Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1918-01-23
AMERICAN BoYs HoNoRED.
Boy Scouts as Official Messengers of
Committee on Public Information.


Committee on Public Information.
President Wilson has sent the fol-
lowing letter to ,Colvin II. Living
stone, President. National Council,
Boy Scouts Of America:
"My Dear Mr.. Livingstone:
! desire to entrust the Boy Scouts
of America with new and important
commission, to make them the gov
ernment despatch bearers in carrying
to the homes Of their community the
pamphlets on the war;, prepared by
the Committee on Public Informa-
,tion. The excellent services per-
formed by the Boy Scouts in the past
encourages me to believe that this
new task will be cheerfully and faith
fully discharged.
"Yours sincerely,
Sl' " woodrow Wilson,"
The Boy Scouts Of America, num-
bering nearly 100000, have respond
cd to the request Of the President
With hearty unanimity and will un-
dertake, as their first despatch bear
Ing service, a distribution Of copies
of the Presidents Flag Day address,
published by the Committee on Pub
lie Information in pamphlet form on
September Is, 1917, and regarded as
the most comprehensive statement
that has been issued by the govern
ment in regard to the fundamental
issues of the war.
1t Is the desire of the administra-
tton that this pamphlet have careful
study by the people Of the country,
and the Boy Scouts, acting as des-
patchbearers directly under COM
mand of the President, will place the
document in the hands Of five mill
lion citizens Of every city, town, and
hamlet Of the country with specific
instructions that its contents be care
fully considered and that the reader
then make it his personal responsi-
Dility to see that at least one other
citizen of the community also reads
the copy. BY these means a mini
mum 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 expressed by the President on
September is.
1.-The, pamphlets will be sent through
the mails to the individual scouts,
and in each package there will be a
manual for the guidance Of these
young government messengers. Act
y ,sisSlg J .p9ndeeHS the local Instructions. OF
the Scoutmasters the despatch-bear-
ers will deliver such printed matter
as, may be issued from time to time
by the committee on Public informa-
ton to citizens, 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, 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 identifica-
tion card.
Each Scout despath-bearer will
nave access to franked postal cards,
returnable to the Committee on Pub
Tic Information, by means Of which
any citizen may order mailed to him
any OF the various war pamphlets
which the Committee on Public In
formation has published during the
war.
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