Scouting, Volume 12, Number 2, February 1924 Page: 3
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SCOUTING, February, 1924
The Harding Memorial
OUITE a number of troops and councils
have made contributions to the
Harding Memorial Association in
accordance with the announcement made
in December Scouting. It will be pecu-
liarly appropriate to have every troop rep-
resented in the erection of this memorial,
the exact character of which has not yet
been determined. The Boy Scout Move-
ment owes a great deal to the personal
influence of the late President Harding.
His wish to encourage and help scoutmasters
was evidenced at every opportunity. Mr.
Harding had the love of boys in a remark-
able degree, and undoubtedly scouts will
want to make such contributions as they
may'be able to to the proposed permanent
memorial. We suggest that the matter
be taken up with the troop at the next troop
meeting and a contribution promptly se-
cured and forwarded, even though it be a
very small amount. But, of course, the
amount should represent the interest and
ability of the troop or council. Troops
whose contribution comes from 100 per
cent, of its members, will receive from the
Association an engraved membership cer-
tificate in the Association bearing a portrait
of Mr. Harding. Your contributions can
be sent direct to the Harding Memorial
Association, 1414 F Street, Washington,
D. C. Needless to say, all contributions
are entirely voluntary. Scouts can perhaps
serve local representatives of the Harding
Memorial Association in many ways, ex-
cepting always the actual solicitation of
funds.
The Boy You Care About
[An Editorial for scout leaders to offer to
local newspapers.]
His schoolmates, his gang or crowd, his
chum, are just immature boys like himself
subject to the same bewildering influences.
A MILLION OF THEM TURN 21
EVERY YEAR.
What's the answer?
It is a task and a responsibility to rear
children. Among the agencies which can
help you with your son's education and
preparation for Manhood, there is none
more able than the Boy Scouts of America.
It is a Movement organized to train for
CITIZENSHIP. It is not military, it is
not sectarian, it is not political. It does not
seek to take the place of either the Church
or the School. It helps them as it helps you
to develop character in the boy.
The Boy Scout Movement has been
brought to this city and maintained so that
THE BOY YOU CARE ABOUT may
have the benefits of its Program. Why not
help him to become a scout, or, if he is one,
boost him, and help his chums to become
scouts? The scout executive or any
scouting official will be glad to talk with
you. These men want your help with the
boys who are already scouts, and your help
in finding places in the Movement for more
boys.
How Do Boys Spend Their
Time ?
AXOST PARENTS would have to make a guess in
-i-V-L reply to that question. Few would guess right
as to the amount of time spent by boys in reading, or
as to what boys read. If you would like to be able to
make a brief and convincing talk to a group of parents
on this subject, write to H. M. Clymer, Circulation
Manager, Boys' Life, 200 Fifth Avenue, New York
City, for a printed "talk" prepared for the use of
scoxit leaders on "How a Boy Spfends His Time."
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SCOUT CALENDAR
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FEBRUARY 22, WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY—
Parent-night troop meetings; patriotic exercises with
demonstration of scout knowledge of composition and
history of the United States Flag and the customary
forms of respect due to it. Good Turns to disabled
War Veterans and their families. On hikes, reenact
scenes from Revolutionary history.
FEBRUARY 29—Time to have next Summer's camp
plans well under way, and every scout lined up to
attend.
APRIL 4*.—Memorial Services to Woodrow Wilson,
on this or date more convenient to local scout officials.
See notice elsewhere in this issue.
MARCH 15—See if Boy Scout Diary suggests an
idea for this week's troop meeting and hike.
MARCH 17—With a strong spading fork turn over
every foot of garden space in a snake hunt.
APRIL I—Scouts to fool as many lonely and needy
people as possible with a cheerful Good Turn.
APRIL 6—Good day for the troop's monthly at-
tendance in a body at church service.
Putting the O. K. in Jokes
EVERY boy likes a good joke. But are
boys ever helped by vulgar joking?
Some of the council and troop bulle-
tins that reach the National Council office
contain some jokes which are literally
"rotten." Please take our word for this.
In many cases, this sort of stuff is prob-
ably contributed by scouts, and used rather
than hurt the scout's feelings. But isn't it a
mistake to allow anything to get into an
official scout publication that is vulgar or
written in a style that appeals to the lowest
order of intelligence in the troop? These
bulletins give scout leaders a wonderful
opportunity to impress their personality
upon scouts, and to stimulate self-respect
in boys, for boys do respond in kind to
what is handed to them. Trust a boy, and
he trusts us; respect him, and he will respect
us; talk to him as though all he can under-
stand is street jargon and small jokes, and
the chances are that that is how he will rate
our intelligence. Furthermore, scout bulle-
tins get into the hands of parents, school-
teachers and others, and advertise not only
the kind of companionship the boys are
getting in the troop, but also the kind of
leadership they are getting.
SCOUTING
Published monthly for Officials and Leaders by
the National Council, Boy Scouts of America.
Entered as second-class matter April 19, 1913,
Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of
August 24, 1912. Acceptance for mailing at special
rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act
of October 3, 1917, authorized June 13, 1918.
OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL
AND EXECUTIVE BOARD
Honorary President: Calvin Coolidge.
Honorary Vice-President: William H. Taft.
Honorary Vice-President: Daniel C. Beard.
Honorary Vice-President: Wm. G. McAdoo.
President: Colin H. Livingstone, Washington.
Vice-President: Mortimer L. Schiff, New York.
Vice-President: Milton A. McRae, Detroit.
Vice-President: Benj. L. Dulaney, Bristol, Tenn.
Vice-President: Walter W. Head, Omaha.
Vice-President: Charles C. Moore, San Francisco.
Nat'l Scout Commissioner: Daniel C. Beard.
International Commissioner: Mortimer L. Schiflf.
Treasurer: George D. Pratt, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Chief Scout Executive: James E. West, N. Y. C.
William B. Ashley, Editor.
Office of Publication:
Boy Scouts of America
The Fifth Avenue Building, 200 Fifth Avenue
New York City
Vol. XII., No. 2. February, 1924
Copyright, 192U, by Boy Scouts of America
Scout Turnover
A DIGEST of a significant report re-
ceived from the Atlanta, Ga., Local
Council, Mr. A. A. Jameson, Scout
Executive, on why scouts drop out of troops,
is presented on another page. Scout leaders
will note that the predominant reasons are
those over which boys themselves do not
have control. This very definitely shows the
importance of correct organization of the
troop at the outset and adequate supervision
thereafter. The fact of such losses from
troops should present a real challenge to
scout leaders, particularly those responsible
for troop organization and maintenance, to
find ways and means to materially increase
the effectiveness of the Boy Scout Program.
Surely it is of the first importance that we
should have our machinery and procedure such
as to hold boys long enough to have them
thoroughly saturated with the real scout spirit
and make a part of their lives the Scout Oath
and Law and ideals of service.
The fact that this study reveals that out of
571 boys who left their troops, 482 were in
Scouting for one year or less, is most signifi-
cant. Again, the fact that 508 of them had
not passed beyond the second class, is
equally significant. Special attention like-
wise is invited to the fact that of these 571
boys 467 were fourteen years of age and
younger. This confirms the belief that we
are not so much involved in an older boy
problem as with a younger boy problem.
Indeed, this report shows that 142 of these
boys who dropped out were twelve years of
age and 194 of them thirteen years of age.
We cannot escape the conviction that in
many cases boys who drop out of troops
needlessly suffer and needlessly lose the
opportunity to be scouts, because of condi-
tions beyond their own control, BUT OFTEN
WITHIN THE CONTROL OF THOSE
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TROOP AC-
TIVITIES. James E. West.
Compensations
THE rewards of effort must be dis-
tant to stir us to sacrifice. If the
scoutmaster could change a boy
from Tenderfoot- to Eagle Scout over
night, there would be scant satisfaction
in the doing of it. But with the rewards
of his labors waiting far ahead, there is
incentive to keep going, no matter how
rough the road. Farther still in the future
than Eagle rank is the scoutmaster's su-
preme reward, young men of character
entering into Manhood trained for Citizen-
ship.
What is the scoutmaster's great in-
centive to keep up his efforts when the
trail is rough and thorny, as well as
when it is all play? Isn't it the ambition
to produce for America its greatest need-
men of character trained for citizenship?
Have you ever computed how many po-
tential citizens you will influence as a scout-
master in a period of five years, ten years?
Your influence as a scoutmaster upon a boy
does not end with the boy himself, but is
multiplied through that boy's contacts with
others. That is one of the real compensa-
tions in this work. Another is the certainty
that every so often some boy will be headed
toward national, perhaps world leadership
by the training he receives as a Scout.
Lord Rosebury of England is quoted as
having said: " If I were to form the highest
ideal of my country, it would be this, that
it should be a Nation of which the manhood
was exclusively composed of men who had
been trained as Boy Scouts."
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 12, Number 2, February 1924, periodical, February 1924; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth310773/m1/3/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.