The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-08-20
LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR
BOY SCOUTS DEFENDED.
Scoutmaster of Troop Replies to State
ment Recently Made.

| Editor, Barre Daily Times In The
stated that the boy scouts, who had beer
| Hamburg, were refused admittance, and
| should like to contradict such a state
ment. The boys, in fact, were not
Shipped" from England, but were fifty
boy scouts from Leith, Scotland, and
were entertained by the Hamburg Amer
lean line, and in a paper just received
from Scotland the rumor is officially
declared to be absolutely unfounded, and
the boys received most friendly well
come on all sides.
1t also spoke of the movement as one
training the yeung in the channels of
war, strike breaking and even scabbing.
True, one scoutmaster tried to break a
strike, and telegram of censure was
dispatched from headquarters, immedi-
ately they received word. Because one
did this, are we to infer that all scout
masters are training their boys to be
BIS, or would we say that because a
few members of trades union were
guilty of murder are we likewise to say
all trade unionists areg Surely not but
we rather try and forget that deplorable
fact and think rather of how much has
been accomplished by the unions in the
fight against capital, and bringing the
working class into better working condi-
tons; so let us forget this one incident
Of Des Moines scoutmaster and think
o. some of the things the movement is
doing, such as training the boy in first
aid, resuscitation and the general knowl
edge a scout must have before he can
pass as a first-class scout. By the way,
Barre might be the better for having a
public first aid to the injured class,
where the workmen could be trained to-
knowledge of first aid work, and thus
probably save a good deal of suffering
among their fellow workmen after an
accident has happened and until medical
aid is summoned.
Even in our own state, scouts have
proved that their training has been of
some use, as one boy saved lady's life
by stopping runaway horse, another
saved two from drowning, and in the
southern part of the state an accident !
happened and none of the crowd which
gathered knew how to act until scout
CHANGED along that way and told what
he had learned in his first aid work, and
thus through his knowledge the iniured's |
were relieved as much as pos
sble till medical aid came. These are
only few cases that are being duplicat-
cd all over the country.
As regards the so-called military side,
national headquarters issued orders to
each scoutmaster stopping the use of
arms and all military drill, where same
bad been used. as it was not for train
ing boys to- be soldiers, but to make
them better citizens. Also the national 4
are only too anxious to
let the public know what they are doing,
ind they have asked the American Fed
,rstion of Labor to select a committee to
examine the methods OF the movement
md find out if the objections usually
,irered are real. and so great is the
movement spreading that in less than
Two and half years over 5000 men
nave been enrolled as scoutmasters.
Trusting that / have not used too
much of your valuable space and thank
ng you for the same,
Sincerely yours,
w. NJ. Milne,
Scoutmaster Troop l.