Evening journal., 1915-02-22
Seton Loses POST
With BOY scouts
Simply Dropped as Office Is
Abolished and Fact Is
Kept Secret
SOME FEELING DUE
TO PATRIOTIC VIEWS

Ernest Thompson Seton is no
longer chief scout Of the Boy Scouts
of America. nor is he any longer a
member of the executive board of that
organization. Mr.. Seton's official con-
nection with the Boy Scouts was
severed at tho last annual meeting
held in Washington on February H.
but no public announcement Of the
fact has been made.
Nor is any note made OF it in scout
ing. the official organ of the assocla-
tion, although i'm the February 10
number of the publication the chiet
article is an account of the annual
meeting at which Mr.. Seton failed oil
reelection. The list of officers elected
then is printed in full and Mr.. Seton's
name is missing.
Those who had in charge the
matter of ending Mr.. Seton's official
connection with the Boy Scouts did II
by simply abollshing the office he
held. In this way, now that the matter
Is prblic. it can be pointed out that
MI Seton was not superseded, thal
he is still a member of the national
council composed of six men who ap-
prove of the organization ana WHO
want to help it along, and that there
icre there can be no hint of friction
between Mr.. Seton on the one SIDE
and those in control - the organiza-
/ ton on the other.
But il is known that there has been
some feeling against Mr. Seton be-
cause he IS "a British subject .and has
consistently refused to take any
action leading to his becoming an
American citizen. lnasmuch as the
| BOY Scouts Of America is a strongly
patriotic organization. and lays fully
as much stress on love of country
us upon the other principles it de-
sires to inculcate, IL has heen felt
that Mr. Seton's tenure Of one of the
/ two chief offices laid the association
open TO criticism on this score.
Dan Beard. chief scout commission
or. who with Mr.. Seton gripped strong
est the imaginations of the boys. LET
the cat out of the bag while talking
yesterday about another matter viii
a New York reporter. All he i'm
! advertently let drop, however. was
that Mr.. Seton is no longer chief scout
Pressed for details. Mr.. Beard initiated
the clam Of fable-ho didn't know VIII!
Mr.. Seton failed to be reelected.
Colin H. Livingstone, president o
the Boy Scouts, lives in Washington
but last night he was on a train goini
to Now York from Montreal. 1t wa
he who conducted with MIR. Seton th
negotiations leading to soveranc
of official connection between tn
latter and the Boy Scouts.
Mr.. Seton is now in England, hay
ing gone there on the last oastwar
trip Of the Lusitania, when she an
rived in port under the American ilai
Mr.. Seton and Dan Beard were th
two real heads OF the work the 30
Scouts have been doing. Others ha
charge of the organizing. the bushes
and such features. but Mr. Seton. "A
expert on Indian craft and lore, an
Mr.. Beard, expert on the work an
methods of the old scouts, were Oh
two men who seized the imagination
of the boys TO whom the Organizatio
made its appeal.
Before he allied himself with u
b Boy Scouts Mr. Seton controlled a
organization called WoOdcraft Indian
{ Tho Boy Scouts was organized I'm 1870
. two years before General Sir Badel
b. Powell organized i'm England his BS
} Scouts. but the American OrganizatiC
- did not become a national institute
: until 1910. II Was in that year tn
3 Mr.. Seton became allied with H.
70 He was an expert on the primiu
n methods OF the Indians. He cOu
X start a fire with a piece of wood al
g.; bow: he knew simple methods
II fashioning gourds. weapons, be
IT from articles likely to be at hand
d any forest.
81 Mr.. Boards speciality was t
p methods of men like George Washin
4 ton I'm his forestry days, Daniel Boo
IN and other pioneers who have come
s. be called scouts, although not in
)f military sense. The idea of boy trai
ing advanced by these two men caue
in like wildhre when the Boy Scouts W
IS. organized, and now few trains TO
ed wilds fail to carry a group of be
IT, clad in khaki. armed with hatche
he eager to taste the delights OF
n wilderness.
or They are both artists and writ'
y and have published several boo
he dealing with life in the woods. q
ce of Mr.. SetOns most ambitious wOl
IN. was "The Life History OF Animals
n North America" I'm two yOumn
is The fly page OF the first volume 81
to the book Is dedicated with perm
'ct sion" 10 his Royal Higness, the Prii
ry of Wales. The book was published
10 1909
h: Mrs. Seton was an active worker
re equal suffrage until il became publ
known that her husband was
e: British subject and that therefore
81 was one also. She was born in @
si- fornia of American parents.