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Show Thursday, August 13, 1939 SOUTHERN UTAH NEWS, Kanab, Utah Page Three Lone Scout History . J Interesting Adventures they came to be recognized. The constant surprise and interEmphasis n LONE SCOUT stoover, the medals soon grew much Collett, the Lone Scout Detective, est of of the par- ries was on animals, Indian Lore, issues succeeding harder to earn. Wm. G. Battenfeld of Clarksburg, West Virginia. ent magazine kept these members sports and boys adventures. By of Richmond Hill, N. Y. won fame Countless famous Lone Scout ad- chained to their allegiance. Be- 1920 great fame came to a few of and the nickname Rushin' Bill dresses such as these printed sides or village tribes of these, writers. On to the very country by earning two medals on a single themselves on the memory of boy- a few members, city Wigwams acme of fame," was the grandilofeat This was page. duplicated ish '"readers and are still remem- sprang up. Mammoth park rallies quent slogan of LSXVII. Lone once or twice; I myself had two bered today. were held and duly reported Scout Seventeen, a fraternity namshort stories printed in one jsj As Mail Tribe organs, or as pri- in LONE SCOUT in New York, ed for Booth Tarkingtons novel sue .of LONE SCOUT, vate enterpnse, the Tribe Papers in Chicago, Kansas City and other by its originators, Elgie Androine 100 Points for Medal proliferated. Some inevitably stood Midwestern Cities, and on the of Penna. and Frank D. Napier of A point System was presently out as shining examples. Usually Coast. Made lively with weinme-roast- s Council Bluffs, Iowa, and at first a few to that SX9, from 4 to 24 and these be- THE LONG HOUSE IN CHICAGO i j devised, recognizing modest items as few as 5 points, and upgrading others according to length and importance. By the accumulation of 100 points a scout could earn the medal or medals he needed, or they were awarded in succession. Raymond Laney of Mansfield, Lousiana, of Pip and Bub and Fever Swamp fame, was ,'the first to win all four awards and become a Quiller on points. The medals w ere presented gratis, as presumed pay in credit for contributions, although one Scout is reputed to have argued Chief Totem out of r7. for an article printed in LONE well-know- SCOUT! In the meantime the boys were building up their own hep lan- and fraternal traditions guage Once A Lone Scout Always A Lone Scout became a famous slogan. The motto, Do A Useful Thing Each Day, was shortened to the cabalistic catchword DAUT-ED- . In a field of activity so largely confined to the mails, corres and corries, pondents became e Scouts sometimes wrote Letters to each other. Headquarters in Chicago, carrying out the Indian motif, became the Long House. Nicknames were common, often built out of the letters of ones name. 100-pag- Tom Sawyer' Scout. John Fleissner, of Buffalo, N. Y. signed his humorous articles Tom Sawyer, and the mystery deepened until he was identified by Waco, Walter One pages, sported cover pictures, famous Scout writers, and outstanding editorial direction Among the best known were probably Lone Beaver Tribune, soon to become LONE SCOUT JUNIOR, HOOSIER BOY, PRARIE SCOUT, YOUTH, and PALS MAGAZINE most of these claiming semi professional status before their demise. But there were hundreds of papers, selling for a few cents a year. ELBEETEE Still Going LONE SCOUT recongnized the most worthy efforts, having reproduced Andnones historic pioneer, the BLACK HAWK. One paper w'as awarded a gold merit medal, another published a 44 page issue. The average subscription list was 2 or 3 hundred, the average lift; of each about 3 years, although one endured continuously for 12, and ELBEETEE, founded in 1917, is still the official organ of the Elbeetian Legion, the Lone Scout alumni organization. It must be recognized that there were two divergant and irreconcilable fields of activity in the s LSA. Printers the lifeblood of one, with its endless writing and printing, and the scramble for recognition. The other was in the field of woodcraft, camping and hiking and the passing of the Degrees Many stories, contest entries and photographs came out of this latter hobtiy; but certainly amongst several hundred thousand members, there were thousands of stanch, comparatively inas articulate silent boosters, ink-wa- i speeches, came the precursors of. present-daalumni conventions such as the one being held in Kanab this month y Varied Activities was the amalgamating quality of LONE SCOUT that two of the most adept exponents of outdoor activity became famous throughout the organization. Paul L. Keil, Pauke, the Woodsy Booster, and Jacob Rosenzweig, both of New York City, made hiking and Indian Relic Collecting among the most popular and rewarding of Scout occupations. Another, Albert Klaner, of New Jersey, bicycled to California with several friends. Athletics formed a large and enduring part of the program. Many Scouts were outstanding athletes in school and college. Sports stories were popular. Larry now a Chicago attorney, long conducted the Square Corner Such Hol-lera- in LONE SCOUT, a department answering queries about sports or health, in which a two-pastory, The Coward, written by himself appeared in 1920; and he became the arbiter on things rt com-petetiv- Perhaps the two outstanding were Harold sports story Banks, and Harold V. Keith, both of Oklahoma. Keith has been Director of Sports Publicity for the University of Oklahoma for over 20 ears, and in 1957 won the John Newbery Medal Award for his Civil War novel, Rifles For Watie "H confined number of memSeventeeners" are still rebers vered. One of these, Elmer H Fisher, of the famous Lone Scout town of Hanover, Ontario, and perhaps touched with youthful genius, outstripped all the rest Active from 1916 until the end in 1924, the author of more published stories than any other Scout and many of the most notable Elmer produced also the first boy written serial, "The Mirror Hoodoo," ja newspaper tale, winning thereGold Quill, by the the newly added honor for contn- butors t Qr an Of asphalt paving are baked and frozen in our laboratories, so we can measure how highways wear in all types of weather. The man is William H. Ellis, one of Standards scientists who conduct many such tests to improve We highway materials and construction methods. to actually build roads, subject them crushing pressure, try out many paving mixes, work closely with highway engineers. Our work benefits you both as a motorist and a taxpayer. Asphalt costs less than any other pavement . . . three miles of highway for the cost of two. You also get roads that resist skids, cut down glare, make lane markers easier to see . are smooth, quiet and comfortable. t .n Tt ;R; t well-know- -- lIpqQTin -- 1 I M ft tx V T t first-awarde- Famous Author Fisher became the most famous !ir!PPlOp.-n3Tii- t Jrr fJ Lone Scout author af all time and I . 4" w. U vi V., his best work, such as In A MadI ;ii . At The Sign of mans Power, the Open Door, and When-MeAre Men, are still vividly 'remembered after forty years Some were reprinted many times in amateur 500 North Dearborn Sireet was the Chicago headquarters of the journals. vast W. D. BOYCE PlBl ISHING COMPANY which between 1915 Another fictionist, Charles Hil-aand 1924 published the bovs magazine, LONE SCOUT. This adCraig, of Morrill, Nebraska dress and building has become a shrine to thousands of Atneri-cacrow ded Fisher close with his Photograph eourtesv of I.BTian Ralph II. boys and men. ' second foodball serSalazar. ial, Fighting For Bradley. I can personally attest the vigor of that Coe and Giegory d'Alessio, both the story for solace. rousing tale as having rendered writing better known, were to become di the serials Later showing flat me for ever sports writing nationally noted cartoonists Clan were taste of editorial versity since do limy on. with three brief tales bv of Wilson the Mounted, followed Craig incredibly up in the magaine, was on his way of Sandford Canada; with a second serial, "The Spell Lionel toward a career as Hollywood The Trail of Ithshibar, a gypof Sahara, probably the finest w hits to his individual narrative to appear in sy yarn by Rusell S. F.lsie of script liter, with such " Arch Oboler as credit Arizona CorThe and Nebraska, LONE SCOUT. Years later Craig Beyond followed in that field and in TV, al Sea, by Horace II. Herr, wrote an amusing memoir confeswhile Vick Knight - a well known of then the editor magazine. sing that being thrown over by a radio writer Maurice II. Stans, a Other boy authors performed youthful sweetheart led to his tribe paper editor and contributor LONE in SCOUTS pag valiantly es Walter Collett wrote mystery1 from Shukopce, Minnesota is now w,"r for President Eis and adventure tales, and Ulysses ,'n,0",r J Walsh of Virginia produced ifWmks Wilh Boys repressive humor Dewey M Ou ens of Cro-bTonnes., who rll0n( (,fllln;, ;in(t art (llr(.ftlop serialized a bear in The King ol )t poNT, SCOUT was undoubtedly became a Nashville the Sinoku-s- , iespon, sible for much of this bur in geoning activity. W. D Boyce inusl newspaperman and piiblidv-the AMERICAN MERCURY und !ive been an inspired judge of . . roads which er Meneken, and in the SATUR non for t lie vital key positions in ST.-b- e DA Y N1 K! . n n Quill-winnin- falling cookies for better roads Cookies TP -- y. E V F, death Asphalt roads are ready for use within hours after laying . . . cost less to maintain and can be even stronger and better after years of service. By such continuing research that brings you better products at lower cost, the people at Standard are planning ahead to serve you better. Standards asphalt products are made and sold by American Bitumuls & Asphalt Company, a subsidiary. wholly-owne- d N G PO a few- - years fere-4h-earl-y later Other Authors The roll of the famous through out the early Twenties was truly impressive. Jack Gorflon, now a Texas columnist, wrote fine short stones. Ronald Barr made a name with aviation tales, and a poem of his hangs in the Poe room at the University of Virginia Cecil Bragdons Hog Tribe, LS.A. consisting of Me, LSXVIf, Lem, Wartty. Shirtless Smith and Dirty-Fee- t Jones, performed amusingly in US BOLD PIRATES and other as US tales, before reforming LONE SCOUTSUarUJIaefkaof Michigan, was imaginative and talented. Eloit T. Pyles, a Washington, D. C. newspaper cartoonist in his teens, was Lone Scoutdom's famous Artists; but other artists were noted, and several ran a comic strip. Franklin S. Miller, of Little-ton- , Colo, w as versatile, puzzles, Lone poems and a .Scout Song flowing from his typewriter. Friends and collaborators in LONE SCOUT, Pyles and Miller both signed themselves LSXprize-winnin- g VII. It was a well kept secret that Anna Gallagher, during her time as Editor of LONE SCOUT, was also a member of LSXVII. Its prestige became such that the magazine itself preferred to keep an eye on it. Other Lone Scouts waited late for real fame. Rush D. Holt, the youngest man ever elected to the United States Senate, had only his picture in LONE SCOUT, and brief mention or two. Roland t Perhaps THE BIRCH BARK ROLL There were Printers, and Painters, and Artists, Editors, Authors too - - Inventors, and Actors, and Builders, And Craftsmen, with things to do. There were some who were running the railroads, And some on the ships at sea, Seme were flying the planes and rockets - All were happy, and brave, and free. u -- There were Preachers, and Teachers, and Statesmen, All of them marching abreast; Though not all had attaind the summit. Not one had forsaken the quest. J 1, i -- igsiOXXsS Franklin S. - Half Million Boys the years passed radical changes were enforced by the fact that the organization was becoming top heavy. To handle half a million boys, supervised by the magazine largely kept in contact hrough the mails, was a formidable task. First result was the announcement, in November, 1920 if the immediate of membership. The second, coming hard on its heels in December, was the dropping of weekly publication and the change to a monthly, now of 32 pages; the first issue explaining the financial necessity for this move. s From the early writing of of suggestion, meanwhile, the emper of the boys had advanced iteadily toward self government. By 1919 L. L. Wood had proposed State Divisions, but these, tried out at once, were only partially successful. Two years later, In A921, the Long House sponsored-a- n official plan for a Grand Council, largely based on the personal qualifications of the boys. Orin L. Crain, a fiction writer of Oklahoma City, won even greater fame for himself as an amateur legislator, and is now prominent in the Western labor movement. Such questions as the addition of a second Gold Quill to contributing rewards, and the further extension of the Degrees, were debated and voted down. More successful was the proposal for the title of Supreme Scout, awarded the boy who had gained all available Lone Scout honors, and comparable to the " Boy Scout grade of Eagle Scout. Self Government might have proven successful in time. It lasted for nearly a year after the the Lone Scouts of America as a separate body, in 1924. But already the shadow of econo- was hovering over the As let-er- Cost $50,000 Yearly Mr. Boyce had helped support the Boy Scouts tor two years. By 1924 he had carried the load for the Lone Scouts for nine years, with no foreseeable end in sight. F. Allan Morgan, Harold Hall and others close to administration are authority for the statement that the yearly debit ran occasionally as high as $50,000. In 1922 the Boyce Building had been rebuilt at tremendous cost. Forces which led finally to the financial crash in 1929 may already have been in evidence. In the April 1924, and last issue of LONE SCOUT appeared the regretful announcement of the merging of the Lone Scouts of America with the Boy Scouts. Wm. D. Boyce, Chief Totem, had been obliged to relinquish his philanthropy at last. Known thereafter as the De partment of Rural Scouting the Boy Scouts of America, movement still exists and there are tribes of Lone Scouts today among the Esquimaux of Alaska. It was not all loss. If LONE SCOUT makes one better citizen for every issue that it publishes, Mr. Boyce told Franklin Miller, the Littleton, Colorado Scout during a visit to the Long House in 1923, it is well w'orth the cost, no matter what that cost might be." In sum, the nine year existence of the Lone Scouts was an adventure of the spirit, perhaps typical of American experience. Each boy made it something unique, and peculiarly his own. It is no exaggeration to say that thousands of men found their work in life through this early inclination.- Served on Kaibab Hordes were directed in to the Communications field, as printers, editors, newspaper writers and on Page Four) long-endurin- Chief Totem sat in the Long House, In the pines, by the Golden Shore; And checked on his lengthy records. Of the boys he had helped of yore. STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA Ire greatest editorial period came with .(ol go N. Madison, a vigorous voting m. in in his prime. Madison worked (losolv with the boys, as lid Merlin Moore Taylor before him. Taylor discovered Elmer Fisher and guided his advance. Leaving LONE SCOUT, he accompanied a Boyce expedition to New Guinea, and published a book, The Heart of Black Papua," before passing away from the effects of black-watc- r fever. Madison, author of The King Condor of the Andes, used published a Western serial of my own, The Prospectors," following its initial rejection and rewriting. He correspend ed with such notable amateur editors as Lionel Palmer, of Jarm-ington- , New Mexico, telling of his hopes for the boys. Later leaving he Boyce Publications, Madison became editor of Whos Who in se oral yearsbcIore his own early death. His son Joe now of California, reMadison, cently became an Elbeetian Legion member. A fact little known at the time was that Leo L. Wood was once offered the editorship of LONE SCOUT, but refused. Most Famous Emerson Perry Thompson outlasted them all and was undoubtedly the most influential single professional figure in LONE SCOUT history. Enthusiasm for the program early made him one 'of the boys. Drawing all but the last three or four of LONE SCOUTS 307 cover pictures (or Chief Totem finished his ledger - Closed the book of his greatest joys; And smiled, as he said with pleasure All of the tribe were my boys. decorating an occasional photograph), Perrys warm, human mag- - -ic lured thousands of new boy readers past the cover to the fascination within. They found him there too. Himself an Ozark boy, and a Spanish American War veteran, Thompson was no stranger either to Indian lore or to woodcraft. He had a fine sense of humor and his bear cub, Jacob Z. Bruin, first appearing in April, 1917, prancing on the covers or cavorting through adventures written by Perry or various Scouts, became 'a n and eagerly watched for character. Predating Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Smokey, the Conservation Department bear by many years, Jake set the pattern indelibly. Thompson was an invaluable extension of the Lone Scout spirit, and one of the most effective of its proponents. In 1920 a Membership Campaign was inaugurated, aimed at the goal of a half million members. The Boosters performed heroically, Solomon Huber, of Brooklyn, enrolling 141 new Scouts, and publishing a humorus account of the day his prize camera came. Having early joined the ranks of those who get things done, Mr. Huber is now a top Insurance Consultant and Estate Planner, his services in great demand at Colleges and universities as a speaker on Estatology. -- Miller, LSXVII. |