The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1921-01-06

III ivy bipul "olh al lhC NuiNVi
itary academy at Culver, Ind, is
interests of our Boy Scout troops.
Capt. Pierce is now on furlough
from the Culver Academy, and viii,
receive his B. A. degree this year at
Milton, Wis. He was induced to come
to Minot by William A. Moeller of
this city, who graduated in August
from the Scout Masters school at Cul-
yer. under Capt. Pierce, and who is
now attending college at Milton, Wis.
Mr.. Moeller is spending the week ~
Minot as well.
Capt. Pierce was speaker at the
Minot Rotary Monday, delivering tn
following fine address:
| wish to thank the editors OF the
Minot papers for the space in their
papers that they have given me to
present to the people Of Minot the
Scout program.
1t was through the efforts of Nj
not Scout that became acquainted
with the scout work here and was
given the privilege of sending Wees
here to organize the work and slim
ulate a Wide-awake interest upon the
part Of the business men, teachers
clergy and all civic organizations.
| have been more than pleased with
the whole hearted support given me by
those with whom | have personally
met and spoken to about scouting.
Especially am | grateful to the Rotar
ians, Odd Fellows, Rebeccas, Knights
of Pythias. Pythian Sisters, Knights
of Columbus and Elks for the kind
way they have received me and the
interest and attention they are giving
the movement. | feel that they will
be the greatest factor for making ev-
cry Minot lad a real, red-blooded AM
erican Boy. | thank also your local
Scout Commissioner d. D. Riley, your
local Scoutmasters and assistants and
members of Troop Committees and the
Local Council who have done so much
to help me put scouting across here
In order to explain the scout pro
gram | am going to give very brief
history Of its organization.
1t happened that w. d. Boyce. Will
travelling in England, chanced ond
day to find himself lost in London
He asked a small boy TO direct him
to a certain place if he knew where il
was. The boy upon being spoken ~
Immediately came to attention and
said, "Sir, | can direct you to the
house ana il you vii! be 50 kind as
to let me carry your grip VIII TAX
you right there Stunned with this
unusual kindness Mr.: Boyce gave his
grip to the boy and he was directed
to the house The boy handed him his
grip and said, This is the place, Sir,
and left the man. Mr.. Boyce called
the boy back and offered him shil-
ling for his kind help. The boy again
saluted and answered, '''Thank you sirl
but am a Boy Scout and cannot re
ceive money for doing a good turn
.,lr. HG-ce decided that Scout organiZ-
ation was worthy of looking into b"
fore returning to America. He did
look into the organization, met Sir
Baden-Powel, former English Col
onel, with the result that Mr.. Boyce
returned to America with trunk load
of literature.
Upon Mr.. Boyce's return to America
he called about him some of the mos,
distinguished men in the country
Among them was Ernest Thompso:
Seton, Dan Beard, Colin H. Living
ston, President Taft, ex-PresideI
Roosevelt and Mortimer l.. Schiff
These men organized the Boy Scouts
of America in the District of ColUn
bia. They desired, however, to receive
a Federal Charter and made an at
tempt to do this but were unsuccess
ful With headquarters established
they gave publicity to the work am
interested other great men III II ana
things sailed along very rapidly.
Statistics show that in 1911 there
were -l07S enrolled scouts. In 1915
there were $4,000 and in the perioj
covering five years total of over hall
a million boys. With such strong ev-
idence of the success of the work q
charter was granted to the organiZa
.tion by Congress on June Is, 1916
In 1918 Congress further protected thb
word Scout to be used only by TIL
Boy Scouts Of America and to make il
unlawful for any boy to wear the
Scout uniform unless registered or to
wear insignia other than his rank.
The Boy Scouts Of America the.
were much embarrassed by group OF
boys known as the American Boy
Scouts. These boys were given mostly
military training. The Boy Scouts of
America are neither military or non
military. They are trained to be phys
ically fit men, trustworthy men, ann
law-abiding and patriotic citizens. In
case Of war every real Scout would :
offer himself to his country to Serve
as he was best needed. He fights clean
but does not go around with a chip or.
his shoulder"
A whole list Of statistics might be
given to show what Scouts have done
and to prove the effectiveness of scout
training but | will cite but very few
in general. Only small fraction of
one per cent of the scouts ever appear
before the Juvenile courts, the same
small percentage have been found
truant at school. In every city where
scouting is an active organization, the
scouts stand head and shoulders above
all the rest of the boys in their stud
les.
During the policeman strike in Gin
cinnati two years~ago the scouts han
died all traffic for many days and did
as we'll and better than the regula,
police force. During all big parades