Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-25

There's not a real bad boy in America.
Not really bad one who would not rather
be good if you showed him some sure
enough ways of having the time of his
young life without breaking any laws Of
the land Dan Beard said this today, and
Daniel Carter Beard ought to know. be-
cause he is the organizer of the Boy Scout
Movement in America and he has more
sessions with real live blood-and- thunder
boy hearts than does the whole army of
truant officers
Mr. Beard came from New York last
night to address Division of the Boy
Scouts in the Philadelphia Cricket club.
He voiced his young America platform to-
day en- route to Broad street Station, where
n Washington express carried him to
further fields of Scout activity.
LET the boys do the things they want to
do" lie said. "Why, that's the very trouble
with education today There's not enough
of the boys angle about it. Things are
tending more that way. but the system is
still old-fogysh. Boys want to work, tinker
create They want to learn outdoor things
the little tenement fellows want to breathe
and get healthy in the open. They want to
study practically.
when I graduated from an engineering
course at a school in COvington, Ky, ] had
to go out and drive stakes in order to begin
at the bottom and really learn what ! nau
been studying for four years.
THAT was some time ago, but It shows
the things that are sometimes accepted as n
matter of tradition. That doesn't happen
now, of course, but it took some agitation to
alter matters I think the Boy Scout move
ment has been force in changing eduCa-
tiona methods We work through the boy.
We don't make a focus through the teacher.
We make it through him. We get down
into the heart of the youngstcr and see how
things look to him down there. Then we
look at them that way too, and after that
we educate.
when this European war is over there
will be vast economical opportunities for the
boys that are growing up now. Tho oppor-
tuntics will be industrial, We want to
make our boys ready for them And they
can he ready for them if their training is
broad. | do not believe i'm n strict adop-
tion of vocational training until a boy Is
old enough to decide what he wants to do.
Give him an all-rOund curriculum that will
make u man of him Give him so much
healthy, interesting work that he won't
have time to be bad. lie doesn't want to be
bad I've never met one yet who really
wanted to he bad. 1t was just case of
misplaced energy"
Mr. Beard opens two stories high" of
Boy Scout mail every mornng-letters
from little boys with surplus energy. Some
of this surplus energy is being heavily in
vested in the movies.
of this expenditure Mr. Beard says: THE
movies do not do as much harm to our little
folks as we grown folks imagine. The chill
dren sense the dubious plots, of course, but
they don't absorb them. It's the thrills they
want | remember reading the Arabian
Nights when | was little fellow. There
were some things in the book, of course
that weren't Just the thing for a boy to
read. l laugh now when | think of the
opinions | had then / didn't know what | |
was reading | just wanted the thrills
IF | may be allowed to get off the sub
lect of boys for just n minute, ] would like |
TO say that | think all of us just want the
thrills and the sooner writer's and pro-
ducers learn that there are clean thrills |
mat much sooner can the censor go out of
business"
Again Mr. Beard should know. He Is a |
member of the National Board of Censor |
snip and he is a noted writer himself Some
OF Mr.. Boards publications are Moonlight |
ana SIX Feet of Romance" Boat Building |
ana Boating" Jack of All Trades" 'SheI- |
ters' Shacks and Shantles," "Dan Boards
animal Book" and THE American Boys |
Handy Book"