Scouting, Volume 3, Number 6, July 15, 1915 Page: 3
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SCOUTING. 3
THE GIM-O-GASH TROOP camera work. We have the use of a HOW THE DISTRICT PLAN
OF TOLEDO BOY SCOUTS WORKS IN PITTSBURGH
~ # o-gash, who, under another instructor, one
An Organization Which Is Helping To Gf our Scout Commissioners, will take up "■ ^eP°rt of Results Accomplished After
Solve the Problem of the Older Boy. boat drill and life saving on the bay here. the System Has Had a Thorough Trial.
The scheme is working without a hitch t> w t? „
By J. St. Clair Mendenhall. and is really a real test of the boy and " y ' D AR Wylie.
Scout Executive Toledo, Ohio. his make-up. Scouts who have been first 1 SS*i1^NT.Sc0UT Executive, Pittsburgh, Pa.
THTS brief Hescrintion of the Gim-o- class *or two years prior to the organiza- HPHE district organization plan as tried
, ^ descr pt , tion of this troop and who had made I out m Pittsburgh, has been an unqual-
gash Scouts is offered in the hope first "lass rank Med success to date, aud while there
that it may contain some suggestions 11U PJugiess aner aiianiing nrsi ciass ranK, mariv nrnKiPrrii; et;i1 onrl
thst will lieln scout officials in other cities are now awake and passing merit badges are many problems still to be solved, and
that will help scout officials in ot nutting into practice what thev many adjustments to be made, the scheme
in dealing with the older boy problem. I anu are putting into practice wnat tney "i J ' f Q11rr„Qe
heartily believe in retaining the older boys have been trained to do. aPP.ears to have the elements ot success
in scout work, rather than permitting them The testimony of the Scoutmasters is Tn Tannarv TOT/l hefnre we arlnntoH the
to drop out of the movement, either for- in itself evidence of the worth of the di^ict planof^ oWanization therewere
rtially or informally. I believe that by special work Scoutmasters report that seven h^ndred scoSuts enrolled in this
doing special work with the older boys, Gim-o-gash boys become of greater help countv. work had kppn rrn;n„- nn fnr twn
and training them for three or four years, as leaders in the troop and instill a greater y ' d f & ^ d h d ,
they will be of invaluable service to the usefulness and a greater vision into the Quarters with nart of tl p time one ™
Bo^ Scout Movement, This is the princi- othe.■members of the troop by their ex- fftaerTwo S2 Te rime!
pal reason for the existence of the Gim- ample. Under thg centralized method of handling
o gash Scouts of Toledo. Ou:r hope is that the Gim-o-gash idea things, these men found themselves
In order to be a member of this group will develop leaders among each of the swamped with details, and in January, 1014,
of boys, a boy must be a first class scout, troops in the city so that each troop will a third man was added to the staff.
or must have only one first class require- have a substantial nucleus around which
ment against him. Some boys who have to develop. Gim-o-gash scouts seek to do Organized by Wards and Boroughs
only one requirement to complete for their their work quietly, and they are not ex- In February, 1914, Mr. John R. Board-
first class badge are admitted and the pected to set themselves up above other man was brought on from New York to
other members help them to earn their scouts in the city. Their ideal is to be a work out the district or community plan of
first class standing. silent power at work in the local scout organization. The plan attempted was that
Our rules are simple. We are banded field. For the older boy that means some- of organizing independently each ward in
together to help the movement in every thing. the City of Pittsburgh and each borough in
way possible, and in so doing to help Qur experience thus far leads me to the County of Allegheny. These wards and
ourselves. We meet twice a month for believe that the Gim-o-gash scheme is one boroughs to have their own officers, execu-
one and a halt hours study, and the £ .1 most significant elements in the tive, finance and training committees and
rule is that each member must pass at future devei0pm*nt Qf boy scout work in courts honor. The local councils were
least one merit badge test each month c>. composed of the chairmen of the troop
to remain in the work. committees and other men of high standing
We have a simple but thorough entrance , , in the local community. The chairmen of
examination for each candidate, and the Richmond Still Praising Scouts. these local councils were made members of
boy must be big enough in mind and energy the Allegheny County Council—thus giving
to attend regularly the Gim-o-gash meetings Richmond, Va;, is still talking about the representation to all these communities,
and to carry on his own troop work. The remarkable services rendered by the Boy The great tr0uble here, as in all places,
slightest neglect of his own troop puts Scouts m that city on June 1, 2 and 3 dur- has been the securing of competent Scout-
him on probation, with special work. At inS the annual reunion of the United Con- masters. It was made the special duty of
present we have eighteen members, and federate Veterans of America. The fol- the executive committee of each ward and
the interest is very strong. _ lowing item is 90Pi?d . fro® the Public borough to find Scoutmasters enough to
An organization of this nature, especial- Service News which is issued by the Vir- gjve every boy in the community a chance
ly of older boys, appeals to the various Slnla Kailway and .Power Co.: to become a scout. It became the duty of
experts that I have succeeded in enrolling in drawing attention to the remarkable record the training committee to see that this
to help us, and I can say that I will, at made by the company in handling the Reunion Scoutmaster material was properly trained
the end of the year, have a group of first theWvlluable^ssistanc^that Wa^^nde^ed by the and that the Scoutmasters were given as-
class scouts nearly all Eagle Scouts, but, Boy Scouts. sistance in obtaining instructors in the vari-
most of all, as efficient a group of scouts The following letter, written by General Claim ous branches of scout work. The finance
1 • j i_ _ Agent Mulford to General Attorney Guigon, de- ... . -
as can be found in the .Boy bcouts of scribes the service performed by this wonderful committee co-operates with the county
America. The boys have already studied organization of youngsters: finance committee in maintaining the over-
under some of the best doctors in Toledo, "I wish to bring to your attention the valuable head supervision, but their special dutv is
with the result that they have passed the icouts^The^e boys were scattered about the City assisting local troops in such ways as the
first aid merit badge and are about to at different points, and particularly at transfer ideals of the scout movement will permit,
qualify for the National Red Cross. We P°ints, railroad stations, hotels, different head- The courts of honor were made reakexam-
have equipped them for this work with a dfrect6 tf^old^olVers Pto the proper carsf to0the ining bodies and give second and first-class
16 x 20, ten-ounce army khaki hospital camp, and all other places, and assisted in put- examinations, and co-operate with the
tent, with fly, built especially to our order. J™8 the diffe.reJlt cafs> taking them from county court of honor in giving merit
. J „ ~ tlie sidewalk and assisting them from the cars 1 1 J ,• & &
I his tent is made so that the walls, nve t0 piaces 0f safety. badge examinations.
feet high, can be rolled up, leaving a fly- I have had reports from the different men in c , ~
proof screen wall that admits the air, but department, and I noticed myself in being Scoutmasters lrainmg Course
keeps out the pests. This tent is equipped I'^LZr tebl?'l^i,SSr^,d,bSfeSmIS^ executive committees
with the best of medical supplies and but, in my opinion, are the cause of a number S0'; to work discovering Scoutmaster ma-
instruments. °*. possibly serious accidents to these old men terial, SO many prospects were discovered
Our senior chief, Mr. Will Schroeder, be'"ig wfshd!d were young enough myself to be a thatlt became necessary to conduct a.Scout-
is securing us a club room of our own, Boy Scout. These boys, I think, should be com- masters training course. In March, 1914,
which besides furnishing us a meeting mended for not only assisting this company, but this course opened in the University of
place 'where the best books and periodicals Sulariylh^ old veterans!" the ReUni°n' a"d Par" Pittsburgh, with an enrollment of eighty-
will be found, will be equipped with a yve members, the majority being men new
work bench and tools already purchased, m . the scout movement. The class met
wood turning lathe and a dark room for Wh«.n In N w Yr. -lr twice a week for eight weeks and the grad-
our photography work. We have the use uates of this course have established a new
of a field transit; also the head engineer Scoutmaster Trueman of Somerton, Ohio, standard for scout work in the county,
of. the park board, who is teaching us sur- waiting at a railroad station in New York They had been instructed in scout technique
veying and map-making, and we will this City between trains, called up National an<^ inspired with high ideals of scout char-
month pass our merit badge for surveying. Headquarters and requested them to write acter.
We are starting on our bird study badge to his assistant, stating that he had made Jaiumry, 1915, it was discovered that
and have one of the leading bird authori- a report concerning the good work which our membership was above the two thou-
ties of the city as instructor, who is going the boys are doing. A good idea which sand mark, that over two hundred men
out with us into the field and studying the should be noted by Scoutmasters visiting were enrolled as Scoutmasters and assist-
birds first hand, which we follow up with New York. (Continued on page 8, col. 3)
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 3, Number 6, July 15, 1915, periodical, July 15, 1915; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth282753/m1/3/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.