The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1917-04-08
BOY SCOUTS CAN RENDER NATION GREAT SERVICE
PENSACOLA IS DOING IT'S SHARE IN THE WORK
6O0, 900 READY FOR
DUTY IN THE u. S.

New York, April Two hundred
thousand boy scouts are ready to play
their part in the national defense
when war comes. Three hundred and
fifty thousand additional young men
have had scout training in the past
seven years. Fifty thousand men
are part of the boy scout movement,
as scoutmasters, assistants, troop
committee members and council men,
bers.
This group of 100000 boys and
young men will be Immediately avail
able for special service of all kinds
in the war.
"No, these boys are not going to
be made into soldiers and become a
part of the military organization of
the country" said James E. West,
| chief scout executive at national
headquarters today.
"Boy scouts yet boys are not ex-
pected to do military duty. Undoubt-
edly many of the $4,000 young men
who in the past seven years have had
scout training will volunteer for mil
| itary or naval service, but the 200,-
! 600 boys between the ages of IL and
Is now enrolled in our ranks can per-
form many useful things in war with
out attempting to do actual military
service.
Every scout who wears a second
| class or a first class badge is pre-
pared to render first aid to the sick
or injured, and there are more than
| 100000 first and second class scouts
| now enrolled.
Every scout who ranks above a
| tenderfoot knows how to receive and
send messages by the semaphore
| method or the Morse code.
off telephone or telegraph lines
| are put out of commission, scouts can
in this way help to maintain COM
munications.
remember. They know where the pub
lie buildings, police station, fire
alarm boxes, hospitals and other city
institutions are located.
Scouts know how to keep going
| for long distances at the scout pace,
and they can carry messages and in
structions when there are no con-
| veyances. With knife, hatchet and
| cooking kits, they can help in form
| ing temporary shelters, and in feed
| ing and caring for refugees, and with
their first-aid kits can aid in taking
care of injured or disabled persons.
First class scouts can swim. Long
! hikes and training in observation and
map making have prepared them to
gather useful information.
"Service of a civic, non-military
character, essential for the proper or
| ganization and conduct of the ma
| tons business in time of war, are
what the scouts can principally aid
in performing"
West then showed me letter from
General Baden Powell, founder of the
boy scout movement, in England, just
| received at scout headquarters here,
| telling how the boy scouts in Eng
land aided their government at the
/ outbreak of war. In the first con-
fusian on the sudden declaration of
| war, troops of boy scouts assumed
the duty of guarding water works,
railway bridges and telegraph and
| telephone communications, and they
] performed very efficient service.
Gen. Baden Powell has offered to
! aid the boy scout officials in Amer
lea with suggestions as to low to
utilize the boy scouts to the best adj
vantage, based on England's expert
ence.
/ The heroic work of the boy scouts
/ in Belgium also furnishes an ex-
ample of how scout training helps to
; prepare the Belgian boys to take a
mans part when their country was
invaded. In Belgium, the boy scouts
! actually worked close to the front
fighting line, carrying messages, aid
! ing the wounded, working with the
medical department and Red Gross
organizations, and acting as or
derlies.