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Show Basin Scout Executive Field Director Reports On Recent Training Conference Held At linn Arbor, Mich. President Eisenhower, international interna-tional Scout officials, and religious leaders endorsed the new four-year program known as "Onward for God and My Country," that the Boy Scouts, of America will launch on Jan. 1, 1956, it was announced by Rulon Dean Skinner, Field Scout executive, who returned last week to Roosevelt from the tenth National Training Conference of the organization, held at the University Uni-versity of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, Mich. The four-year program will help prepare America's boyhood to live in today's world and to prepare themselve to carry their full share in the days ahead. The week-long conference attracted at-tracted 2,754 Boy Scout excutives, full-time professional leaders, of the organization, from all parts of the United States and its territories. territor-ies. President Eisenhower, Honorary President of the Boy Scouts and member of its National Executive Board, in a message read by Dr. Arthur A.- Schuck, Chief Scout Executive, Ex-ecutive, and Chairman of the Conference, Con-ference, said: "This conference should be of great value to the launching of the new four-year Scouting program pro-gram with the theme, 'Onward for God and My Country.' I congratulate congrat-ulate all of you on your accomplishments accom-plishments in the first two programs. pro-grams. And I wish you success in the effort which the organizatitn now undertakes to provide an increasingly in-creasingly better program for an increasing number of young people and thereby to fortify in them physical, mental and moral qualities qual-ities that will enable them to discharge well their obligations as citizens of a free democratic society." so-ciety." First Of Two Programs The first of the two Scouting programs mentioned in President Eisenhower's message was the crusade to "Strengthen the Arm of Liberty," launched in Jan. 1949 and whose dramatic results demonstrated de-monstrated the appeal and vitality of Scouting. The second program, "Forward on Liberty's Team," launched in 1952 and concluding this December 31 was "to make the boy, our movement, our nation, na-tion, physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight." Elder Elbert R. Curtis of Salt Lake .City, Utah, Generad Superintendent Super-intendent of the Young Men's Mutual Mu-tual Improvement Association of the Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said: "Because of the high ideals set forth in the Scout Oath, the Scout Law and emphasized repeatedly by its leaders are in line with the ideals and teachings of our church and becuse we recognize in the movement a definite aid and toll to advance what we are striving for, we are able to give wholehearted whole-hearted support to this program." Most Rev. Richard A. Gerow, Bishop of Natchez, Miss., Roman Catholic Church and Chairman of the Catholic Committe on Scouting, Scout-ing, said: "The purpose of Scouting is not merely a negative purpose not merely give a boy something to do in order to keep him out of mischief but its purpose is to develop, to bring out the finer qualities of that boy, his physical. qualities, his mental qualities and his moral qualities" Must Admire Oath The Right Rev. Hazen G. Werner Wern-er of Columbus, Ohio, Bishop of the Ohio area of the Methodist Church, speaking at the leaders' convocation said: "One cannot help but admire the Scout Oath, forty wonderful words the summary of the life and mission of Scouting. If we did not have Scouting we would have to invent it to meet the need. More' than one million children were in trouble with the police last year. We spend more than $3,000 per year for the correction of each child sent to one of our public training schools. Conditions like these make the program of Scouting indispensable. "When you think of the cost of attempting to rehabilitate juvenile delinquents, when you think of the remarkable contribution that Scouting makes to our common freedom, how can we in America hesitate to do any less than to underwrite Scouting in respect to both its present needs and its future fu-ture expansion." Rabbi Abraham J. Feldman of Hartford, Conn., president of the Synagogue Council of America, said: "The ideals of Scouting are in harmony with' the ideal's of the Synagogue. Scouting represents a brotherho6d of boys growing into the brotherhood of men. The slogan, slo-gan, "Onward for God and My Country," if translated into action, can become one of the most blessed bless-ed and revolutionary contributions of Scouting in America." Maj. Gen. Dan C. Spry, director of the Boy Scouts International Bureau in London, of which 60 nations are now members, said: "Scouting is the brotherhood of man cut down to boy's size. We must help boys to carry this spirit into manhood into a world which is on the verge of an atomic age of peace and plenty. Through Scouting we can help to provide for the future, sufficient men in positions of trust, leadership and authority in all our countries who will seek to perform God's will on earth rather than their own." Col. John Skinner WiLson, Honorary Hon-orary President of the Boy Scouts' International Committee said that 1957 "will be a momentous year for Scouting," when it will celebrate cele-brate the centenary of the birth of Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Chief Scout of the World, founder of Scouting, and the golden anniversary anni-versary of the Boy Scout movement. move-ment. England Gets Jamboree ed Dr. Schuck said that the ninth World Scout Jamboree will be held in August, 1957, near Birmingham, Birm-ingham, England, when 25,000 Boy Scouts will camp together. The Rover Moot at this time and place will attract 5,000 older Scouts, and 5,000 will take part in the "indaba" planned for adult leaders. Dr. Schuck said that the United States contingent will probably prob-ably sail for England from America's Ameri-ca's fourth National Jamboree to be held in July 1957 at a site to be selected. Harold E. Stassen, special assistant as-sistant to the President of the United States said: "The knowledge-through-experience available to nearly three million mil-lion Scouts is helping effectively to prepare future citizens for a constructive role in the worldwide world-wide effort for a lasting peace with justice. "If the younger generation is to successfully live in, and lead in, the turbulent world of reality in the decades ahead, they must know what is happening around them. To state it another way, a climate must be developed which will encourage our youth to be part of the world rather than apart from the world." John M. Schiff, of Oyster Bay, N. Y., President of the Boy Scouts of America, said that the new four-year program "will be a most useful tool for those working with this program. It will have great appeal to leaders as well as the boys. Stating that almost 30 per cent of all boys of Scout ages are enrolled he said. "We must combine com-bine quality Scouting with quantity" quan-tity" and he added, "We should set an example to Scout Associations Associa-tions in other countries." Fred Waring, famous orchestra leader and former Boy Scout of Tyrone, Pa., has written and presented pre-sented to the Boy Scouts of America a song entitled, "Onward "On-ward for God and My Country." It was sung for the first time by the Scout Executives at the conference. con-ference. Presented Highlights Dr. Stephen B. Whithey, a program pro-gram director at the Survey Research Re-search Center of the University of Michigan, presented highlights from the "Study of Adolescent Boys," which was made by it for the Boy Scouts of America. Dr. Whithey reported: "Adolescent , boys now face a peacetime draft. Their world is increasingly in-creasingly electronic and atomic. They have TV movies are commonplace. com-monplace. Space travel though not realized is not pure fancy and fiction. fic-tion. More adolescents work than any time since the 20's. They earn 32 times what they did in the 40's. They date earlier. "Adolescents themselves think that boys should start at 14 ana girls at 13. They 'go steady' more than they used to. They marry younger. The school curriculum frequently now includes music, arts, crafts, games, sports, occasionally oc-casionally even swimming and camping. "Around half of them have some job (14, 15 or 16 year old American Ameri-can boys) three-quarters in the summertime. About 60 per cent take girls on dates. About a third date weekly or more often. "Take the last year what activity ac-tivity did most boys report doing? Going to movies 92. Next? You'd never guess it. Swimming 87. Radio and record listening is third. Baseball fourth. TV, fifth 84. Basketball and fishing tie for sixth. Reading (not school-work) school-work) is next. Ninth is parties and football tenth. Now, among things done which were liked most by I those who did them? Swimming is first. Ninety-six per cent of those who swam enjoyed it. Then comes: hunting and shooting; working on cars, motorcycles, etc.;. baseball 2-3 of those who played it); basketball; bas-ketball; football (also about two-thirds); two-thirds); fishing; camping; table games like pool and billiards (over one-half of the one-fourth who had tried them), and tenth is horseback horse-back riding." Dr. Whithey and his associates also found that more boys admire their own fathers than any other single person. Need Spirituality At the closing session, Dr. Schuck said the conference emphasized em-phasized the need for the spiritual development of the boys of the nation, the training of them to be men of high character and to be unselfish citizens. "Through its one million adult volunteer leaders, he said, Scouting Scout-ing must carry out its program so that it will reach the millions of boys not now being served." Dr. Schuck said the only justification jus-tification for the professional leader lead-er in Scouting "is the extent to which he mobilizes, trains, enthuses, en-thuses, directs and glorifies the volunteer," and he added, "through them, and them only, can the youth of America be served." The Chief Scout Executive declared de-clared the organization has been praised for its dedication to its new four-year program, "Onward for God and My Country," which must bring to boys the best leadership, lead-ership, the best program and the best spiritual' ideals. |