Scouting, Volume 6, Number 8, April 15, 1918 Page: 14
112 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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14 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
Neither Military Nor Anti-Military.
As an organization the Scout Movement is not military in thought,
form or spirit, although it does instil in boys the military virtues, such
as honor, loyalty, obedience and patriotism. The uniform, the patrol,
the troop, and the drill are not for military tactics; they are for the
unity, the harmony and the rhythm of spirit that boys learn in Scouting.
It is in the wearing of the uniform and doing of things together as
scouts that they absorb the force and truth of the Scout Law, which
states: "A scout is a friend of all, and a brother to every other scout."
While the spirit of Scouting is not militaristic, the experiences of the
last year have completely demonstrated that out-door scout training with
its cooking, camping, hiking, signaling, map reading, wireless, electricity,
knowledge of woodcraft and ability to care for oneself in the open helps
immeasurably in fitting a man for the duties of a soldier. While Scouting
as a teen-age boy program very properly is not militaristic from a tech-
nical standpoint, it is, however, patriotic, as proven by last year's won-
derful record of scout nation-wide, civic war service for the Navy De-
partment, in the two Liberty Bond campaigns, in the gardening propa-
ganda, in selling War Savings Stamps, in distributing more than 5,000,000
patriotic documents for the Committee on Public Information, in co-
operating with the Red Cross, War Camp Community Recreation Fund,
Y. M. C. A., Knights of Columbus and other war relief agencies. The
above, with the further fact that our organization suffered more than
the average organization because of volunteer enlistments of our scouts
and scout officials in the war demonstrates fully the value of Scouting in
developing good citizens who are patriotic, loyal and prepared.
Religious Policy.
Scouting presents greater opportunities for the development of the
boy religiously than does any other movement instituted solely for the
boys. Its aim to develop the boy physically, mentally and morally is
being realized very widely.
The Movement has been developed on such broad lines as to embrace
all classes, all creeds, and at the same time to allow the greatest possible
independence to individual organizations, officers and boys.
The Boy Scouts of America maintain that no boy can grow into the
best kind of citizenship without recognizing his obligation to God. The
recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe, and
the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings is necessary to
the best type of citizenship and is a wholesome thing in the education of
the growing boy. No matter what the boy may be—Catholic, or Protes-
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 6, Number 8, April 15, 1918, periodical, April 15, 1918; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth282932/m1/16/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.