El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-08-05

! has been clearly demonstrated
! IN that there is both a sociology
| cal and a psychological benefit to be
! derived from the return to cer:sin
! primitive customs suca as are found in
a forest camp FIRE. THIS is especially
! true for young people who are able to
/ find in the camp Something TO do,
( something to think about, something
to enjoy in the woods with a view
/ always to character building, since that
| and not scholarship" says the Birch
Bark Roll" is the first aim OF edu-
cation" To aid in giving this benefit
to as many young people as possible
has been deemed a worthy purpose by
thousands of men and women in var
ious parts of the country.
At Silver Bay LAKE., New York,
there is a large summer training camp
at which are now assembled a num-
Der Of earnest men. They are taking
lessons in nature lore Of various kinds.
in the full courses Of camp craft, in
athletics, in swimming and water
games. While these may be pleasant
in themselves, the men are not follow
ing them with that intent Their real
aim is to train themselves in all OF
the arts which boys most love, so dS
to be qualified for the office of scout
Boy Scouts of America which are
springing up so rapidly over the coun-
try.
Many Camps in Small Towns.
IN almost every little village and
town there now may be found an or
ganization of boys wearing quaint
symbols upon their sleeves, who seem
possessed with the desire to spend ey-
cry possible minute out of doors, OF
strengthening their bodies by all sorts
of athletic exercises, whose highest
pleasure seems to center in some camp
in the woods and who yet find time 10
perform a noticeable number of help
full deeds for other people 1t will be
found generally that these boys belong
to the order Of Boy Scouts of Ameri-
ca" which now numbers considerably
over half a million and is increa sing
by the thousand each week With such
a vast army of boys actually enrolled,
and with at least seven thousand re-
sponsible men actually registered as
Scout masters and more qualifying ev-
cry day, and with thousands Of prom
inent men active in the National or
Local Councils Of the order, it can be
readily seen that the Boy Scout move
ment has long passed the experimental
stage and may now be recognized as
one of the important forces in the up
building of the nation While some
few of these companies OF boys never
enjoy a real camp life OF their own, 1t
is the spirit of the camp as represent
ed in the various indian legends upon
which their ceremonies are based
which appeals most keenly to the TO
nance loving nature Of the average
boy.
Has National Council
The Boy Scouts Of America is an
organization governed by National
council which holds meetings annually
at which it elects a Chief Scout for the
executive work and staff of Deputy
Scouts each of which is chairman OF
a committee for some special line OF
Scout work. The national headquar-
ters OF this, the greatest boys organi-
zatiOn in the world, is al zoo Fifth
avenue, New York, where six large
rooms in the Fifth avenue building are
required to accommodate the staff of
clerks, boOkkeepers, Stenographers and ,
scouts to carry on the work The hon
orary president Of the organization is
president Taft and colonel Roosevelt IS
an honorary Tice-president. Colin II.
Livingstone a Washington banker, is
the president and Ernest Thompson
Seton, who is known to most boys, by |
his wood craft books holds the office
of chief scout and is also the author OF
the official handbook The national
Council is composed Of some of the
most prominent men Of the nation, rep
resenting all Of the leading profess |
sions.
Map shows Growth.
A new map recently has been pre-
pared to show the tremendous grown +
OF the Boy Scouts of America The /
map is over u feet long. On il are /
lage, town and city which has a troop i
OF boy scouts. Red pins are scattered /
over the map to show the location of 4
scout commissioners and blue pins to /
indicate the local councils which super 4
wise the scout activities. This map 4
shows every state in the Union repre- /
scented in the order OF scouts. Some OF !
the states seem to be almost a solid
green. In Pennsylvania there are over /
four hundred troops. There are more
than one hundred in Manhattan in ad-
o11on to fifty in Brooklyn. There are /
nearly a hundred troops in Texas and /
the number in other western states IS
increasing each week In Florida and D
the other Gulf states the organizations (
are especially active
1t Is not confined to Continental /
either. Like the public school,
the Boy Scout follows the American
flag in Hawaii, the Philippines. Alaska
and the Canal Zone. as well as in
Cuba and Porto Rico, there are Boy
Scout troops belonging to the great !
organization with headquarters in
New York. An edition of the Scouts
Manual lately has been printed in
Spanish for the benefit of the Ameri-
can boys who speak that tongue
The aim of the organization is to I
give the boys the benefit of all of the
influences which so TO make UP gooo
One OF the noteworthy eff
fects of the movement has been its
strong influence against snobbery and
oL al hlIuS OF Cla6S Mnlle
some Of the troops contain boys with I
plenty of means the majority are de-
pendent upon their own earnings. Yet
absolute quality is observed in all the
organizations. The only superiority in
scoutdom is that of attainment and
each boy has an equal chance at win
ming every honor.
MOttO-"Be Prepared"
The motto Of the Boy Scouts is BE
Prepared" which means that a Scout
has mind and body in readiness for ev-
cry duty The mind is prepared by
the alertness and obedience required |
by the Scout oath. The body will be (
kept strong and healthy by the work
and exercises provided in the camp
routine or in the training required for
promotion from one grade to another. !
There is no means Of discipline that
the average parent will find quite so
night inspector. Those who passed !
n the night inspectors class were: