Scouting, Volume 1, Number 10, September 1, 1913 Page: 3
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SCOUTING
SCOUT LEADERS DISCUSS THE NEW PLAN
Statements Received from Scout Masters and Other Scout Officials in All Parts of the Country
THIS looks the right thing to me. There
is no question in my mind at all con-
cerning the appropriateness of expect-
ing that each boy in this great organization,
which has been provided and maintained
under great expense, will do his little part
in supporting it. It brings him into closer
touch with headquarters, and I am sure
will give him a feeling of a real connec-
tion with the large national side of the
movement and give him a broader view of
the whole proposition.
I cannot see how any one who is truly
interested in the movement and wants to
make the best of it can take exception to
the assessment. Certainly if this move-
ment appeals to boys the way it should
to do them any good, they will be only too
glad to contribute their little twenty-five
cents towards the maintenance of National
Headquarters, so that the movement can
be preserved and work for the best that is
in the Scout idea. I do not like the idea
of it not costing the boy anything to be a
Scout, and believe it is against the Scout(
motto of a boy preparing to pay his own
way. To give a boy a whole lot for noth-
ing is not inculcating the right idea into
his head.—A. S. Clark, Scout Master, Port-
chester, New York.
the -thing to the last degree of simplicity.
—Willis B. Holcombe, Scout Commis-
sioner, Brooklyn, New York.
Answering your inquiries in " Scouting "
for July i, concerning finances, I am
heartily in accord with the idea of dues
as proposed, and at the meeting of my
boys last night I discussed this with them,
and find they feel the same way. I think
dues of one cent per week per boy is per-
fectly within the means of any boy. Also
this would give them a kind of interest
they do not have now in feeling them-
selves to be more closely a part of the
organization to which they belong—Rupert
Jenks, Scout Master, No. 8900, New City,
New York.
Nearly everybody agrees that the boys
should help to support not only their own
troop, but also their local headquarters,
which in turn should share the burden of
National Headquarters' expenses. The
boys themselves, as far as I have been able
to consult them, are ever ready to contri-
bute their earnings to the work.—Charges
C. Trump, Scout Commissioner, Syracuse,
N. Y.
Without exception, the boys of my troop
voiced their approval of some plan of
assisting in the expenses of the head of-
fice.—R. M. Williamson, Scout Master,
Anniston, Ala.
It does not seem quite just that this
organization should be supported by a lot
of rich folks in our great cities. My sug-
gestion is this: Why not each troop have
weekly dues of ten cents or fifty cents a
month, and out of this pay over to the
national treasury $1.00 per year for each
member? By doing this, the boys would
be helping to support the organization and
I am sure would take a greater interest in
it.—Richard Mj__Robertson, Scout Master
Troop 99, Chicago, 111.
I am in favor of having the boys pay
small annual dues, to be paid either month-
ly or quarterly. ... I believe that af-
ter this has been brought to the attention
of Scouts, so that they will fully under-
stand it, every one of them will be willing
to contribute his share. This amount
should be made as small as possible. 1
would much rather see the sum twenty-
five cents a boy than fifty cents a boy.
Some of our Scout Masters, probably
many of them, will send in voluntary con-
tributions when collecting these dues.—
A. C. Moses, President, Washington Local
Council, Washington, D. C.
In " Scouting" you ask the question,
"What shall we do?" in reference to the
Scout movement. I referred it to my boys
with the opinion expressed that they ought
to help in some way. They had it figured
out about this way: 300,000 boys, $60,000
to raise; that is, about twenty cents apiece.
They thought twenty-five cents each would
be about right.—Philip T. Vibert, Scout
Master, Me^iden, Conn.
I believe that the time has come when
the Boy Scout movement should be on a
permanent, self-supporting basis, that any
plan contemplated should take into consid-
eration the future of the Boy Scout move-
ment and its development for a long term
of years. ... It seems to me that the
annual membership fee should be fifty
cents for each enrolled Boy Scout with
the terms you have indicated for the Na-
tional and local councils. ... It might
be well for you to require every troop or-
ganized to have back of it a committee rep-
resenting the institution with which the
troop is connected, who will agree tQ_be
responsible for the dues of the boys.-—
E. S. Martin, Scout Commissioner, Wash-
ington, D. C.
Any scheme that is adopted should be
as nearly as possible uniform in its appli-
cation to be accounted successful. To my
mind there is only one way to insure this
element of universality, and that is to have
your scheme, whatever it is, operated from
National Headquarters. This will reduce
To my mind, nothing would seem more
worth while than that the Boy Scouts, as
an organization, should stand on their own
sturdy legs and that each boy should feel
that he was taking part in and was re-
sponsible for the success of the whole great
movement. Various methods can be em-
ployed to accomplish this end. The one
that suggests itself most favorably to my
mind is to make each troop a unit, re-
sponsible for its own boys, thus making
the boys responsible for each other. By
working through troop units, much detail
work could be saved at headquarters, and
at the same time troop secretaries and
treasurers developed and general business
management stimulated. This method
would also enable each troop to carry
weaker members. If possible to do so, I
think troops should also pay the dues of
their Scout Masters. Many of these men
give their time and energy to these boys,
serve without reward and under- much
criticism.—Charles L. Robinson, ^New York.
To my mind there is but one solution of
the financial question. The individual
Scout should pay his own way. Whether
or not the share of each Scout should be
fifty cents more or less can be determined
best by the National Council.—L. L. Bickle,
Scout Master, Chardon7 Ohio.
keep of the National Council, said assess-
ment to be fixed by the Council, when the
outcome of the present discussion, re finan-
ces, shall result in such action for all
patrols.—Edmund deS. Brunner, Scout
Master, Coopersburg, Pa.
I believe that the time has come when
the boy should pay something for what
he is getting. We as Scout Masters and
Commissioners devote time without pay,
and are willing to do so. I believe that the
Boy Scout should be made to feel that it
is obligatory that he should earn and con-
tribute to the support of this great move-
ment, and the movement should be fixed
by National Headquarters at some nomi-
nal sum. If the Boy Scout movement
means anything to the boy, then it should
be supported by the boy himself. I be-
lieve that it will mean much more, to him
in the end, than it does now, when he is
getting much for nothing; he will feel the
responsibility that he does not now feel
when he is getting a good training and
many things at someone else's expense—
not his. . . . Yes, we should work hard
to take the movement out of the class of
pure philanthropy and charity, and some
plan should be evolved that will make the
Boy Scouts what they claim in local fields
to be—self-supporting.—OrriiySr-~Hender-
son, Scout Commissioner, Stockton, Cal.
We believe that the suggested move is
one in the right direction. It certainly
makes for independence, and will undoubt-
edly result in establishing a much closer
relation between National Headquarters
and local organizations in the various cities
and counties, and we all feel that it will
ultimately prove a great benefit to the or-
ganization.—George_, L. Nye, President
Local Council, (Denver, Colo.
My troop stands ready to respond to the
call whatever it may be. We are getting
much good out of the movement and we
want to help the other fellow now.—George
M. Holt, Scout Master of Troop No. 26,
Quindaro, Kansas.
The boys voted yesterday in favor of
paying a small assessment toward the up-
I think you have the matter outlined
now in the proper way, with the distribu-
tion of the assessment so that it takes care
of the local association as well as the na-
tional. I personally should be in favor of
putting the matter into effect immediately.
—Howard Clarke, Scout Master, White
Plains, N. Y.
SOME TROOPS HEARD FROM
Troop No. 1, the original organization
in JParkersburg, W. Va., decided by a
unanimous vote in favor of the support of
National Headquarters by the payment of
dues by each Scout. Scout Commissioner
Arthur L. Thayer declares this is also his
vote on the matter.
It was voted at a business meeting of
the<Nx>rth Chelmsford, Mass., troop that
$10 be sent to National Headquarters for
the purpose of paying the expenses of the
organization during the present year.
At a meeting called for that express pur-
pose, Troop No. 2 of Oskaloosa, Iowa,
voted that each Scout sho'ttld pay five cents
a month to the support of the Boy Scout
movement. Scout Master Robinson of the
troop says: " This amount ought not to
work a hardship on any boy, and it is my
belief that a boys' institution should be
supported by boys."
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 1, Number 10, September 1, 1913, periodical, September 1, 1913; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth282642/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.