Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-11
The Greatest Problem,

Herbert Hoover is the President OF
the United States. He is also the IA
ther of sons. From these two viewpoints
he outlined one of the Nations I'M
solved problems last night when, speak
ing at a dinner in celebration of the
twentieth anniversary of the founding
Of the Boy Scouts of America. he said:
Together with his sister, the boy is
the most precious possession of the
American home. I sometimes think
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 Superlative promise, to be fed and
watered and kept warm; as a periodic
nuisance; as a joy forever; as the in
carnation of destruction; as the father
of the man; as the child of iniquity; as
the problem of our times and the hope
of the Nation.
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; en-
dowed with dynamic energy and the
tmpelling desire to take exercise on all
occasions. He is a perpetual problem
tc his parents, and the wisdom in his
upbrtnging consists more often in the
determination of what to do with him
next rather than in what he shall do
when nc goes out into the cold world
The Boy Scouts of America have
grown in numbers and in prestige in
the last two decades because they have
held out partial, but none the less
tangible, solution of the problem not
only "of our times" but of all times. In
q complex age the Boy Scouts have
stepped in and offered harried parents
the comfort that lies in offering to take
the boy out of the house, of the streets,
away from the alley and the dump; to
provide safety valve that will let him
rid himself of normal steam pressure
without damaging himself and the i'm
mediate surroundings, and to take
charge of him in a manner that offers a
pretty safe guarantee that he wiz be
returned to mother safe in wind and
limb and soul. But the members of the
Boy Scouts can be counted in terms of
thousands, while the number Of indi-
vidual problems that the Boy Scouts
must solve are to be counted in mil
lions. The Boy Scouts offer a partial
solution. Their chief task is to grow.
The problem of which the President
spoke is one that must be shared
fundamentally between the two offices
that the President symbolized-the
State and the family.
The American boy growing up today
is the hope and salvation of both Of
them. If either falters in its job, the
boy is going to be left between them to
shift for himself. While he does this
often and very successfully, he natu-
rally fails in enough cases to make the
problem Of his disposition the serious
matter it Is. President Hoover offered
the thought last night that one Of the
essential additions that must be made
In the handling of our boys is to in
culcate in their training not only
Reading and 'Riting and 'Rithmetic,'
but a fourth and major "R" that rep
resents Responsibility" That addi-
ton can be brought about in part by
broadened curricula and by such
agencies as the Boy Scouts, catering to
the development of the boys character
as an individual away from home. The
States chief contribution, however, lies
in providing adequate rewards to those
willing to shoulder the responsibility
The State must somehow seek to con-
vince the boy that it is incumbent upon
him and worth his while to shoulder
responsibility, not so much in the
private affairs of his own life, but in
the life of the State. The family will
have fulfilled its function in providing
the boy with a home-a function that
unhappily seems to be losing prestige
In an age when the boys elders find
that it can be dispensed with. The
boys elders can survive without it.
The boy cannot. The survival Of the
boy is by far the more important.