The Farmington times., 1918-01-25
BOY SCOUTS OFFICIAL
MESSENGERS OF COMMITTEE
ON PUBLIC INFORMATION

President Wilson has sent the fol-
lowing letter to Mr.. Colin H. Living
stone, Preside National Council,
Boy Scouts of America:
"My Dear Mr.. Livingstone:
81 desire to entrust the Boy Scouts
of America with a new and import
ant commission, to make them the
Government despatch bearers in car
rying to the homes of their communi-
ty the pamphlets on the war, pre-
pared by the Committee on Public In
formation. The excellent services
performed by the Boy Scouts in the
past encourages me to believe that
this new task will be cheerfully and
faithfully discharged.
Yours sincerely,
WOODROW WILSON"
The Boy Scouts of America, num-
bering nearly 100000, have responded
to the request of the President with
hearty unanimity and will undertake,
as their first despatch-bearing SER
vice, distribution of copies of the
Presidents Flag Day address. pub
lished by the Committee on Public
Information in pamphlet form on Sep
tember Is, 1917, and regarded as the
most comprehensive statement that
has been issued by the Government in
regard to the fundamental issues of
the war.
1t is the desire of the administra-
ton that this pamphlet have careful
study by the people of the country,
and the Boy Scouts, acting as despatch
bearers directly under command of
the President, will place the document
in the hands of five million citizens of
every city, town and hamlet of the
country, with specific instructions that
its contents be carefully considered
and that the reader then make it his
personal responsibility to see that at
least one other citizen of the commun-
ity also reads the copy. By these
means a minimum Of ten millions of
thoughtful citizens will have had this
important message impressed upon
their minds or will have been refresh
ed in memory as to the principles of
the war as expressed by the Presi-
dent on September Is.
The pamphlets will be sent through
the mails to the individual scouts and
in each package there will be a man
ual for the guidance of these young
Government messengers. Acting un-
der the local instructions of the
Scoutmasters, the despatch bearers
will deliver such printed matter as
may be issued from time to time by
the Committee on Public Information
to citizens, carefully avoiding dupli-
cation. They will accept signed re-
ceipts from the persons visited and
alko their personal assurance that
they will comply with the requests
made, particularly to aid distribution
by passing the documents to others.
Each Boy Scout is provided with
an identification card, bearing his
name, troop number, city and State,
and declaring his appointment as an
aide to the Committee on Public In
formation to serve as a despatch
bearer for the Government during the
period covered by his registration,
under the direction of the National
Council, Boy Scouts of America.
President Wilson's letter requesting
the service is reproduced in facsimile
on the reverse side Of the identifca-
ton card.
Each Scout despatch bearer will
have access to franked postal cards,
rcturnable to the Committee on Pub
lie Information, by means of which
any citizen may order mailed to him
any Of the various war pamphlets
which the Committee OH Public In
formation has published during the
war.