Norwich bulletin., 1911-03-13
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Tho Boy Scout Movement.

MT. Editor: Mr. Boardman,s letter in your issue of the 9th instant attacks the Boy Scout movement as an attempt by the church s.to counteract this de- testation for war by orsanizing the children and seeking to develop in them the military spirit. and to enslave their minds with the spirit of obedience and subservisnce. Will you permit me, as one of those responsible for introducing the Scout movement here. to state these garbled facts as they should be :?
 In the first place, the Boy Scout movement is absolutely independent of the church. Certain church buildingE are used for local meetings of the or are not yet available. Certain men connected with some of the churches in the city are promoting the movement. but not in the interest of the church, nor by it's authority. The church has no reason to be ashaIned of the. .connec- tion of some of it's members with this organization; but, as matter or fact, the Scout movement exists wholly apart from the church.
 Secondly, tho order of the Boy Scouts of America Is founded on the idea Of peace, not war. I am not familiar with the tenetS of MT. Hearsts American Boy Scouts-if that organization still exists-with whioh Mir. Boardman may have confused the growing order of the Boy Scouts of America; and l cannot say whether or nOtxMr. Hearst inculcates unitarian in his organiza- ton. But peace scouting and educa- tional character building for good citi- zenship are the fundamentals of the Boy Scouts of America movement The virtues of obedience, neatness, order. endurance and erect. alert bearing ara insisted on In Scout training, and training of an army If this be milf tarism, let MT. BoaRdman make the most of it.
 Thirdly, to speak of obedience and loyalty as slavery puts the whole question beyond debate. Obedience is yielding to authority: not merely of physical force. but of intelligence and moral right. It's great teaching is re- spect for and compliance with the rightful demands of established law. Its rarest fruit is the cultivated sense of personal duty. Loyalty is the mo- for order that checks the impulses of disorder. A Scout must obey orders without question; there is no other real obedience for immature minds; no other discipline for irresponsible be- ings. For a boy to delay or refuse obedience until he could be shown and made to understand all the reasons for compliance with the order would hold up the procedure of the home, the school. and eventually of the city the state and the nation Obedience rests, not on full comprehension of all that is involved in the command, but rather on confidence in the commander. The Scouts loyalty is not subservience to 8 superior order of beings as MT. Boardman's misquotation in his eec- ond paragraph would imply, but an adherence to his accepted superior officers or employers. He Is loyal be- cause his moral sense compels him to stand by his agreement with those to whom he voluntarily allies himself in a real belief in them, and a willing ness to work with them according to their methods Without these essen tial virtues of obedience and loyalty consistently cultivated in every boy either by his parents, or, that failing by some such organization as the Boy Scout movement, the stability of law and order will be steadily undermined by that anarchy which insists on the right to change the mind and alter tn; contracts of mutual relations with ev. l cry whim of anger or desire.
 Personally, see only good, and mucf good, in the Boy Scouts of America and I strongly hope to see the organ ization established in Norwich on { basis sufficiently broad to insure thu enrolment Of every boy in the city be. l tween 12 and IS years of age.
 HERBERT J. WYCKOFF. Norwich, March II, 1911.