Scouting, Volume 18, Number 8, August 1930 Page: 207
205-229 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Vol. XVIII, No. 8
AUGUST, 1930
Copyright, 1930
by Boy Scouts
of America
A Magazine of Information for Scout Leaders
OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL AND EXECUTIVE BOARD
Published
Monthly by the
Boy Scouts of
America
Subscription Price
$1.00 Per Year
Honorary President: Herbert Hoover
Honorary Vice-President: Calvin Coolidge
Honorary Vice-President: Colin H. Livingstone
Honorary Vice-President: Daniel Carter Beard
Honorary Vice-President. William G. McAdoo
President: Walter W. Head, Chicago, 111.
Vice-President: Mortimer L. Schiff, New York
Chief Scout Executive:
Vice-President: Milton A. McRae, Detroit
Vice-President: Charles C. Moore, San Franciico
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
James E. West, N. Y C.
Entered as 2nd
Class Matter,
January 20, 1928
at the
Post Office at
New York, N. Y.
Under the Act
of March 3. 18T9
"0
Office of Publication: Boy Scouts of America, Park Avenue Building, 2 Park Avenue, 32nd to 33rd Streets, New York, N Y
E. S. Martin—Editor
THE QUALITY OF LEADERSHIP
By MORTIMER L. SCHIFF, Vice-President and International Commissioner
IN these days of paternalistic
trends in government, it is refresh-
ing and stimulating that Scout-
ing should be based on private initia-
tive and be led and administered by
private citizens. The quality of that leadership is so
high that at times I have asked myself the question why
it is that Scouting has been able to attract to active
service throughout the world such a body of men. There
are a number of answers to this question.
First—There is the boy himself and the latent desire
of every man to help him.
Second—There is the growing sense of community
consciousness, a most encouraging sign of the times.
Third—There is the continually increasing realization
by thinking men and women, that citizenship has
its responsibilities as well as its privileges.
But you may well say that these answers to my ques-
tions apply as well to other agencies as to Scouting.
And so they do. But in addition to these, there is the
added appeal of the Boy Scout Program, the fact that
it does not confuse what others think the boy needs
with what he really wants, and thus does not substitute
the required for the spontaneous
That is what I like so much about the Boy Scout Oath
and Law There is no compulsion, there are no penal-
ties.
AND then, it is a great and glorious game Scouting
is not a substitute for Home, Church or School. It
is supplemental to them. It is a capitalization of the
Spirit of Youth, that intangible something, which finds
expression, constructively or destructively, as it is wisely
directed or left to shift for itself
It is a great and glorious game, which makes real
men out of real boys. And remember this, Scouting
will last and prosper only as long as the boy himself
wants it and enjoys it If it becomes work and a chore,
it ceases to be fun add the boy loses his keenness for it.
When I say work, I mean it in the sense as expressed
by James Barrie, that nothing is really work, unless you
would rather be doing something else.
This is a challenge, as well as an opportunity We,
Scouts and Scouters, can look with confidence into the
future, if we keep this basic fact continuously m mind.
This address was delivered on the oc-
casion of a testimonial dinner to Mr
Arlick H Man, former President of
the Queens Council, in commemoration of
his eighteenth Anniversary in Scouting.
THAT was the keynote of the
great gathering at the Interna-
tional Jamboree in England last sum-
mer There were assembled thou
sands of boys from more than 73
different countries, representative of every race and
creed. There was no rivalry or friction, no competitive
contests, it was just a lot of happy boys camping together
in that beautiful old park, getting to know each other
learning without knowing it from each other
Think of the inspiration of that attitude of mind, think
of the spiritual values which were created! Every one
of those boys has come home a better potential citizen
of his own country, but at the same time with a better
understanding that there may be merit in the point o
view of others.
The millenium has not yet come, selfishness, intoler-
ance and narrow-mindedness—both national and indi-
vidual—still exist and will continue, there will still be
friction and misunderstandings, but there is much evi-
dence of a changing spirit in the world, there is a spirit
ual reawakening which is full of promise.
To foster and develop this spirit of brotherhood, of
faith, of confidence, and of understanding, we all, young
and old, can make a real contribution.
A STUDY of .the origin of an idea is always inter-
esting, even though it may not lead to a definite or
concrete result. I have no doubt, that some learned
man after much research could find a footnote m some
ancient tome, which contained the germ of the Scout-
ing idea. But the fact remains, that whatever its origin,
the development of an idea requires individuals, with
vision and understanding, to take hold. In that we m
Scouting have been fortunate. Not only have we Lord
Baden-Powell m England and our own Dan Beard and
others in this country as fathers of the Movement, but
we have volunteer leaders to build intelligently and
sympathetically on the foundations, which have been
so wisely and admirably laid.
I have always liked a definition of greatness, which
I read some years ago m a book by that brilliant writer
Philip Guedala. He defined it as the meeting of a man
and his moment. May that be our greatness, but we
may have an understanding of the problems of Scouting"
and give whole-heartedly of ourselves in meeting them
Page 207
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 18, Number 8, August 1930, periodical, August 1930; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth310846/m1/3/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.