The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-27
Better Reading for Boys Urged By Mr. Franklin H.
 Mdl1ie7uS Chief Scout Librarian Boy Scouts of America
By DOLLY DALRYMPLE


 During a recent visit to Birmingham MT. Franklin H. Matthews, chief scout librarian of the Boy Scouts Of America discussed with much interest and en- thusiasm, the nation wide campaign that is being waged by the library commission of the Boy Scouts of Amer ica for better reading matter and more wholesome books for the boys of this country.
 MT. Matthews has been touring the United States in the interest of the movement, organizing and perfecting arrangements, and the campaign in Bir- mingham is to have it's premier tomor- row
 A committee composed of MT Clar H. Milan, director of the Birmingham public library; Mr. Burr Blackburn. superintendent of ''The Boys club, and Dr. Elwyn Ballard, scout commission chief will cooperate and assist in the movement in Birmingham.
 During the campaign the ministers of the various churches will interest them selves as we'll as their congregations by sermons on the subject There will also be exhibitions at the libraries and slides" at the moving picture shows. and elaborate displays in the book shops
 MT. Matthews gives out some inter- esting data on the subject and among other things says:
 Tn the execution of its purpose to give educational value and moral worth to the recreational activities of the boyhood of America, the leaders of the Boy Scout movement quickly learned that to effectively carry out it's pro- gramme, the boy must be inuenced not only in his out -of-door life but also in the diversions of his other leisure mo- ments. It is at such times that the boy is captured by the tales of daring en- terprises and adventurous good times What now is neededful is not that his tatse should be thwarted but trained There should constantly be presented to him the books the boy likes best, yet always the books that will be best for the boy. As q matter of fact, how ever, the boys taste is constantly being visited and exploited by the great mass Of cheap Juvenile publications In order to help anXiously concerned parents and educators to meet this grave peril the library commission of the Boy Scouts of America was organized, and Is now engaged in this important campaign"
 
 took occasion to interview all welfare workers who in any way exercise lead ership over boys, calling their atten- tion to this new feature of the Boy Scout movements work and inviting their cooperation in helping to solve the vital problem of the boys reading.
 He also took occasion to discover just how many of the boys of Birmingham are reading nickel novels. Nhe people of our city will be interested in knowing that the results of that investigation disclosed the pleasing fact that not very many of the boys of this city are reading this kind of Literature. Some of those who sell these modern penny dreadfuls'' thought only 25 per cent of their total sales went to boys. Others said that their juvenile readers might average as high as 50 per cent but all agreed that their best customers for these publications were young men IS and older, and very frequently, they said, old men buy them. They are sold also to women and sometimes to pro- fessional men, though never to any considerable number
 MT. Matthews was asked to say as to what in his judgment the influences are that are winning the modern boy from this type of cheap publications.
 He replied: Aside from the good in- huence of the public libraries and schools. the motion picture shows, for good or i'll, are providing a substitute Certain magazines, such as Popular Mechancis, and others on electricity, are also in successful competition with the nickle novel The publishers of these novels recently said that among the paper bound publications, nothing has hit their business so hard as these popular technical magazines for boys"
 But" said MT. Matthews, more careful inquiry discloses the fact that the nickel novel has not been ban ished quite so completely as at first appears. It still persists, but in an other form. You will find it now more often and more widely distributed in the disguise of the bound book And sometimes so attractively bound that it takes its place on the retail book store shelf along side the best juvenile pub