P.S.I. … Project—Samaritan International

MR. JUPP: This is Brotherhood Week and as you know we try to have a special speaker for our meeting each year when this week is being observed. Today we are particularly fortunate in being able to join with the Ontario Society for Crippled Children, in having a very distinguished speaker whose subject is most appropriate for Brotherhood Week. You will find, however, that there was no great need to select an occasion suited to his special subject so that we might invite Mr. Donald V. Wilson to address us.

A man of great distinction who would be welcome at any time, Mr. Wilson is a graduate of Muskingum College and received his LL.B. degree from the School of Law, Western Reserve University and the M.A. degree from the School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago. During the war, Mr. Wilson served in various assignments as a military government officer and saw extensive service in Japan, in both military and civilian capacity during the occupation. For this work he was cited by General Douglas MacArthur "for outstanding performance of duties and exceptional judgment and leadership".

Since 1949 Mr. Wilson has been Secretary General of the International Society for the Welfare of Cripples, which is a federation of 31 national organizations carrying out programmes for the physically handicapped. He is the Society's representative to the United Nations, the World Health Organization and other international agencies. His activities have brought him many honours including the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Muskingum College in 1956 and it the same year he was the recipient of the Goodwill Award, conferred by the Goodwill Industries of America for outstanding service to handicapped people.

I have very much pleasure in presenting Mr. Donald V. Wilson, who will speak to us on the subject "P.S.I. Project, Samaritan International".

MR. WILSON: Canada is a wonderful place to visit and I am pleased to have this opportunity to discuss with you some world-wide problems confronting all of us today. The Ontario Society for Crippled Children has been active in our International Society for over thirty years and I'm always happy to have the opportunity to visit Toronto and see old friends. In our international programme there is a real need for a more active participation of Canadians and I trust that what I have to say will give you some idea of how you, as individual citizens and as members of organizations, can participate more effectively in many of the international programmes that have been established in recent years to benefit all the people of the world.

Since the end of the last World War we have made excellent progress in recognizing and solving some of our economic and social problems, but even more study and imaginative work is required. As your President has intimated I see the world from the viewpoint of a professional administrator in the field of international philanthropy. Philanthropy itself is one of our most ancient human activities and has existed in one form or another since human suffering and the possibility of improvement was first recognized.

The prospects of philanthropy are firmly based on religious doctrine. In fact all the great religions of the world include as a major tenet the obligation to share what we have in wealth, time and talents with other people. Philanthropy today is "bigger and better" and is truly an international undertaking. It operates on a world-wide basis along with our commercial organizations, our religious institutions and our military establishments, which are all now international in scope and activities. Philanthropy, along with medicine and law as well as religion, is now concerned not only with local and provincial problems but also with world-wide problems. This is not an entirely new idea, however, for many of our religious organizations have for years been concerned about human needs and wants in far-away places. In fact foreign missions have in the past seemed to have more attractions for some people than missions in our immediate environment.

There are several questions which have caused me a little difficulty in connection with arranging my talk with you today.

(1) We had some difficulty in agreeing on a title for what I intend to say. It was my thought that some simple words such as "World Action For Crippled Children" would be sufficient, but some of my advisors felt that to use so direct a title would indicate too clearly what I would talk about and you might decide to stay away. The title selected "P.S.I.--Project--Samaritan International" certainly has an air of mystery about it. A mystery I trust we can clear up in the next twenty minutes.

(2) It was also intimated to me that any appeal for funds would not be appropriate on this occasion. Now this is very real restriction to place on the administrator of a charitable agency that constantly faces an annual deficit. It is particularly frustrating for the one who comes to Canada from the land of the 96c. dollar. I do understand, however, that it would be in poor taste for me, as a guest, to try to collect any of these good Canadian dollars. If I seem to imply that money is needed I really don't mean it. Besides it is my previous experience that Canadians are generous people and do not need to be told to contribute.

(3) The third admonishment given to me in a very subtle manner was that a little humour--a few stories and illustrations would not be amiss. Now I really agree with this advice for I have served as a speaker before in Canada. On previous visits to your country I have spoken after a banquet or lunch which had been preceded by what is quaintly called "hospitality" and I have tried to profit by previous experience by gathering together a few anecdotes in case a few of you begin to doze. (Of course it will be the luncheon and not the speaker who will cause you to go to sleep.)

Since by nature I a very serious person there was a real need for the advice given to me and I really had to consider this problem of securing appropriate stories. At first my idea was to tell some stories I had picked up on previous trips to Canada, but after I tried them out on my family and colleagues in the office I was told emphatically not to use them.

I also secured another piece of advice when I was trying to write down some of my ideas after I discovered that a written text of my speech was required for a book which I understand you publish each year. Apparently my original ideas were too full of advice and I was told to remember Socrates. He was a wise person; he gave advice to the people, the people gave poison to Socrates.

If I were preaching a sermon and asked for a text, I would not go to the scriptures of any of the great religions of the world, but I would cite to you a quotation from the great English historian, Arnold Toynbee, who has predicted that: "The Twentieth Century will not be remembered as a century of conflicts, wars and technical inventions, but the century in which human society first dared to think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective."

This predcition about the century in which we live presents a real challenge and opportunity to all of us. It is thrilling indeed to realize that we are living in the age when mankind first dared to consider the welfare of the entire human race as a practical objective.

This prediction by Toynbee has been quoted many times during the past five years, and I as well as others, refer to it frequently, for it sets forth eloquently the hopes and aspirations of many of us who are engaged in international welfare activities. The quotation has been used many times by personnel of the United Nations and related organizations and in effect sets forth the hopes and aspirations of all of us for ourselves and our children. The future of ourselves as well as our children will be determined by the way we respond to this challenge.

There is a great ferment in the world today which presents a real challenge to Canadians and all North Americans. Recently I noted a reference to the fact that about one-third of the population of the world or something like 800,000,000 people are living in eighteen countries that have secured their independence during the last ten years. These people for the most part are living in areas which

we have described as underdeveloped but where great strides are being made to develop industries which is accompanied by increasing urbanization. The people living in these places are becoming increasingly aware of the higher economic standards existing in North America and North Europe. They are trying to achieve in one way or another a higher standard of living for themselves and their children and in many cases they are trying to bring it about without going through the centuries of experiment on which our present standard of living is based. To understand this ferment throughout the world we should note that the combined population of North America (United States and Canada) and North Europe (United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Scandinavia) is less than one-half of the population in these 18 countries. Estimates made indicate that approximately one-sixth of the people of the world who live in these wealthy countries own and control over half of the wealth of the world today. Because we are fortunate enough to live in this section of the world we are confronted with new problems which we find frustrating when we try to solve them.