A QUARTER-MILLION BOY SCOUTS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12710, 22 March 1911, Page 4

A QUARTER-MILLION BOY SCOUTS.

There are now over 250,000 bo,v scouts in the world, and for his services in creating this gi'eat body of boy scouts General Baden-Powell ' was knighted. " The boy scont movement is one of tho marvels of our ag?," says the- London ( "Evening Standard." "It is only three years old, and already it has captured the world. No longer ago than Jann- | ary, 190S, it dd not exist. TII2II it was started, qnjte quietly and unob- j trusively, with no parade or fu?s, and it w.as an instant and amazing success. 'Why-didn't wo think of it b?f.i\-?' we saiid, as.TO.do when weare1 in tho presence of any other grand simple discovery. Everybody could see that it was cue of the things, we had boon ■ waiting for. .4,11 the. best youngsters, in England bocama scotits, the . b?st young men be:iame-scout-ma.£teis. There are said to, be 300,0000| the f rmer, 7000'"of thet latter, in Great Britain alor.e. It pa:sed into tlie United State*, f 'and' American boys took.to it «s du-jks, take to water. The colonies —Aus'valia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa —adopted it Av.ith enthusiasm So did foreign countries; there are Kus-j sian, German, Italian boy scout-. It is . a great Avorkl-movement—one that will held to make the second decade of the, 20th-century memorable1, one that'will bo alive and vigorous when ha'f the ] things, we fire. squabbling and worrying1 about at present are forgotten." It STiccceds" because dt is based upou 'Vyle-me-ntal qualities in human nature, because it appeals to the emotional, the eth'cal, and the adventurous irst-'nets which arci present, though they may bo latent, in boys—and an all men and all women also. It asks its members both to do something and ts be soni: thing; which is what all of us—especially boys —want, if, we .only knew. Even-y normally boy has a ta<^te for action, .for. excitement, for adventure, for the employment of his. eno.r»i's! When there is no legitimate outl.t for this natural •■ deiiro hs' ' miiist ' try to gratify -it in ways which "ara sometimes silly and may be .harmful. The scout movement directs iha stream into the right channel?.' It ■ confers discipline, regulated exertion, ,<elf-control, 'itelfl respect, courage. Obedience -becomes an honourable obiigatibh instead of an irksoma duty. Amusement can bs found not in rowdincss and destruction, but !n.Jl«lPi«V.>};pa>k. The scout is a mem. bai).pf,-an order, a,n association; he d:.n.s tho communal feeling when he pulv; on hia uniform; tho corporate7 spirit, the> idea of working with others, replaces hij ragged individualism. Having begun the process of tuning the boys into good, citizens;; we must goi on with it. Tho move-ment now requires to be supplemented by some organisation for securing that boys are prepared for some useful trades, for .keeping thetm out of tllio unskilled^ indefiiiiito jbecupia,t3or(i3, through which men drift into the ranks ■of the unemployed and unemployable. Sir R. Baden-Powell has begun; there •iro S3hemcs for technical training, for farm schcols, whore- boys can be preipnrsd for life on the land and life overseas. No money and effort that can be dsvct:d to su::h projects will be wasted. They will render the boy scouts movement an even morci valuable factor in social and national development than it /is at present."