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Show I I (Bli -A- first line army defense of fiG5,- ! 000 men to defend the United States j Trill be urged on congress 05' President Presi-dent "Wilson and Secretary of "War Garrison, i Such a force will be less than the Germans now have engaged in the BalkanB or in the Russian invasion. ,11 In planning a defensivo force for If the United States, Mr. Wilson and 1 Mr. Garrison, however, had another JS force of future fighters in view. A aj$ force that is trained with the idea of III keeping peace a force that is in its 1 1 very idea and ideal auti-milltary f,l tody. 1$ The two defenders of ihe country had in view the Boy Scouts, the fu ll I turo defenders of the nation, the sol- jjjf ' diers in the makiug from their auti-Ijf auti-Ijf military attitude. ill While the Boy Scout movement is M j essentially non-military in its ob-JC ob-JC ject its members arc given the es- M scntial training that will make of is them the best soldiers in the event Ml that the United States should ever jjtj have to call upon her young men to llWl defend their flag from the shells of ii ibc invader. iijaj The scouts are taught many use- vaf ful things that many of the regular 'jfifj army men and most of the National ijliji Guard do not know. ' l They are made to realize that the i'i greatest loss of men during a war is '$ not from bullets or shrapnel, sabre 1 H or sword, but from Ignorance of tho m ordinary rules of sanitation and oth- er methods of preventing disease. j' In the Spanish American war the j! "United States found that its great- S est number of deaths and hospital j 6 caBes was not duo to the shell of the I enemy, but to camp disease. The volunteers did not know how to take care- of themselves in the field. !THE GROUND WORK. The soldiers and tho recruits had not been taught the principles that every Boy Scout now knows. They were not trained in warding off or 2n checking the spread of disease, such as malaria, 'yellow fever and typhoid. Yet every Boy Scout in the United States or in England now knows that mosquitoes are of three kinds culex, myoplda and anopheles, and that anoDhelea alone carries thn !' I ! germs causing malaria while culex J is believed tho cause of yellow fc- jj vcr and myopida is harmless. m They even know how to 'dlstln- i gulsh the different kinds of mosqui- ilj toes from the way they stand, culex f and anophelos leaning in a certain .jLa direction whilo alighted, and myo- 5 111 pa remalDlnS' straight j$ The Boy Scouts are taught that ty- ft If pnoid is called by a definite bacilli I In which is communicated either in the (I i air or in food. One of the most jj IB common carriers of tho bacilli is 1 1 1J lettuce that has not been washed. ft li A Boy Scout learns to preparo his I if own meals when afield. Ho can I 11 shoot a rabbit and cook it even if he I jR has not a match with which to light Til a flrc In case no as no r e 1 b ; knows how to snare an animal and I ! proparo it for cooking even if he has f nothing In his equipment for culi-11 culi-11 nary use. K He is trained in finding his way nil back to camp in caso he loses his ill II ay He iB "St be one essential Did! self-reliance. He 1b a master ot iff U "woodcraft, of botany, has a knowl- II nl edge of aHtronomy enough to mako K H the starB his guide in casp he is lost III M at night, and is given an essential II If training that but few soldiors deli de-li 1' rive. II W This is a summary of the tralt3 f 1 1 f th uture defcnders of America jil m should the country ever have to call it 1 ' f0r dcfendcra' Toc United Slates H K ; has but little difficulty ,iu getting if; ' "'' (in Jul' 'II' good riflemen. Every man and boy in tho country has had some training train-ing in marksmanship. All Americans Ameri-cans aro more or less good shots. FR03I CniEF SCOUTMASTER. Of the matter of keeping Boy Scouts prepared, although not bringing bring-ing them up in the militaristic spirit, James E. West, Chief Scout Executive Execu-tive has said: "Because Lieut Gen. Sir RobPrt S. S. Baden-Powell included in the activities and program of the Scout movement many of the things which he found essential for making tc- South Africa, the Boy Scout movement move-ment has been misunderstood by a great many. This has made necessary neces-sary a continued defense against criticism that we were essentially attempting to give to boys a militry training. "We now find that this effort to have ourselves correctly mder-stood mder-stood has occasioned some belief be-lief that the Boy Scout movement is opposed to miliary training. This Is not a fact. The Boy Scout movement move-ment is working along lines which are conceded by leaders in military affairs here and elsewhere to be best in every way for the development develop-ment of the adolescent hoy. "Military training, such as is given giv-en In the National Guard, has been omitted. Naturally such training should be left to a specially trained leadership, as In the National Guard, and should begin with the boy at 18, 19 or 20 years of age not with the growing boy of, from 12 to 15 years." "From scout officials all over the country the National Board , has received re-ceived requests to outline the attitude atti-tude of the leaders of the scout movement upon the momentous matter mat-ter of preparedness against war. In a letter addressed to the board and read at the meeting, W. B. Hoi-. combe, Scout Commissioner for Brooklyn, reported a meeting of the Brooklyn Scout Council. At the meeting, he said, there had been a discussion of the attitudo of the Eoy Scouts of America respecting national na-tional preparedness for defense. The general trend of opinion, it was paid, was to the effect that there should be on the part of the scout movement move-ment sponsors, a definite expression on this momentous matter. "The position taken by the Boy ed unanimously by the National Board: "It should be clearly under- stood: fc "First That the Boy Scout move- ment is not anti-military. The Boy vfc Scout movement neither promotes M. nor discourages military training, its one concern being the develop- j& ment of character and personal of- j ficiency of adolescent boys. x "Second That the records 'ihow & that the logical result of the pro- r gram which tho Boy Scout move- l ment is promoting is in reality as strong a factor as any one agency g which tho country now has for pre- paredness, since It develops the ig character of boys and assists them fcp in securing a proper conception of fss ZU'S TROOP, OOV SCOUTS SPECIAL CAR LEAVING FOR" CAMP 1 a cuizen s responsibility. "Third Furthermore, boys who have been scouts will, because of their training under the motto 'Bo Prepared,' prove themselves more virile and efficient in any emergency which calls for their services as citizens cit-izens of tho country." EDUCATIONAL DErABTtfE.NT DEVELOPED. ' It was announced at the national headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America that Francis P. Dodgo and Slgmund Eisner had made possible the establishment of a Boy Seoul educational ed-ucational department. The function of the department will be to develop necmea 10 employ a iraiuea worker to perfect the organization of troops and councils in New York and vicinity. vicin-ity. Having this work well in hand, Mr. Dodge then asked what wero the most urgent needs of tho Boy Scout movement, so that he might furnish timely aid. He then agreed to contribute con-tribute 53,500 a year to form a department de-partment of education, providing an additional 2,000 was obtained from another source. Sigmund Eisnor, who had been in-leiestcd in-leiestcd in just such a phase of the great movement for more than a year; ac once agreed to contribute ) . .CLEANING CAMP Scout movement on thiB matter will bo of intense interest to the thousands thou-sands of men who are connected in an official way with the movement in all parts of tho country," it was thousands of parents of Boy Scouts said, "as well as to hundreds of and to the general public." BUT IT IS XOKOOLITABY. ' This in part is the resolution paBs- 1 further the educational features of the scout program, which have been praised by Dr. Eliot of Harvard and many other eminent educators. Last year Mr. Dodgo sought information in-formation regarding the scout movement move-ment and inquired at national headquarters head-quarters what might bo done to make the pleasures and benefits of scouting available to more boys. He considered several suggestions and the necessary $2,0P0 each year, so that the new department is about to be fully established. Its functions will be to keep before be-fore scout masters and others actively ac-tively ongaged in scouting, helpful information and a definite program of practical assistance; to arrange for cxblbltB and personal appeals be fore various student hodies, educational educa-tional conventions and the like, for OlNKER IN CA.rvra S men to servo as scout masters. Thus is tho Scout movement upon the increase. While the United Slates is preparing for its own great array of tho future the Boy Scouts arc becoming greater in number and in a peaceful way arc undergoing that preparation that will make them valuablo adjuncts of the future army. OUR FUTURE DEFENDERS. They do not carry rifles or arms' and arc taught little of military operations, op-erations, but yet they aro deriving those very necessary essentials that put them Into fit condition 'for field service at any time the government might call upon them. The President and Secretary Garrison Gar-rison plan to increase tho standing 'army to 1-10,000 men, creating a new continental army of 400,000 men which with tho militia of a strength of, 125,000 would give tho country a protective force of G65,00d men. The program proposes: ' 1. Regular army, 140,000 men, an increase of more than 50,000 men in tho present establishment 2. A ' continental army, -100,000 strong, enlisted for six years for service within the continental United Unit-ed States. These men would serve two monttis a year fpr the first three years with tho colors, undergoing a period of intensive training. They would be on furlough the'remaining threo years, subject to call in timo of need. It is estimated that 40,000 o (he 540,000 mcu thus provided for would bo noncombatants "of the Medical Vorps or other military forces not included in the fighting line. Tho reserves of these two "armies will afford a forco which can be called upon in timo of war of a littlo more than equal strength. In tho case of tho Continental Army, the reserve forco will be precisely the same as the force serving with tho colors, 400,000 men. In tho case of the regular army, tho reservo will be somewhat larger, since in the regular army thero Is to be an enlistment en-listment period of six years, two of which are to bo spent with the colors col-ors and four in the reserves. XEW ARMY ORGANIZATION. In all, thq War Department will have,. an organization of something llkb l,O00.00Q men for immediate mobilization in time of war, all of which will have had some measure of. training. ' .Behind this army would be tho at - National Guard, now some 125,000 I strong, but whose numbers would bo f augmented substantially by the organization or-ganization of the continental army. The plans contemplate tho transfer I of such national guard officers and jl men as doslre it into the continental i army, and more liberal treatment of the guardsmen would bo urged and j' ytho iucrcasc of these stato forces '; would be encouraged in every pus- sible way. " Increases in tho regular establishment establish-ment contemplated arc: Infantry, ' ten regiments; field artillery, four regiments; coast artillory, fifty-two f companies; Engineer Corps, two de- i tachments. r This Is the great force planned by I the United States to forever secure I it against invasion. 1 t No mention is made of the Boy j S'couts in the plans of the Secretary I of War, but it is felt by Mr. GarrI- j son and President Wilson that the 3 boys undergoing training now arc the future defenders of their coun- f try, that many of them after their I; preliminary training and when, they I grow older will join either the regu- 3 lar army or the militia and that all I in all tho country may feel great de- 1 pendonco on its Boy Scouts the fu ture defenders of the nation. I i |
