Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-09-06
BOY SCOUTS
BY DANIEL CARTER BEARD
National Field Scout Commissioners

National Field Scout Commissioners
The Boy Scouts of America is a
great organizations! The more l
have to do with it the prouder I am
of the boys and their achievements
their tremendous. f~ar-reaching in
fuerce for good.
The Boy Scouts of America ex-
tends its influerce all over the globe
and forms a universal church! A
jew may be an Orthodox Jew and a
good scout, too; a Mohammedan, a
Quaker, a Catholic, a Christian
Scientist. an EpiscOpalian, Metho-
dist. Presbyterian or any other re-
l.gious belief may subscribe to our
cath and law without in the least
prejudicing him with his own part!c-
ular religious organization. In truth.
the Boy Scouts of America forms,
the only real universal church that
there is in the world today.
We Boy Scouts of America believe
IN the United States, in the Declara-
tior of independence and in our con-
stitutional form of government. IT
makes no difference from whence
our parents came or where we our
selves were born. we are all of US
100 per cent genuine Americans.
BY this we do not wish to be I'M
derstood that we think that all Am
orleans are saints, but We do know
in spite of our faults, hat the ave.
rage intelligence, the average NOR
also of the people who live here, is
far above the average of any other
country, and it is our duty to keep
this enviable lead that the early
pioneers of America gave us.
Our country itself, however. Is not
as big as our institutions. We cover
less than six one-hundredths of the
sarth's area and we possess but tve
one-hundredths of her people. AL
the same time we own thirty-three
one-hundredths of all the wealth OF
civilization! Nevertheless, this VII
avail. us little unless we stick relig-
!ously to the principles of the Dec
laration of Independence.
The stolid Dutchman who settled
In. New York; the somber Puritan
who settled in New England; the
flashing Cavaliers who settled In Vlr-
riEia: the indentured servants who
settled everywhere, and the convlcts
who were exported to this country,
were just the same as the people
they left on the other side of the
ocean. But those who came to AM
erica discovered that at their elbow
were untold miles of fertile free land
which meant for them homes OF
their W and labor for themselves
and families. Homes Of then W
were unknown to them in the Ola
World or to any one except with the
titled classes, and labor in the Ola
World was the labor of serfs.
LT.D anna and frna Ia mr. tqnUnt |
them personal freedom. self-respect
anG self-government. 1t made then
more manly, more efficient than their
relatives who remained at home. 1t
was the wilderness that made us
free, and now that the wilderness Is
gene 1T is up to the Boy Scouts or
America to keep us free!
Fellow Scouts, remember that our
government Is elastic enough TO +.
grew with the people; it was built
for that Also remember
that anarchy, communism, Bolshe-
vism and socialism were all born IN
countries ruled by kings and m
perors; all these "isms" result in the
efforts of the downtrodden, degraded
people to live like human beings. But
none of these things has any prop
err place in Free America, and it is
lux LII oOy DCodtS VI va W -
fend our Institutions from the bloody
and criminal doctrines which are the
fruif of European oppression.
Remember that there is no more
radical document eXtant than our
own Declaration of independence
unless it be the Bible itself-and the
Bible and the Declaration of lnde-
%rcndence are good enough for us.
The readings of neither lead 20
blood, robbery and crime.
STUDY up American history, read
about George Washington, good olc
Abraham Lincoln, wise old Thomas
Jefferson and honest old Benjamin
Franklin, fiery Patrick Henry, n
ouc dearly beloved Theodore Roose-
Welt: then read of the old Scouts
of Boone. Crockett, kenton, list,
Cresap, Lewis and Clark, John Rog-
er Clark, Audubon Catlin and ask
Yourself if the land which produced
such men as these is not good enough
for us.
But the Boy Scouts of America do
believe in progress to higher and
higher planes of morality. justice
ard intelligence. We have the vision
of that old band of heroes who sign
ed the Declaration of Independence
wa have the abiding faith of George
Washington Inc the simple faith OF
Abraham Lincoln in the people OF
our country. and we as scouts &C
cept the duty and the responsibility
of guarding the principles on which
our republic was founded and which
carried our boys through this late
terrible world-war. To these things
we are willing to devote our lives,
FOR on these things depend the hap
piness of the world.