BOY SCOUTS MOVEMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15002, 25 May 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

BOY SCOUTS MOVEMENT.

BY LIETJTENAOT-GENEBAL SIB ROBERT S. S. BADEN-POWELL, K. 0.8., R C.VO. The general idea of the Boy Scouts movement and training was not one, as seems to be inferred, that came as a sudden inspiration; it was merely a mixture of experiences gradually gathered in training recruits in the army. In the army our education has during the last few years gone through various transitions. The method of Frederick the Great, of having a drilled machine, worked very well in his day, and he won great battles, but it would not be successful in the present day, when we want men rather than machines to do our fighting.

" If you want a man to be a soldier, he must be a man, and not a sheep," is a text, the truth of which, I think, none of us can nowadays deny. When I began my service we were in the transition period, when wo were still being drilled, and when we were not allowed to develop in peace time what are termed the "three C's " of the eoldier, viz., courage, common-sense, and cunning.

I think I have suffered as much as most people in being hauled over the coals for "playing the fool instead of carrying out the manoeuvres."

I remember especially one occasion in Ireland, many years ago, when I happened to be a very young captain in charge of a squadron, that I eaw an enemy's battery in action. We crept along by a hollow road till we got right in front of it, under a crest of the hill, unseen by either the battery or its escort—which was doing its proper duty as was laid down in those times, i.e., looking to its "front." We came up to the battery at about 10 yards' distance, and walked into it and captured it. Well, the officer in command of the escort said that, being a hot dry day, he naturally expected we should kick up some dust, and merely sat there looking around for any dust in the distance. As we did not happen to make much dust, he had not noticed us.

Next day it happened, going across eome hills, we found this same battery in action again, with the same escort looking out for dust. We thought it a pity not to oblige. A few soldiers, under an astute sergeant, armed with lassoes on their saddles, cut down a few branches of trees and rode along at a trot in a hollow road some little distance to the front of the escort. They towed those branches along behind them, thereby kicking up an enormous dust. Away went the cavalry after them, and we merely then walked into the battery again, this time from the rear. We were just congratulating ourselves on having done a clever thing—for when an aide-de-camp came galloping down and said that the commander-in-chief wanted the officer in charge of the squadron.

Well, the feeling came to me, as I suppose it has to many of you, as if somebody had poured & quantity of cold oil down inside you. I rode off with the galloper, thinking of what my next profession in life would be after I had left the army.

When I got to the commander-in-chief he said: "Did you do this thing?"

I said: " Well, sir, my squadron did."

1 dared not look at him as I said that, but when I did look I found he was laughing. He patted me on the back and said : " That is the sort of thing I want to see, use of your common

I felt myself blushing down to my toes. That general was Lord Wolseley.

A new era had dawned. There was no longer any regard paid to the red tape fetish; we realised that we were not to follow drill books slavishly, but that we had to use our common-sense as occasion demanded. That system has continued to develop up to the present time; we train our soldiers, each as an individual, to use his common-sense, and to be a man instead of being merely a machine. Frederick the Great won battles by his drilled machine, but Bonaparte won his with hordes of conscripts merely by the mora] of his magnetic leadership. In the same way you saw in later days— the RussoJapanese Warone side a drilled machine, and the other composed of individual men of spirit. You saw the —what a formidable' foe they made! Although never drilled, they had the spirit, the commonsense, and the cunning of the campaigner —all those points which go to make a ioldier; it merely wanted the extra luxury of .a, drill to make such a man into the finished article. It is the human, manly side which needs developing. No one realises this better than the Emperor of Germany.

As a basis for training your soldier you must have in your pupil the attribute of character. Officers getting their recruits from the men— rather ,the over-grown boyhoodof the nation, want men with character, but they do not get such, been life our education does not go in for character training. It teaches the " three lit," and our lads, perhaps, are gaining more book intelligence, but they are getting less and less of character into them because of over-civilisation, and the book education of our British schools does nothing to counteract this.

Character is the great essential to success, whether in the nation or the individual. Yet character training is the one thing which is omitted in our education. It is true that boys in our great public schools pick up a certain amount of character, but that is just fortuitous; it is not directed. They have a certain sense of " good form" and act up to it. But there is nothing of that kind among the poor claes of boy in the elementary schools. There Lb nothing inside or outside the school walls which trains them in character. That is where the Boys' Brigade and the' Church Lads' Brigade and the Young Men's Christian Association are doing good work; they are trying to inculcate in the lower order of boys some sort of character by the institution of organised games and discipline. The Boy Scouts ie the newest addition to this group. But, of course, it is uphill work, done by individuals, and the different organisations work in different although we all endeavour tc pull together as much as possible. I onlj wieh we could see some authority taking command of the whole lot of us and organ ising us and bringing our efforts in « proper channel, so that there is no over lapping or leakage. If some such 'com bine" were carried out, we could, I be lieve, get hold of the mass of the boy* and make them men of character, and thui change the whole outlook of the natior in the near future

Arthur E. Stilwell is an American of remarkable character, since he has the power of almost mesmerising people to see matters from his point of view, which is seldom, if ever, exactly the orthodox one. He is, among other things, a successful railway builder, having accomplished a big work without funds raised in the ordinary methods, but by each section of the work paying its own way and making a profit by which the next section has become possible. This eminently practical man has a soul that looks with the same originality at even greater schemesand one of these is the desirability and possibility of universal peace for the world.

In his book, called "Universal Peace, War ie Mesmerism," Mr. Stilwell suggests that the time has come for abolishing the brutal system of war. With facilities to travel and communciation, peoples should get to know each other personally, and so breed a mutual friendship and sympathy which would go a very long way to preventing the war feeling from ever arising between them. If there is anything in it, it is in the direction that the Boy Scout movement is already able to do something. I hope before long to see a tangible development in this direction. We have exceptional opportunity, owing to the fact that our scheme has been adopted in nearly every fpreign country. International peace can be built on only one foundation, and that is an international desire for peace on the part of the people themselves in such strength a 6 to guide their governments. If the price of one Dreadnought were made available to us for developing this international friendliness and comradeship between the rising generations, I believe we in the scouts would do more towards preventing war than all the Dreadnoughts put together.

Perhaps a few of my readers will remember, as I do, that in the early stages of our existence there were kindly critics who prophesied that the test of this, our organisation, would occur in our third or the fourth year; if a muehroom growth, we would fizzle out within that period; if sound, we might go on to do a really big thing for the country. We have now passed that period; we have entered on the fifth year of our existence in greater strength than ever, and with everything promising well for euch development.

A second step just attained has beon the grant to us by the King and his Privy Council of a Royal charter of incorporation. This at once puts us on a new footing. It gives the seal of the highest approval in the land upon our aims and methods. At the came time it imposes a greater responsibility on us; it implies a great confidence in us, and demands on our part a corresponding amount of efficient work to prove ourselves capable of what is expected of us .

A scout should at all times be ready for an accident, or anything sudden and unexpected. Therefore, he has the motto; Don't have both boots off at once."

When I was in Mat-abeleland, men and officers were ordered to keep their boots on all night, so that if they were attacked in the darkness they would at once be ready to move anywhere. Some of them got rather tired of this practice, so slipped their boots off when they got into their blankets, and slept well. But the commanding officer somehow heard of it, and just belore dawn the men were ordered to .stand to arms, and charge at once to their front. They did not find an enemy there, but they found lots of thorns and stones, and they never slept with their boots off again.

In the war in South Africa there was a gallant charge by the Gordon Highlanders, who were led by a brave officer with euch fearless courage that it fitted him to win the Victoria Cross. . But at the moment of victory he was struck by a bullet, which went through both his eyes, and though it did not kill him it left him sightless for life. Though he won the cross he lost his sight. But he never lost his courage. He did not let himself get broken down or miserable by his misfortune. He taught himself to _write, though blind; with his wife to guide him he rides a bicycle ; he goes among hie friends, and he attended the Empire Review of the Boy Scouts in Hyde Park. He still serves as a soldier as one of the King's bodyguard of gentle-men-at-arms.

" What is the matter with your patient?" I asked the ambulance scout who had juet bandaged up another in most approved fashion.

"Please, sir, broken clavicle." "Yes. Now, what bone is this?" "The femur, sir. Noit's— the tibi—it's the— ■', .-, a .'.,, " Well, what would you call it if you got a kick on it and were telling your pal about it?" l " Shin, sir." When I asked the instructor why it was considered necessary to confuse the boys' minds with the Latin names for ordinary bones he said that it was necessary in order to pass the doctor's examination for badges or certificates.

I hope that all commissioners and scoutmasters will explain to their first-aid instructors that we want to teach the boya how to deal practically with accidents, not how to paas examinations. I attach very little value to the smartly-done bandaging where each boy is told beforehand what injury he is to tie up, and has all the appliances ready, and has merely to fold and tic neatly and know the Latin names of the bones he is dealing with. No,' I very much prefer the more practical demonstration which I am glad to see is now becoming so prevalent .with the scouts, and that is the closet pcxsible imitation of an accident. A patient is found covered with mud and blood, which has to be sponged or squirted away gently before the card is found giving the nature of the injury (fixed face downwards to prevent obliteration).

The first scout to reach him, or one selected by the inspector or audience, takes charge of the case, doe*? the work, and directs the others—and does not use Latin words. It is all the better if improvised materials are used and the wound really dealt with properly, instead of superficially bandaged over. For instance, the motions thould be gone through of slitting the clothes, plugging a wound, or whatever may be the detail in the case. Boy Scouts have now been, organised in the following countries generally on the lines of those of Great Britain:—America, Argentina, Belgium, Chili, Denmark, France. Germany, Holland, Italy, Noiway, Russia, and Sweden. Other countries are also beginning to take up the movement.

In response to suggestions which have reached me from more than half of the above countries to the effect that we should form some sort of mutual international bond, I venture to lay before my readers the following idea, in the hope that they will kindly give it their consideration. The scheme is, briefly, this :—

FirstAs a step in universal peace, to promote a better mutual knowledge and closer sympathy between the rising generations of the different nations through the brotherhood ot Boy Scouts, by the interchanging of correspondence and visits of the boys, conferences, etc. SecondTo keep the different organisations imormed as to any developments and changes in a Boy Scout's training.

A representative in England to be appointed by each country in which there is a recognised Boy Scouts' organisation. He would ue in pertonal touch with the headquarters of the Boy Scouts lor the above object. These representatives would meet occasionally in conferences, say once a year. Their further duties and other steps lor promoting the above objects would be left to them to devise a 6 time and experience may dictate.

On the whole, then, a vast horizon is opened before us as we step across the threshold. It may seem a dream, a mirage beyond human reach, but without some ideal one would never take many steps, and this ie a tangible vision if we only go forward and grasp it. Some suggestions for the more immediate minor steps are these: Hitherto, in England, we have drawn our boys chiefly from the middle or lower middle classes. (How I do hate these distinctions!) We now want to spread our nets to take in the higher preparatory and public schoolboy, and also, above all, the harvest of the low fallen guttersnipe; we want to abolish the loafer in all classes and to give even the lowest a fair start off in life.