Scouting, Volume 48, Number 2, February 1960 Page: 36
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HR 755-3
By SAM RAYBURN,
Speaker, House of Representatives
rhe summer of 1916 was a hectic time for the United
States government.
South of our border, an outlaw named Pancho Villa
caused armed clashes to occur. Submarine warfare in the
Atlantic Ocean threatened our neutrality, and President
Woodrow Wilson had demanded that Germany abandon
this practice.
The 64th Congress was hurriedly enacting emergency
defense legislation. On June 3, the National Defense Act
increased the size of the regular army to 186,000 men.
provided for a federalized national guard of 424,800.
established civilian training camps, and reserve officers'
training corps at colleges and universities, and author-
ized the purchase and maintenance of "airships."
Domestic legislation under consideration included es-
tablishment of the National Park Service; a bill provid-
ing a standard eight-hour day for most railroad workers;
a $5,000,000 federal "good roads" bill; the Farm Loan
Act, creating a land bank system for loans to farmers;
a Child Labor Act; a new revenue act that would double
the normal rate of income tax.
Congress would soon pass the Jones Act that guaran-
teed Philippine independence when the islands demon-
strated ability to govern themselves.
This busy 64th Congress also found time to pass a bill
known as HR (House Resolution) 755-3.
Signed with ceremony
On June 15, 1916, President Wilson, who was nomi-
nated the next day for a second term, approved HR 755-3.
This bill granted a federal charter to the Boy Scouts of
America, thereby giving a legal foundation for Scouting
as a permanent program for boys. Here was protection
that could be secured by no other means.
In 1916 it was rare for the president to make a cere-
mony of signing bills. However, Woodrow Wilson had a
great interest in the Scouting movement and was its hon-
orary president. He made an exception for HR 755-3 and
signed the bill, surrounded by a group of Eagle Scouts
and officers and members of the National Council, Boy
Scouts of America.
The president presented the pen he had used to Colin
Livingstone, National Council president. Besides Mr.
Livingstone, Paul Sleman, Washington attorney for the
Boy Scouts of America, and scores of other prominent
citizens had sought this legislation for years.
Two years off spade work
The bill for federal incorporation had been introduced
in the House in 1914 by Representative Charles C. Carlin
of Virginia and in 1915 in the Senate by Senator John K.
Shields of Tennessee.
The House Judiciary Committee had made an exhaus-
tive analysis of the Boy Scouts of America, as well as
other organizations of a similar character. The commit-
tee had reported the bill favorably to the House on Feb-
ruary 7, 1916, where it had been passed by unanimous
consent. The Senate had approved it in the same manner
and it then went to the president for signature.
Prestige plus protection
Those familiar with legislation by our Congress know
how difficult it is to secure federal incorporation. That
this bill passed in both House and Senate without a dis-
senting vote during a period when demands on our law-
makers were greater than ever before is significant of the
high regard our national government had for the Boy
Scout movement.
The report of the House Judiciary Committee shows
that Congress fully appreciated Scouting's value and rec-
ognized that its development and promise of usefulness
to the future of the country warranted federal protection.
HR 755-3 gives protection to the Boy Scouts of Amer-
ica from the claims of organizations having in their pro-
grams none of the features that distinguishes Scouting
from all other programs for boys. It also prevents the use
of the words "Boy Scouts," without authorization, by
persons or concerns who may endeavor to commercialize
on the Scout-created interest of boys.
The law also protects the uniforms and emblems of the
movement. Some imitations of Scout insignia had ap-
peared, and the federal law prevented further imitations
from destroying the meaning of the Scout uniform and
emblems.
36
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 48, Number 2, February 1960, periodical, February 1960; New Brunswick, New Jersey. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth329284/m1/38/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.