The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1918-01-25
COLUMBIA SCOUTS lHE
OFFICIAL MESSENGERS
OF U. S. GOVERNMENT
TO CARRY IMPORTANT DIG
PATCH OF GOVERNMENT AND
DISTRIBUTE LITERATURE.
WILSON'S FLAG DAY hDDRLss
Administration Desires That Pamph-
let be Studied Carefully by All the
Cit'zens--aoys Receive Their Com
missions.

Members OF Troop No. of Colum-
bia, Boy Scouts OF America, haye RI
ceived their commissions as Official
messengers Of the Committee of Pub
lie Information of the national GOV.
eminent and Scout Master Hugh Lee
Webster has begun the direction ot
their first official work.
| They have received $50 copies ar
the Presidents flag day address which
will be distributed. The local Boy
Scouts are William Erwin, Street Fal
ton, Joe Sheldon, Ben Nicholson. Al
lison Webster, Jr., Douglas Greenlav.
! Tommy Fraser. Ben Jackson. Robert
| Patterson, William Williamson. ion
Morgan. Walter Capers. J. d. Har-
mon. Jesse Ellington. Albert Sidney
Page, Erwin Haskell.
President Wilson has sent the fol.
lowing letter to Mr.. Colin II. Living.
stone, President, National Council
Boy Scouts Of America:
my Dear Mr. Livingstone:
Il desire to entrust the Boy Scouts
Of America with new and important
commission, to make them the Gov.
eminent despatch bearers in carrying
TO the homes Of their community the
pamphlets on the war, prepared by
the Committee on Public Information
The excellent services performed by
the Boy Scouts in the past encourages
me to believe that this new task will
be cheerfully and faithfully dis
charged.
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 despatchsbearing ser
vice, a 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 de-
spatch bearers directly under COM
mand of the President will place the
document in the hands of five million
citizens of every city, town and ham
let of the country, with specific in
structions that its contents be care.
fully considered and that the reader
then make it his personal responsible
ity to see that at least one other cit
izen Of the community also reads the
copy. BY these means minimum OF
ten millions Of thoughtful citizens
will have had this important message
impressed upon their minds or will
have been refreshed in memory as
to the principles of the war as ex-
pressed by the President on Septem-
Der 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 I'M
der the local instructions of the Scout
masters the despatch bearers will de-
liver such printed matter as may be
,ssued from time to time b. the Com
"ittee on Public Information to cit
liens, carefully avoiding duplication,
They will accept signed receipts from
the persons visited and also their
personal assurance that they will
comply with the requests made, par
ticularly to aid distribution by pass
ing the documents to others.
Each Boy Scout is provided with an
Identification card, bearing his name,
troop number, city and state, and de-
claring his appointment as an aide to
the Committee Oh Public Inform ton
to serve as a dispatch bearer for the
Government during the period cover
ed by his registration, under the diree-
ton OF the National Council, Boy
Scouts of America. President Wilson's
letter requesting tie service is re-
produced in fascimile on the reverse
side Of the identification card.
Each Scout despatch bearer viii
have access to franhed postal cards,
returnable 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 on Public In
has published during the
war.