In 1932, Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor, who went on to be a president of Rotary International, took on the task of salvaging the nearly bankrupt Club Aluminium Company.

Herb felt that to succeed, they had to be morally and ethically strong. One morning he wrote down twenty-four words that became the guiding principles by which his firm would do business.

Those words became known as the “4-Way Test” and brought Club Aluminium out of the red in five years. In January1943, Rotary International adopted the 4-Way Test as a code of ethics – a call to moral excellence – for all Rotarians.

The 4-Way Test, which has been translated into more than 100 languages, obligates every Rotarian to apply four tests to all that they think, say, and do:

1. It is the TRUTH?
2. It is FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?