Scouting, Volume 1, Number 13, October 15, 1913 Page: 4
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Scouting Magazine and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.
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SCOUTING
SCOUTING
PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY BY NATIONAL HEAD-
QUARTERS, BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA. FOR SCOUT
OFFICIALS AND OTHERS INTERESTED IN
THE BOY SCOUT MOVEMENT
OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL AND
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Honorary President: Woodrow Wilson.
Honorary Vice-President: William H. Taft.
Honorary Vice-President: Theodore Roosevelt.
President: Colin H. Livingstone, Washington.
Chief Scout: Ernest Thompson Seton.
Nat'l Scout Commissioner: Daniel C. Beard.
Treasurer: George D. Pratt, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Chief Scout Executive: James E. West, N. Y. C.
Office of Publication: 200 Fifth Avenue,
New York City
Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office,
New York, N. Y., under the act of
August 24, 1912.
VOL. I.
OCTOBER 15. 1913.
No. 13.
DON'T FORGET WHAT IT MEANS.
NOW, at the approach of the Christmas
season, is an especially appropriate
time for Scout Masters and members
of Scout Councils, to think seriously about
the Boy Scout magazine, Boys' Life—to
think why it exists, what it exists for, what
are its possibilities as an auxiliary of the
Boy Scout Movement, and what is the re-
sponsibility toward it of every one who
has the best interests of the boy at heart.
Consider—
In the execution of its purpose to give
educational value and moral worth to the
recreational activities of boyhood, the lead-
ers of the Boy Scouts of America saw that,
to carry out effectively the marvelous pro-
gram that had been evolved, the boy must
be influenced not only in his out-of-door
life, but also in the diversions of his other
leisure moments. It is at such moments
that a boy is captured by the tales of daring
enterprises and adventurous good times,
and the extent of the influence of such tales
is incalculable.
It has been said by investigators that the
majority of parents either do not take the
pains to guide and guard their boys' read-
ing, regarding it too lightly, or are incapa-
ble of deciding what is good and what is
not. Probably those whose boys do labor
under this handicap are in the majority.
At any rate, they are very numerous. Vir-
tually all, however, would welcome intelli-
gent counsel on this subject, and it is here
that the Scout Master may do something
which both parents and boys will heartily
appreciate.
To help anxiously concerned parents and
educators in their efforts to give direction
to the reading of their boys, and to help
Scout Masters to keep up the earnest in-
terest of Scouts in their work, our move-
ment in publishing Boys' Life, a worth-
while magazine for boys—a magazine with
a purpose which has been developed by the
counselling together of the foremost edu-
cators and students of the "boy problem,"
men who understand, not only what boys
should read, but what they will read.
With such men, so equipped, spending
their time assisting our movement to mul-
tiply its good influence by issuing a maga-
zine of this kind, it surely behooves Scout
Masters, Scout Council members and all
other well-wishers of the boys of the
United States to think seriously about what
it all means, not only to the boys in their
respective neighborhoods, but to all boys,
and to remember that success—that suc-
cess which such an earnest effort deserves
—can come in sufficient measure to do the
maximum good only by the interest and
active assistance of each and every friend
of boys.
You doubtless saw the October Boys'
Life and noted how great were the im-
provements over preceding numbers. The
November number will show more. In
1914 Boys' Life will have as contributors
a larger number of eminent writers than
any other boys' magazine in America and
will contain a far larger number of worth-
while stories, articles and illustrations
(things which boys will be delighted with,
too) than ever before published in one
year by any periodical of that character.
Being the official magazine of the Boy
Scouts of America, it contains more Boy
Scout news and instruction than all other
magazines combined. In the future it will
contain more yet.
Now give a lift in your own troop, and
neighborhood and city, as Scout workers
are doing elsewhere, encouraging your boys
and their parents to take Boys' Life, and
the parents of other boys, too. With all of
us lifting, the influence of the magazine
will become inestimably big, and the
movement will benefit as benefits gradually
accrue to the boys themselves.
Don't forget what it all means.
win, then which ones will give him an
all-round proficiency.
Besides the 1,141 Merit Badges, in the
last five months medals have been awarded
to 16 Life Scouts and 13 Star Scouts.
There are two goals to work for, and there
are more boys drawing near them every
week. Eleven Eagle Scouts have joined
the ranks since June. We have heard ot
one enterprising troop that is 'trying for
an Eagle Scout patrol—there is one on the
roll already, by the way,—and is offering
a prize for the first boy to attain the
coveted rank.
Scout Masters, make some figures of
your own that will talk. More than 1,000
of you are new since June 1. You may
make some historv in Scout progress with
your newly formed troops. And think
what it means to the boys themselves!
Figures talk. Some even shout. How
about yours?
FIGURES THAT TALK.
DID you realize what it meant when
you saw in the preceding issue of
Scouting that 21,643 badges had
been issued since June and that 1,141 were
Merit Badges?
It meant, of course, that boys are stead-
ily progressing from Tenderfoot rank to
Second Class and from Second Class to
First. And then they do not stop con-
tended, for the field before the First Class
Scout is such that he can go on indefinitely
winning proficiency medals.
There is naturally a gap between the
First Class degree and the winning of
Merit Badges. Any boy feels that he has
accomplished a good deal to reach that
rank, and perhaps some have an inclination
to rest on their laurels for a while; and if
they rest a while, they are apt to rest in-
definitely.
This is a tendency that the Scout Master
can overcome with the utmost ease. Show
the boy that instead of having reached the
pinnacle, he has just finished his prepara-
tion for the really big work in Scouting.
A word or two will start him off right.
Look over the list with him, see first of
all what badges he is naturally fitted to
FOR MUTUAL SERVICE.
THE Supply Department at National
Headquarters is conducted as a means
of serving the widest interests of the
Scout Movement nationally. It offers to
Scouts the opportunity to purchase such
supplies as they desire, assuring them of
protection from inferior articles, and the
lowest possible prices consistent with qual-
ity. Thus the department serves you.
By ordering direct from this department
whatever supplies and equipment you may
find useful, you contribute a small profit
which enables National Headquarters to
maintain this service for your protection
and to extend the Scout Movement to
other localities.
The success of the Supply Department
means increased benefits to all who enjoy
the Scout program.
HEADQUARTERS WORK REPORT.
Month of September, 1913.
1913. 1912.
Mail Received 10,102 6,591
Mail Sent Out—
Letters 22,523 6,264
Postals 382 519
News Bulletins 5,530
Scouting 25,000 0
S. M. Certificates 160 182
Ass'tS. M. " 30 49
Com'r " 14 16
Total 48,109 12,560
Badges 735 582
1913 1912
Tenderfoot & P. L 2,739 2,592
Second Class & P. L... 808 619
First Class & P. L 198 152
Enamel, Merit, Arm, etc. 383 353
Total Badges 4,128 3,716
1913. 1912.
Uniforms 234
Printed Matter 760 187
Equipment 449 186
Total Orders 2,178 955
Employes 60 49
Visitors 597 368
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 1, Number 13, October 15, 1913, periodical, October 15, 1913; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth282649/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.