Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-09-17

of the child should be so moulded in
his youth that he will be benefit to
his community when maturity comes.
Let us take the case Of the aver
age boy, the son of self-respecting, So
called middle class of people,, he
said. He is neither very good nor
very bad, nor very rich nor very
bright. At about the age Of IL or u
he begins to grow into a period OF
consciousness of self and of his rela-
tionship to his surroundings.
The Gang Age
This is the age at which boys be-
gin to group together in gangs, usu-
ally under the leadership of the most
aggressive-the physical, rather than
the mental or moral leader. Loyalty
to the gang-right or wrong--is apt
to constitute the highest moral sense.
Now, the interests of this gang,
at the best, are idle and Improbable.
From that they may descend to cigar
cite smoking, understanding or
worse. Its heroes are drawn from the
nickel novel, or the melodrama movie.
with this start, the average boy
may go downhill and become a dis
tinct liability to the community, but
the chances are that, at best, he will
grow into an average citizen with no
thoughts beyond the sporting page,
making as much money as he can and
having a good time. The case of the
vicious boy needs no exposition.
1T is with the boys of this age
that the scout. movement begins to
work. Taking the excess vitality, the
interest in sports, and out-of-door &C.
tivities, the spirit of cooperation and
loyalty to the gang, 1t blends them
into a program Of play, work and
moral incentive, under the leadership
of men of purpose. The loosely knit
gang becomes an organized scout
troop. The energies of the boy, in.
stead of being suppressed or scattered
in play are, with his own help, d.
rected towards his physical. mental
and moral development. The gang
spirit is cultivated, enlarged and di-
rected into loyalty to his troop, his
scout organization, his city and his
country. He is guided in his selec.
ton of boy leaders and the leaders
are trained for the work. Stimulating
literature of the best sort is put into
his hands and he is helped in his
choice of heroes.
The Cash Returns
Let us now consider the scout or.
ganization and the returns in cash
value that it can render the city.
Those of you who have been here in
carnival time have seen the scouts
ushering and doing first aid wJ1G and
police duty. The policing they usual,
ly do better than the regulars because
they carry the scout spirit into it and
the people are ready to cooperate in,
stead of opposing them.
The scouts of Honolulu raised
$4,000 by personal solicitation for he
Red Cross, last year. The scouts on
the mainland sold $40 10000 900 worth OF
Liberty bonds in four days. The lit,
erature for this reached Honolulu too
late, but we have already begun put.
ting out the posters and expect to
have a big share in the work Of the
next loan.
THE net results of the gardening
operations of the past summer can
never be computed but we know that
a great deal has been accomplished
I'm some cities the scouts have
saved thousands of dollars and much
time during the annual cleanup
week.
I'VE are looking for good, red.
blooded men who, for some physical
defect or family tie, are not eligible
for the army and yet are anxious to do
their bit. Men of the right sort who
take up this work will find them.
selves doubly repaid by the pleasure
and satisfaction they get out Of 1t.
And remember, every boy saved to
the nation is worth two of the enemy
killed"
Maintenance of Roads
Charles N. Arnold, Oahu supervisor,
spoke on Road Maintenance" He
declared that there were three phases
to road building, location, construc
ton and maintenance, and that of
these three the last was the most i'm
portant. A road carefully built should
last indefinitely if continuously and
Systematically maintained, he said.
The terms maintenance and re
pair" were frequently confused, in his
opinion. To maintain a road is to
keep 1t in good condition, while to
repair means to restore its surface at
ter 1t has been partially destroyed. He
outlined his subject under two heads
the first, the system CT mainten-
ance. and the second the methods, the
former involving questions Of admin
istration and the latter concerning the
technical details of how the work
should be done.
The systems of maintenance were:
The intermittent system, under which
roads are repaired once or twice a
year; and the patrol system, which