BOY SCOUTS. These are organizations of boys and youths between the ages of 12 and 18 years and upwards, which aim to develop character, to aid in furnishing equipment for a career and to train in service for others, physical health and efficient citizenship, by utilizing the natural activities and interests of the adolescent period.
The development of the boy scout move ment in England is due to Lieut.-Gen. Sir Robert S. S. Baden-Powell (q.v.), who, during the siege of Mafeking (1899), had seen the boys, under Lord Edward Cecil's com mand, organized and drilled into an efficient messenger service. When Baden-Powell re turned to England, in 1902, the idea was fos tered and received popular support and a gen eral plan of organization was adopted. The first boy scouts' organization was formed in 1908 and a royal charter of incorporation was granted in 1910, the organization being recog nized as a "non-military, public service body.° In the United States, Daniel Carter Beard, with his "Sons of Daniel Boone,' Ernest Thompson Seton, with the "Woodcraft In dians' (1902), and others had much to do with the early success of the movement, their ideas, in conjunction with those of Sir Robert, form ing the basis of the Boy Scouts of America. This organization was incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia 8 Feb. 1910.
The Boy Scouts of America is non-military and inter-denominational in character, the movement being supported by Catholics, Protestants and Jews alike. Of late it has also been given consideration as an educational adjunct by well-known educators, some schools adopting the scout program in part or as a whole, while a number of universities and col leges conduct special courses for scoutmasters and scout officials.
The administration of the Boy Scouts of America is in the hands of a National Council, working through an executive board. The Council includes many men of national promi nence and has the President of the United States as honorary president and the ex-Presi dents of the United States as honorary vice presidents. The national headquarters is at 200 Fifth avenue, New York city, where are issued the official publications, Boys' Life, the Boy Scouts' magazine, issued monthly, and Scouting, a semi-monthly bulletin for scout officials.
Local councils are organized to supervise and extend the movement in communities upon application by representative citizens to national headquarters. Each local council works through an executive committee and a com missioner, with a paid executive employed when development makes it necessary for one man to give his entire time.
The scouts themselves are organized into patrols of eight boys, three or four patrols forming a troop under a scoutmaster. Each troop has also a committee of three or more men, representing the school, church, settle ment house, playground or other institution with which it is connected. This committee recommends the selection of the scoutmaster to the local council, or to the national head quarters direct when there is no local council, and co-operates with him. Any boy of 12 or
older may become a scout upon fulfilling cer tain conditions. These include taking the scout oath, which reads as follows: °On my honor I will do my best —(1) To do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the scout laws; (2) To help other people at all times; (3) To keep myself physically strong, men tally awake and morally straight.° He also subscribes to the 12 points of the Scout Law. A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. The motto of the organization is °Be prepared,' and the prin. ciple, °Do a good turn daily,° is kept con stantly before the boys.
Scouts are divided into three classes tenderfoot, second class and first class scouts. Promotion in these classes is conditioned on passing certain requirements, after which the goal is the attainment of merit badges given for special proficiency in such subjects as first aid, life-saving, civics, tracking, signaling, cycling, nature study, seamanship, camperaft, woodcraft, the handicraft, etc. In all 57 merit badges are provided. When a first class scout earns merit badges for first aid, physical de velopment or athletics, personal health, public health and life-saving or pioneering, he be comes a life scout. When a first class scout qualifies for 10 merit badges, including the five badges of the life scout, he becomes a star scout; and when a first class scout has quali fied for 21 merit badges, including first aid, life-saving, personal health, public health, cooking, camping, bird study, path-finding, pioneering, athletics or civics, physical devel opment and any 10 others, he becomes an eagle scout. Special honor medals in bronze, silver and gold are given for lifesaving.
A book department is maintained by the national organization which, with the assist ance of a library commission composed of ex pert book men, makes available reliable advice as to worth-while books for boys and, under the leadership of this department, arranges with publishers for reprint editions of the best books for boys at low prices. The results of this department in the shape of definite lists carefully subdivided are made available with out any charge to librarians, local councils, troops and parents of boys throughout the country. Many hundreds of parents are al ready being given special advice as to courses of reading for their boys.
In 1914, in Great Britain and the British colonies, there were over 200,000 scouts and scoutmasters,. and in the United States there were, on 15 May 1916, 174,000 scouts registered with the national headquarters and in good standing, together with 8,323 scoutmasters and about 34,000 other scout officials, all in good standing, making a total of about 215,000 scouts and scout officials. Scouting is established in nearly every country of continental Europe, with a total membership numbering more than 1,000,000.