Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-11
HOOVER ADDRESSES
BOY SCOUT SESSION
Tells Business Leaders "Boy
Is Most Precious Possession
of American Home"

America to discuss another highly i'm
portant problem-boys and what to dc
with them.
Mr.. Hoover said that although the
death of William Howard Taft had cast
cloud of deep sadness over the gather
ing. the former President would, had
he known of it, have insisted that your
work should go forward"
The President told the 400 business
leaders who gathered in the Willard
Hotel for the anniversary celebration
that "the boy, together with his sister
is the most precious possession of the
American home.
IT sometimes think" he said, that
one of the sad things of life is that they
will grow up. Literature and lore have
established our boys in varied relations
to life-as a growing animal of super
lative promise, TO be fed and watered
and kept warm as periodic nuisance,
as JOY forever, as the incarnation of
destruction, as the father of the man,
as the child of iniquity as the problem
of our times and the hope of the Ma
ton.
"He Is Complex of Cells"
IN any event he is a complex Of
cells teeming with affection, filled with
curiosity as to every mortal thing, radi-
ating sunlight to all the world, endowed
with dynamic energy and the impelling
desire to take exercise on all occasions.
He is q perpetual problem to his parents
and the wisdom in his upbringing con-
SiSts more often in the determination
of what to do with him next rather
fhoVa In 4ftnaf I1o 1on n nh ka
out into the cold world"
AS civilization becomes more COM
pick, the Chief Executive declared, the
boy, a primitive animal, is being more
and more removed from primitive life.
1.-THE Boy Scout movement has opened
for him the portals of adventure and
constructive joy by reviving the lore of
the frontier and the campfire, by eStab-
fishing contacts with the birds and
sometimes with the bees, by matching
his patience to the deliberative charac-
ter of fish, by efficient operation of the
swimming hole and by peeps into the
thousand mysteries of the streams and
the trees and the stars.
Enthusiasm, Priceless Treasure.
''The priceless treasure of boyhood is
his endless enthusiasm, his store of
high idealism and his fragrant hopes.
We assure ourselves that the cure of
illiteracy and the fundamentals of edu-
cation are the three R'S-reading,
'riting and rithmetic. To this we must
add one more r, and that is response
bility-reSponsibil to the community
If we are not to have illiteracy in
government.
IF we look over the Republic today,
we find many failures in citizenship
we find many betrayalS of those who
have been selected to leadership. can
ansnPciUn that fhncn failures uy1iHln
take place if every citizen who went to
the polls was good scout and every
official who was elected had ever been
a real Boy Scout
The President remained throughout
the program, which was broadcast, in
part, and included addresses by Secre-
tary Of the Interior Ray Lyman Will
bur, Walter w. Head, president of the
Boy Scouts; DR.. James E. West, chief
Scout executive, and Mortimer L.
Schiff, vice president and international
commissioner of the Scout movement.
West Heads Committee.
Secretary Wilbur announced the ap-
pointment of DR.. West to head COM
mittee to draw together the Boy Scouts
and similar character building organi-
cations into cooperative agency con-
centrating on the child outside the
home and school. The new committee
will be q part of the section of educa-
ton and training, of which DR.. f. J.
Kelly of the University of Idaho is
chairman.
Asserting that "our complex civiliza-
ton was not made for boys" Wilbur
explained the new committee would CO.
ordinate such agencies as the Boy
Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, Y. w. c. A.
and Y. NJ. C. A, Junior Red Cross and
other organizations.
The bows, he said, "could well get
along without many of the things We
consider essential We have transformed
our cities, towns and homes without
much thought of those who are growing
up to follow us"
I'VE have given them more and better
food better medical care, schools. au-
tomobiles, moving pictures, trashy nt-
erature, more studying, less physical
work, fewer duties and more leisure,
the Interior Secretary added: I'VE are
sending many of their mothers out OF
the home to get a salary check with
which to buy more clothes, more IN
stimulant to the emotional makeup OF
those home services now transferred to
other hands"
Referring to war as ''the greatest
stimulant to the emotional make up OF
nan" which has engralned much that
is good and much that is terrible in our
mass thinking" he praised the Boy
Scout plan as permitting JUS to use
these old-established emotional cur
rents of thought in action in whole
some and constructive manner"
Discuss Scout Problems.
Or. West and Mr. Head discussed the
accomplishments of the Scout move
ment and the problems facing its ex--
pansion. They agreed that the work OF
the organization cannot be materially
enlarged until more funds are made
available.
Mr. Schiff reviewed plans for expan-
sion under five-year program and IN
troduced a resolution urging the SUBJ
scription of a S10,000,000 fund. The
resolution was unanimously adopted
after delegates from the national divi-
sions of the Scout organization had in
oiorsed it.
The sponsoring committee for the din
ner included Vice President Curtis
Speaker Nicholas Longworth, Secre-
taries Mellon. Hurley. Wilbur, Hyde, La
mont and Davis; John Barton Payne
chairman of the American Red Cross
william Green, president of the Amerl-
can Federation of Labor, and William
Butterworth, president of the United
States Chamber of Commerce. All of the
committee but Mr. Curtis, Mr.. Davis
al d Mr.. LongWorth were present.
The banquet was opened with an m
vocation by the Right Rev. James E
Freeman. Bishop of Washington, anc
closed with a benediction by the Right
Rev. James H. Ryan, rector of CatholiC
University.