Scouting, Volume 50, Number 6, July-August 1962 Page: 17
32 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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STRENGTHEN A
!t Iftilrtr if I
mw
%
k ver think of yourself as a
shareholder in a big construction
business? As a Scouter, that's what
you are—a shareholder in a business
that builds character, citizenship, and
physical fitness in the lives of boys. You
are, then, entitled to a report of your
"concern's" annual meeting held at
Portland, Ore., on May 17-18.
Your council's representatives were
among the 2,250 community leaders
from 529 councils who attended this
52nd Annual Meeting of the National
Council to learn how the "business"
has fared the past twelve months and
the outlook for the year ahead.
After Mayor Terry D. Schrunk wel-
comed your representatives to the "City
of Roses," what did they learn? They
learned sales were up! More boys used
our services than ever before; 1961
boy membership reached 3,813,227.
Adult membership was 1,397,067. The
visualized report of 1961 high lights
also reminded delegates that they had
helped boys by providing:
The Campways—B.S.A. program for
cross-country camping Explorers and
Scouts (525,000 of them); the first
regional Explorer delegates confer-
ences attended by 12.000; a Boys' Life
magazine that won awards from the
Freedoms Foundation, National Safety
Council, and Western Heritage; 14,196
new units; 55,922 training courses for
869,462 Scouters; many new training
aids; an improved Scouting mag-
azine; 3,623 professional Scouters;
and bigger budgets to do the job.
Even so, we should appraise our
progress, President Ellsworth H. Au-
gustus told the delegates at the general
session on Friday morning. "Early last
year at our direction and expense,
Opinion Research Corporation con-
ducted a survey of public attitudes
toward the Boy Scouts of America.
Forty per cent of the parents whose
sons aren't in Scouting told the inter-
viewers that Scouting wasn't available
where they lived. On investigation, we
found some parents didn't know Scout-
ing was available in their community."
This prompted Howard J. Tellepsen,
of Houston, Tex., one of six panel mem-
bers appearing with President Ells-
worth H. Augustus and Chief Scout
Executive Joseph A. Brunton. Jr., to
say, "We must get Scouting outdoors,
because we're practically invisible in
the church basement and because the
great contribution we have to make in
physical fitness has to happen out-
doors."
The growth of metropolitan areas
has forced Scouts to use the automobile
to get where they can hike and camp
in natural surroundings. Thus, Scouts
are not as often in the public eye as a
generation ago. To compensate, the
speaker suggested "more district and
neighborhood rallies and contests and
fitness activities and Good Turns out-
side where we can show folks we're
pitching."
He warned local executive board
members against getting so involved in
the council administrative machinery
that they become divorced from the
program that boys are getting. "Noth-
ing we do makes any difference," he
reminded National Council members,
"unless out where the boys are, some-
thing adventurous and lasting takes
place. Visit a pack, a troop, or an Ex-
plorer unit," he suggested. "Do you
know the kind of training your unit
leaders are getting? We must answer
questions like this if we are to make
the right decisions in guiding a coun-
cil."
Panelist J. Frederic Wiese, of
Coatsville, Pa., urged delegates not to
expect miracles of unit leaders. "To
mold them into successful leaders of
boys in Scouting, we rely upon liter-
ature and training experiences.
Whether or not a leader learns to use
the Scouting program to develop char-
acter and fitness and to train in citizen-
ship depends, first, on his native abili-
ties, and, second, on our ability to
teach him this process.
"An inherent danger in our volun-
teer leaders" training program is the
possible impression that Scouting con-
sists of skills and activities but that
character and citizenship and fitness
will take care of themselves."
In pointing out the importance of
unit leadership, the panelist asked. "Do
we help the leader understand what is
expected of him and how he is to do
his job? We don't conduct training just
to keep training committees busy or to
improve our trained leader percentage.
We do it to make certain that people
who lead boys know what they are to
do and why."
Speaking on membership, Irving
Feist, of Newark, N. J., challenged the
delegates never to be satisfied until
they had succeeded in making Scout-
ing available to all boys. "If Scout
training does something special for a
boy, then the more boys who have it,
17
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 50, Number 6, July-August 1962, periodical, July 1962; New Brunswick, New Jersey. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth331733/m1/19/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.