Scouting, Volume 2, Number 21, March 1, 1915 Page: 3
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SCOUTING.
3
MILITARY TRAINING
NOT SUITED TO BOYS
Little Can Be Accomplished with Lads
Under Eighteen, Says Dr. Russell,
of Columbia.
An excellent statement of the attitude of
the Boy Scout movement on the question
of military training for boys is found in the
following interview with Dr. James E. Rus-
sell, Dean of Teachers College, Columbia
University, which was printed recently in
the New York Times.
IT is practically impossible to do much
in the way of military training with
boys under eighteen years of age. It
must be taken seriously, and its inclu-
sion in the courses of our public schools
should not be considered. Even Ger-
many does not pretend to give military
training to boys, but sets aside several
years after school life for this man's
work. Then it is taken seriously, and
results in making trained soldiers. The
most that can be hoped for in this coun-
try is a preparatory training for the boys
which should include characteristics of
the later life work and give some idea
of a live interest in the processes of their
later vocation.
What sort of preparatory training can
come in a boy's life from 10 to 15 years
of age? Any such training must be some-
thing which will line up with school work.
It should be distinctly preparatory to good
citizenship, and if good citizenship in-
volves military training, then it ought to
lead to that.
I am satisfied that you would not get
soldiers from the ranks of college men
who are put through military training dur-
ing their college years. This I believe to
be just as true in the case of high-school
boys. You might get a certain number of
men who would go to the front at the
first call as non-commissioned officers, but
the result would not be the building up of
a citizen soldiery. There must be a sub-
stitute, and, in my opinion, it is before us
now. This substitute is the Boy Scout
movement.
The movement is distinctly non-military,
but it should appeal as much to the most
ardent militarist as to the non-militarist.
It is non-military in the same sense as
manual training is non-vocational or non-
professional, but it is preparatory to good
citizenship and every-day service. It fur-
nishes physical training to the boy and
accustoms him to outdoor life and camp-
ing. It gives him a purpose that is suited
to his age and appeals to his boyish traits.
It utilizes with advantage the "gang" spirit.
It is remarkably appealing in teaching him
team work and instills in him high ideas.
This, in a sense, is more than military
training ever can do, inasmuch as it de-
velops character, initiative, and intelligence.
The militarist should see the value of
the movement. Let him look to Belgium
and other countries at war and see what
service the actual Boy Scouts can be.
These boys grow into healthier, more
courageous, and more efficient citizens,
and the militarist could find a more fertile
field in these ranks of men fitted and
willing to take up military training than
in a body of men who as boys receive
premature military training, and so had
come to hate it, as is invariably true where
irksome drill is forced upon boys under
fifteen years of age.
Give me one million Boy Scouts grown
into manhood, and I will fear neither
foreign domination or internal social dis-
order. But we ought to have more than
(Continued on Page 4, Col. 3)
GOVERNORS ENDORSE SCOUT MOVEMENT
Many Telegrams of Congratulation and Encouragement Received at
Fifth Annual Meeting.
physical, their mental and their moral dis-
cipline in all their scout activities may be
held to the highest possible standards of
American citizenship at its best.—Martin
G. Brumbaugh, Governor.
Among the messages of good will received at
the Fifth Annual Meeting of the National Coun-
cil, held in Washington, D. C., on February 11,
were a number of greetings from governors of
the various states. The following are among
those addressed to the National Council on this
occasion.
Indiana.
I believe in the Boy Scouts as a practi-
cal school of chivalry and an efficient
trainer of real gentlemen and patriotic
citizens.—Samuel M. Ralston, Governor.
Idaho.
Convey my greetings to Boy Scouts of
America in their Fifth Annual Meeting.
This movement should be commended; it
cultivates a self-reliant spirit and instills
a more wholesome sense of responsibility
and citizenship in the growing generation.
—Moses Alexander, Governor.
Washington.
Please express to convention of Boy
Scouts of America cordial greetings from
the State of Washington. I feel that the
Boy Scout organization is entitled to sin-
cere commendation for its work in mold-
ing the character and building up the
physique of the youth of America. Ac-
cept my earnest wishes for continued suc-
cess.—Ernest Lister, Governor.
Kentucky.
I regret I cannot be with you at your
Annual Meeting at Washington. The suc-
cess of the Boy Scouts of America has
been wonderful and unprecedented. I hope
that your success and your good work will
continue and be extended and enlarged as
the years go by. Character-forming, scout
activities and manly courage are all illus-
trated by the Boy Scouts. Kentucky Boy
Scouts are at the front and discharging
their duty splendidly. I desire that they
shall always be among the first in every-
thing.—James B. McCreary, Governor.
Oregon.
Please convey my greetings to Boy
Scouts of America, wishing them every
success in their Annual Meeting and in
their splendid work throughout the coun-
try. It is my hope that the boys of Oregon
will continue to j oin heartily in the scout
activities, for which I have the highest
respect.—James Whitcombe, Governor.
Texas.
I understand that Boy Scouts of Amer-
ica are now in session in Annual Meeting
at Washington. While not present in per-
son, I am sure that I am with the Boy
Scouts in spirit. The future protection of
this nation is safe in the hands of these
loyal young Americans, and I am proud to
say that their organization is held in high
esteem in the "Lone Star State" of Texas.
Please extend to them my best wishes and
congratulations upon their work.—James
E. Ferguson, Governor.
Pennsylvania.
My best wishes to the Boy Scouts of
America and the confidential assurance
that everything that has to do with the
training of our boys to enjoy and appre-
ciate the out-of-door life in this great Re-
public is a beneficient thing. I am par-
ticularly anxious that good Scoutmasters be
placed over these boys in order that their
Wyoming.
As Governor of the State of Wyoming I
send greetings to Boy Scouts of America
on the occasion of Fifth Annual Meeting
and I congratulate you on the noble work
you are doing. I should like very much
to be with you. I wish you all success in
your good efforts and hope that the Boy
Scouts Organization will grow as it de-
serves and as I believe it cannot help but
do.—John B. Kendrick, Governor.
South Carolina.
I send greetings to your organization
and commend your activities as beneficial
to our boys in building character and point-
ing out to them the use that they can be in
the work of the world.—Richard I. Man-
ning, Governor.
Ohio.
Ohio sends greetings to the Boy Scouts.
The movement makes for manhood and
good citizenship.—Frank B. Willis, Gov-
ernor.
Nevada.
On behalf of the State of Nevada I ex-
tend you most cordial greetings. The prin-
ciples of your organization will reflect
themselves in a higher type of citizenship
for the whole nation when you carry them
into your lives as men.—Emmet D. Boyle,
Governor. -
Kansas.
It gives me genuine pleasure to send the
heartiest greetings of myself and the State
of Kansas to the Boy Scouts of America
on the occasion of their Fifth Annual
Convention. No organization of boys and
young men rn the world holds loftier ideals
or is doing more to build strong, clean
character in our young American manhood.
In Kansas we are proud of our Boy Scouts,
and our State will be better and stronger
because of the influences with which this
organization surrounds the lives of our
future State-builders.—Arthur Capper,
Governor.
The Gypsy Trail.
Reviewed by Commissioner Franklin D. Elmer.
The Gypsy Trail recalls David R. Por-
ter's Poems of Action, which it supplements
in a striking way. Mr. Porter has chosen
poems of the do-and-dare type of out-of-
door man. The poems in the Gypsy Trail
are contemplative, of the type of that
classic out-door material which expresses
the way philosophers like Emerson use
nature, as a background for thought, rather
than for action.
So I liked it, for it complements much
of the poetry that we are getting to-day
on "The Open Road." Here, the Pipes of
Pan sound again, and the tones of old
Greece are heard. It is a book that every
lover of the open should have, remember-
ing always that it presents his mood rather
for winter mediations than for the spring
action, as Kipling and Service do.
The Gypsy Trail (Kennerley), compiled
by P. Goldmark and M. Hopkins. Price,
$1.30 postpaid, if ordered through Book
Department, National Headquarters, Boy
Scouts of America.
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 2, Number 21, March 1, 1915, periodical, March 1, 1915; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth282719/m1/3/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.