Arizona republican., 1922-02-28

| of Boy Scouts in that town and folks
riding by in the trains will stop read
| ing their magazines to get a second
glimpse of it. The town will be the
gamer and every boy will be the
gamer for helping to make his town
safer, happier and cleaner. Every
mothers son of them will grow a lit
| tie manlier, more earnest, more con-
siderate of others, more jealous of the
reputation Of their city, state and
country. Scoutcraft is another word
for civic responsibility. The careless
and irresponsible boy when he be-
comes a Scout corrects his faults in
his endeayor to be a true Scout. and
with no less jest and pep, the well
bred hoy who comes from a home of
refinement and culture grows a new
sense of relatedness to the commun-
| ity in which he lives, the object near
est and dearest to the heart of his
parents. his teachers, his pastor.
Theodore Roosevelt said pointedly:
IF you are going to do anything per-
manent for the average man, you
have got to begin before he is man.
The chance of success lies in work
ing with the boy and not with the
man." That is the Roosevelt way,
and the Roosevelt way is the Scout
way.
The viewpoint of the boy is en-
larged through the expensive action
Of the Scout ideas Every one Of the
more than 100000 Scouts in the Unit
ed States is intimately related to all
of the machinery Of American gov
ernment The president of the nation
| is the honorary head of this great
brotherhood of boys and is affec-
| tionately regarded as such by. every
Boy Scout. They look upon him as
the Big Brother at Washington. They
take a personal interest in the work
| which he has to do and the way in
! which he does it. When they study
| the details of the American system Of
/ government in connection with some
Of the prescribed tests OF the Boy
Scout program they apply themselves
with the zeal of being intimately and
actively connected with the Interest,"
ing put somewhat complicated proc
esses they are studying.
That is why those charged with
! the development of scouting in Mar
| icopa county. when it came time 70
| choose a name for the council, chose
| the name of Roosevelt. It typifies
! the sort of citizenship scouting
| stands for--it viii perpetuate and
| Vltalide Rooseyelts ideals of citizen
| ship among the boy scouts of this
country. And besides. Roosevelt
himself was the Chief Scout Citizen.
Every Boy Scout knows THAT the
4 Boy Scout brotherhood is being
watched carefully by the congress at
j Washington because the United
/ States congress has chartered their
movement and require careful ae-
curate reports of their achievements
and plans. They know that congress
] fcs ir1fr = ~.
1 these activities and helpful achieve
ments.
Not only is the scout movement
| vitality in touch with the federal gov
ernment but in the individual states.
i the Boy Scouts are regarded as the
greatest volunteer force for helpful
ness in times of unexpected crises
/ and emergencies. Mayors of towns.
superintendents OF schools, and, just
as like as not. the police chiefs. fire
commissioners and health commits
sioners, keep on pad on their desk
before them. the names and address
es of the local Boy Scouts for aid in
! accidents, health crusades. fires, pa :
rades, and other public demonstra-
4 tions needing the help of Scouts.
There are very few Scout local coun-
ellis which do not have all OF these
| loIol puOAAI OAlfIGES DIS dCAlNS anu dp :
! preciatiYe members. The Boy Scouts
| are thrown into constant contact
with these representative men who
/ control the affairs of local comTnuni-
ties and the result Of this contact is
the awakening in the individual
| Scout of the qualities of character of
American men of public affairs.
This personal contact supplements
| the school textbook on civics. Put
| civics textbook into the hands OF
1 any normal American boy. and. il he
applies himself with any show OF
diligence, he will be able to master
the reading matter and be able in =
very short time to give an intelligent
account of the political system which
4 he has been studying. He will prob
ably land his "A's' in the public or
! high school, This knowledge is
/ highly valuable and will some day be
put to effective use when he has the
right to vote. But there is some
thing more involved in the idea OF
citizenship than the ability to put a
cross on the ballot. 1T involves a
vivid sense of relationship and re-
sponsibility for public welfare and
good government. The star school
boy may never get sense of his
relationship to his own community
or to his state, or TO ms country IN
normal peace times. II a big war
comes along the latent Americanism
will probably spring forth and in the
emotion thus released he will get a
sense Of the social thrill of big mo
ments when the team plays as one
man. There ougllt according 10 the
Roosevelt idea, she scout idea, be nc
such thing as a latent Americans
ism /" Au1erieaniSu1 if II is ANYTHING
is an aggressive, indomitable spirit
Of public helpfulness and improve
ment.
The team spirit! It was so prom
inent during the war. But where is
it now? Representative statements
are highly concerned with the dis
y inteEratinE Of the Amsrican solldsr-