Scouting, Volume 38, Number 2, February 1950 Page: 2
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Scouting Magazine and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.
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AMERICA IS
YOU R S
One decision reached at a staff meeting
of the Miami Valley Council of Dayton,
Ohio, resulted in the article on this page.
The staff members decided that a state-
ment by Roll Call Officers would help make
the Crusade theme meaningful to boys.
The ideas expressed by "the staff were com-
piled and edited by Field Scout Executive
Don Crawford. Because we believe they
would be a valuable help for any Scouter in
interpreting the Crusade we reprint them
here.
★ We — all of us — Scoutmasters, Scouts, Den
Mothers, Cub Scouts — every member of the
Boy Scouts of America have pledged ourselves to
do all we can to help "Strengthen the Arm of
Liberty." This means that we have promised, on
our Scout's honor, to practice democracy and the
good will that makes liberty precious, in every
phase of our daily lives.
Very likely everyone in this Unit was born here
in, America where freedom is taken for granted
and liberty is a word that we don't bother to define
often. You probably can't imagine the feeling ex-
perienced by people from other lands when they
sail into New York harbor and see the Statue of
Liberty for the first time. They can read into its
beauty and strength such things as a chance to
pray, when, where, and however they please; an
opportunity to tell the press what they think about
a printed article; the wonderful knowledge of be-
ing allowed to go and do as one pleases as long
as others' rights are not transgressed in the process.
So you see, we have a precious possession to
guard and be proud of — our great heritage as
members of a free democracy. How can we, in
simple ways, help do this? Here are some: 1.
Teach yourselves to go out of the way to help
"others in their search for happiness; help that new
Tenderfoot with his requirements and be sure you
help him Feel the Scout Promise and Law. 2. Be
honest, fair and objective in all your dealings with
other fellows. Be courageous too, remembering
that a Scout is brave, and, as do all Americans, he
shows it in many little ways. Play hard to win;
trade hard, so you "come out even"; talk hard to
9 SCOUTING MAGAZINE
make your point — but always fairly, giving the
other guy his chance. 3. Make it a point to learn
to know and like someone who is somehow dif-
ferent than yourself. It will help more than you
can imagine to cement our great Nation. Talk to
boys that go to another church, play with one who
belongs to a different race and make a pal of
someone whose accent is different from your own.
Moreover, try to help your friends to do the same.
Recognize skill and give honor to accomplish-
ment wherever you find it, though it may easily
belong to a boy whose skin is a different color,
whose name is spelled oddly or one who does or
does not kneel as he enters his church. 4. Learn
to earn your own way. Don't depend on Dad for
all your show money; earn some; then of that
you've earned, spend some and save some. That's
the way our economy operates. 5. Be sure you
know Why America is the greatest nation in the
world. Learn all its good points and learn the
faults too, so no one can fool you with false
speeches about your own country. Finally, talk
about all this, help other fellows to get to know,
just as you know, that this great wealthy land of
rocks and rills and templed hills is not great only
because of your huge mines, big auto plants, tall
buildings, plains and farmlands, mass production,
or television and airplanes, but also because of
the way we select the President; the subjects that
we are taught in our schools, the way our police-
men try to help rather than harm; the fact that
we are informed of almost everything that hap-
pens by radio or newspaper; because the Brook-
lyn Dodgers have Catholics, Protestants, Jews,
Puerto Ricans, Caucasians and Negroes playing on
a big league baseball team together; because every
boy can aspire to achieve any position in this coun-
try if his competitive spirit and will-to-do will
lift him faster than the million others who started
with the same chance.
America is yours to keep free and prosperous
in years to come. You can start now, by being
good citizens and helping, in a million little ways,
to strengthen the arm of Liberty. That Statue of
Liberty to which we refer is a symbol of all this
and much more; it stands for a spirit, a standard,
a method of life that is good because it's free.
The arm that holds the torch must keep out-
stretched if the symbolic flame is to light our way.
We can't afford to ever allow that arm to weaken
even a little. If we do the things we've discussed;
if we think democracy, live democracy and talk
democracy with all our fellowmen, will we not be
helping to strengthen the arm of Liberty?
FOR ALL SCOUTERS ^
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 38, Number 2, February 1950, periodical, February 1950; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth313161/m1/4/?q=%221777%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.