Scouting, Volume 85, Number 6, November-December 1997 Page: 10
50, [20] p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Way
SCOUTING'S SOLITARY ROAD MEN
of the 1920s and 1930s are gone into
legend. Nobody like them will be seen
again.
Their travels were launched by a volun-
teer Scouter, Mortimer L. Schiff. A gentle-
faced but energetic New York banker, he had
helped organize the Boy Scouts of America
in 1910. In 1922 he saw its growth slowing
dangerously.
Scouting had taken root in cities but not
elsewhere. Rural troops sprang up like weeds,
but many died because chartered institutions
had no idea how to nurture them. There was
a widespread lack of knowledgeable Scout-
ers, and the scant guidance they got by mail
from the national staff wasn't enough.
A need for rural councils
Rural councils needed to be started and
maintained. But the BSA's 12 regional execu-
tives could barely keep the existing 270 coun-
cils in working order.
Schiff, as a member of the National Execu-
tive Board, toured eight regions to see what
was wrong. Then he announced an electrify-
ing offer: He would personally give $6,000 to
each region that raised a matching sum, to
pay the salaries of two new regional depu-
ties.
Each region matched Schiff's bid. Thus in
1923 two dozen new professionals (mostly
ex-Scoutmasters) were trained and sent into
vast areas where Scouting was struggling.
In following years Schiff and others kept
giving to keep these missionaries on the move
JMg
It Was
The BSA's
Legendary
Road Men
In the early
1920s a new breed
of professional
organizer, the regional
deputy, carried
Scouting into
the nation's vast
rural areas.
By Keith Monroe
and augment their numbers.
Their task was challenging. Bus lines were
scarce. Highways were mostly dirt, two
lanes wide. Motels didn't begin to appear
until the 1930s. Most hotels for "traveling
men" provided few amenities: a pitcher and
bowl in each room, a bathroom at the end of
the hall. Often the only heat came from a
round stove in the lobby.
'The Scout man is in town'
If he chose, a regional deputy could drive his
own car. He would park on Main Street and
put a sign on the car so people would know
"the Scout man is in town." At night he might
sleep in the car or in a bedroll by the roadside.
More commonly a regional man got from
place to place by posting a note on the hotel
bulletin board, asking for a ride to the next
town. Usually some salesman or trucker
would oblige. If not, the deputy walked the
road with his suitcases, hitchhiking.
By trial and error each organizer became
adroit at starting councils.
At first he usually wrote ahead to promi-
nent people in a community. A fast worker
like Judson R Freeman sometimes got a
council organized in a two-hour meeting
called by the Rotary Club.
But in some towns, churchmen feared
Scouting and discouraged local business peo-
ple. Or a cozy group of Scoutmasters and a
commissioner maneuvered to keep them-
selves in control.
A regional man's mail prior to arriving in
such communities might include telegram
10
Scouting *1? November-December 1997
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 85, Number 6, November-December 1997, periodical, November 1997; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353597/m1/10/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.