Scouting, Volume 16, Number 11, December 1928 Page: 3
24 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Vol. XVI., No. 11
DECEMBER, 1928
Copyright. 1928
by Boy Scouts
of America
outing
A Magazine of Information for Scout Leaders
<$>
A Merger of
"Scouting" and
'Scoutmastership
Notes"
OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL AND EXECUTIVE BOARD
Honorary President: Calvin Coolidge.
Honorary Vice-President: William H. Taft.
Honorary Vice-President: Colin H. Livingstone,
Washington.
Honorary Vice-President: Daniel C. Beard.
Honorary Vice-President: William G. McAdoo.
President: Walter W Head, Omaha.
Vice-President: Mortimer L. Schiff,. New York.
Office of Publication
Published
Monthly by the
National Council
Boy Scouts of
America
Subscription Price
50 Cents Per
Year
Vice-President: Milton A. McRae, Detroit.
Vice-President: Charles C. Moore, San Francisco.
Vice-President: Bolton Smith, Memphis, Tenn.
Vice-President: John Sherman Hoyt, N. Y. C.
Nat'l Scout Commissioner: Daniel C. Beard.
International Commissioner: Mortimer L. Schiff.
Treasurer: George D. Pratt, Glen Cove, N. Y.
-siuciiu iviuiiuiii.1 j-. Chief Scout Executive: James E. West, N. Y. C.
Boy "Scouts oi America, Park Avenue Building, 2 Park Avenue, 32nd to 33rd Streets, New
E. S. Martin—Editor
Entered as 2nd
Class matter,
January 20, 1928
at the
Post Office at
New York, N. Y.
Under the Act
of March 3, 1879
York, N. Y.
Christinas
CHRISTMAS! Through the centuries, no more inspiring
word has been heard throughout the world. It ex-
presses our hopes, our aspirations; it signifies all that is best
in our efforts. It encourages us to greater faith and a deeper
appreciation of the Twelfth Scout Law. Ihe Scout carries
the Christmas Spirit in his heart every day of the year in the
Scout Good Turn and the principles ot the Scout Oath and
Law. At this season of the year, we realize more clearly
than ever, that Scouting is not so much a program of activi-
ties as a way of living. > #
We ask you to join us in a special greeting at this joyous
season, so that it may echo from Troop to Troop until it
unites the entire Brotherhood of Scouting in a Christmas
blessing. To all lonely boys, into whose lives the Scout
Program has brought new interest and friendships; to all
wayward boys to whom Scouting has given manly character
and fine ideals; to all boys from sheltered homes whom it has
helped to appreciate wholesome standards of American citi-
zenship; to all Scout leaders, who carry the Scout Program
to boys who need it, in the face of discouragement, indiffer-
ence or lack of public support; to all Scout Leaders who
gladly sacrifice time and energy and personal comfort to give
a Troop of boys the great adventure^ of Scouting; to all
Scouts and Scout Leaders and to all friends of Scouts from
ocean to ocean of this great country, may. the Spirit of Scout-
ing bless you on this Christmas Day, and be with you
throughout the New Year!
LET'S go camping this Christmas vacation! It is the out-
door Troop that does real Scouting, the Scouting of
character-building and citizenship-training as well as the
Scouting of hiking and camping and taking care of oneselt
in the open. The Boy Scouts of America stand for a year
around, outdoor program.
Some Troops fear to camp in winter because they have no
shelter in which to keep warm. Don t overestimate the diffi-
culties of winter camping. If you can't get to the Council
camp and if you have no Troop cabin, isn t there an old barn
or an abandoned shack that the owner will let you use? In
case it cannot be made weather-proof, you can set up a tent
inside such a building and camp very comfortably. Some
hardy Scouts camp in tents in the snow.
Another objection advanced in many sections of the coun-
try is the lack of opportunity for winter sports. "What
chance for a program on bare, frozen ground, or in thick and
sticky mud!" A wonderful chance to demonstrate that the
Troop is composed of real Scouts who are Prepared to meet
the Scout Requirements under all conditions. Carry on Scout-
ing as you would in the summer, with the added challenge of
winter weather and the novelty of winter conditions.
Remember, a Scout may have to demonstrate first aid in
the midst of a blizzard, 40 miles from the doctor. There is
a lot of difference between building a fire as part of a sum-
mer's hike and making one from timber soaked through with
the winter's snow, with shaking fingers shielding the match
from the sixty-mile gale that is tearing across the prairie.
No Scout is justified in having real confidence in his training
unless he has met the requirements under conditions that are
a challenge to his ability.
THE response from the Scout Field has been most encour-
aging in the organized effort to make the membership
records of the Boy Scouts of America show continued prog-
ress on December 31st. As was pointed out last month, owing
to the new procedure in handling lapsed Troops and Lone
Scouts, the membership of the Boy Scouts of America has
been brought to the lowest point it has been in) eighteen months.
To meet the situation, an appeal has been made to Scout Lead-
ers to cooperate in a special, organized effort to assure a gain
in the Troops with which they are directly connected. The
outlook is most encouraging, based upon forecasts which have
come from 482 Councils, which promise an increase of 32,105
before December 31, 1928.
To the individual Scoutmaster, this situation becomes very
personal. It means simply to which of the boys that_ were
in your Troop on New Year's Day, 1928, are you going to
give the benefits of Scouting during 1929? Which of the boys
around the corner that aren't members, boys hungry for ad-
venture, eager for the leadership of a man of character, are
you going to enroll next year? One of the fastest growing
things on earth is a boy. Thosie noisy, heedless boys have
only a few years to go before they will be citizens of the com-
munity, beyond your influence forever. Now, during their
impressionable years is your great chance to give them the
right sort of character. Do you realize that you may change
the entire course of the lives of those boys next year, if you
keep them in Scouting? That is what "Membership plus or
minus" means to you.
Let us, as Scout Leaders, accept this challenge personally.
This is a call to us. Let us keep the Troop membership plus,
not minus during the ensuing year, and keep character and
citizenship in the lives of every boy whom we can reach
through the Scout Program.
rITH this issue, the Editor finishes his second year in
- • charge of SCOUTING. The response of the readers to
the editorial policy and to the contents and makeup of the
magazine has been most gratifying. The Editor has been
assured that SCOUTING is meeting a real need.
This measure of success would have been impossible were
it not for the constantly loyal and helpful support of the
readers of SCOUTING. Their contributions have been of an
exceptionally high order. They have made it, possible to include
both practical and tested Scout projects and handicraft, and
helpful material on the management of Troop problems and
the fundamental objectives of the Scout Program.
SCOUTING is the official bulletin. Its purpose as stated in
the By-Laws of the Boy Scouts of America is to help in a
uniform interpretation of the Scout Movement and its policies
and to make most effective efforts of Scout Leaders in behalf
of boys through the Boy Scout Movement.
That is the Editor's ambition for this magazine—to help
make most effective the leadership of those unselfish men who
are devoting their services to the boyhood of America.
To all those who have helped him in his work, he_ extends
his heartiest appreciation, and assures them that, with their
continued support, it will be his endeavor, during the ensuing
year, to maintain the high standards that they have helped
to develop, and to produce a magazine that shall be in every
way more helpful and give better service to leaders.
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Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 16, Number 11, December 1928, periodical, December 1928; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth310816/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.