockholder and the employee.”
Few things are needed more in our society than moral integrity. 《The Four-Way Test》will guide those who dare to use it for worthy objectives: choosing, winning, and keeping friends; getting along well with others; ensuring a happy home life; developing high ethical and moral standards; becoming successful in a chosen business or profession; and becoming a better citizen and better example for the next generation.
Presidential Speech 1955
Excerpted portion of the Presidential Speech by Herbert J. Taylor, Rotary International President 1954-1955, addressed at the 46th Annual Convention of Rotary International held on 29 May-2 June 1955 at Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
What we can do at this Convention to help preserve our precious freedoms and what can we do about freedom when we got home? Let us thoroughly informed about its past and present status. Let us talk to our friends, our neighbors, our employees, and associates about it. Let us help elect public officers who will preserve it. And above all, let us teach and train the oncoming generation in a high moral character, for that is the best safeguard of all for freedom’s future.
Throughout the year, wherever we have gone, the plea has been made for a greater emphasis on spiritual things. In recent decades, there has been a moral and spiritual relapse in all of our countries. The peoples of the world have lost sight of the fact that man cannot live by bread alone. That failure, no doubt, accounts for the driving power of some godless ideology such as we know communism to be. We have a long way to go yet in reaching the ideal of every Rotarian exemplifying by his every act the principles of his faith, but we have made definite progress in Rotary this year forward that goal.
An illustration of that progress is the interest that Rotary Clubs have taken in character- building projects for youth. Before the end of the year, millions of young people in the high schools and secondary schools of more than 20 countries will become young people of higher moral character as a result of Rotarians encouraging them to use The Four-Way Test of the things we think, say or do in our relations with others, these four simple questions:
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? 4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
These millions of young people will, we believe, provide a bulwark for the future against the corrosion of communism, racial discrimination and delinquency.
You will be pleased to learn that the Government of Cape Province in South Africa has approved the installation of The Four-Way Test posters in all the 2,100 high school classrooms of the Province. The plan is in effect in hundreds of high schools in the U.S.A., India, Japan, and Australia. We found the plan also in schools in Finland, Holland, Israel, and Brazil, and it has been incorporated in a textbook to be used in all of the high schools of West Germany.