Omaha daily bee., 1918-09-23
GREEK SCOUTS
TRAINING BOYS
IN CITIzENSH|.
Far-Sighted Leaders of Race
Are Giving Lads Splendid
Training for, Patriotic
Service.

Greece and America have Just
signed a CONSUMPTION treaty. By it
and by the new draft it is estimated
that to the 10000 Greeks, who now
wear American uniforms, there will
be added good 100000 more. A few
hundred Greeks, at Thermopylae,
were enough for Xerxes; 100000
would have chased him clear to
China. And .nanifestly, in the matter
of the modern Xerxes still at large
in Europe, 100000 Greeks, properly
instructed and inspired, should be
able, alone and hands down, to make
an end of him. Till recently, however,
there was a difficulty. There was
no one to furnish that proper in
struction and inspiration. But it is
being furnished now, from New
York by Troop No. l, of the
Greek American Boy Scouts. head
quarters l65 F. I'D Street. And
one Major Pantelis A. Sioris, their
scoutmaster, and Mr.. Demetrios J.
Theophilatos are also assisting.
Major is Tall.
Major Sioris comes first. He is
tall and swart, and a veteran of the
artillery of Epirus. He fought for
Greece in 1897, and later came to
America. In 1912 he went back to
Greece and fought again. Then,
once more returning to New York,
he organized those first Greek
American Boy Scouts.
Early Meetings Enthusiastic.
From the first. too, he got the
boys. There were all sorts, from
small "shoe-shines" and flower SELL
ers to boys who went to high
school. They met under church"
that is. in its basement. They drill
ed and had secret passwords and a
band. Being Greeks they also had
to have mountains, and they select
ed those in Van Cortlandt park, the
ones farthest from the Subway sta
ton. In them they practiced the
sort of scouting that is known only
in Greece. And when, in 1916, Sc
rlous money difficulties threatened
them, they were rescued. at the last
moment, by Mr.. Demetrios Theop-
hilatos.
That is how he comes into it. He
Dis a big. broadly-smiling, Creek
American steamship owner. He has
so much money that he would just
as soon buy a Boy Scout bass
drum as tin whistle. In fact he
was soon buying whole house for
them. And he wanted only one
thing in return. In fact Major ST.
orls wanted the same thing. 1t was
a time when every newspaper was
filled with ugly stories about "hy-
phenates," and, being Greek-Ameri-
cans, they were "hyphenates" But
these men showed what one kind of
hyphenate could be-somebody who
turned part Americans into whole
ones, and then went on to make
them simply the best Americans
there were.
'Shoe Shines" Study.
They began with themselves. The
Shoe shines" went to night school
to learn, as one of them expresses it,
to be whole Americans" there. The
boys who went to day school struck
for the first places in class, and in
the end a good two-thirds of them
were "A.-A.-A.'s." The athletic
teams went out after the cups. The
band practiced till it led all the
bands in the junior league And los
East Seventy-second street became
in every way place of fame. The
only trouble was they couldn't seem
to get past themselves. According
to the census, there had been 100000
Greeks in America in 1910. More
were coming at the rate of about
$4,000 year. Most of them
couldn't even speak English. And
not a Boy Scout had been able to
get to the first of them. Would
they ever be?