Scouting, Volume 41, Number 2, February 1953 Page: 3
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FORCE FOR FREEDOM
By H. E. PAIGE
President of the Akron Area Council
it attracts only those who are motivated by a spirit
of good will and unselfish service, the type of men who
should lead our youth. Scouting has grown great and
strong because it attracts big men, big in position and
influence, big in spirit and in heart.
Scouting is also supported voluntarily by those who
believe in its inherent values. This makes for inde-
pendence of action. This makes for a real interest in
the Scouting program and its mission by those who
share in its support.
With all of these inherent values of Scouting as a
means of maintaining our basic freedoms, of perpetu-
ating the ideas and ideals that have made this country
great, it surely is a force for freedom. Appreciating
these things, we can't help feeling that we must do
our best to help Scouting go "Forward on Liberty's
Team" in our respective Councils.
In making Scouting an ever greater force for free-
dom, we have from our national organization a fine
blueprint in our Three Year Program. It points the
direction in which we need to go and gives us definite
plans for achieving our common objectives of Mem-
bership Growth, Functioning Manpower, and Quality
Program. To us is given the opportunity and obliga-
tion of channeling our community resources into
Scouting service.
If Scouting is to be a force for freedom, it does need
to grow and expand. If we do not grow and grow
tremendously, we will be losing ground in the matter
of available Scouting opportunities. If Scouting is to
be accepted and recognized as the youth program for
America, we must reach an ever-increasing number of
the total boy population. An obligation we have ac-
cepted is to see that every boy has an opportunity to
become a member of the Scout organization. This is an
objective we still have not met.
In the field of Scouter manpower — two-deep and
carrying out specific service assignments — I am sure
that we would all admit that we still have unlimited
possibilities for growth and improvement. Most of our
communities have a wealth of potential Scouting man-
power. We, as Scouters, appreciate the satisfactions
that a man can receive from Scouting service. We
must be ever aggressive and ingenious in recruiting
men for Scouting. We must have a plan and a pro-
grarp for putting more men to work with adequate
guidance and training so that they can not only do an
effective job but can also have the satisfactions that
come from real achievement.
In the area of Quality Program, I feel that we must
accept as a responsibility the Scouting experience of
each individual boy. He joins Cub Scouting or Boy
Scouting or Exploring with certain expectations and
anticipations. He looks forward to earning advance-
ments, to going camping, to participating in Scout
shows and civic good turns. These expectations can be
fulfilled only as our units have capable, trained lead-
ership and vigorous, full-rounded programs of activ-
ity. These boys must be our special concern as we
deal with our administrative responsibilities.
As I see it, that is the genius of our Three Year Pro-
gram — to focus our attention, our concern and our
service on each individual unit. We must be concerned
with its membership growth, its functioning man-
power, its rich Scouting program. More and more we
are also realizing how important it is that each unit
be an integral part of the youth program of its spon-
soring organization.
On the face of it, some of these considerations look
formidable, if not impossible. But if we believe that
Scouting is "a force for freedom"—that it is one of the
answers to our national and world problems, we must
not waver or weaken. We must face our challenge
with confidence and enthusiasm. We must be con-
vinced that in each of our areas are the men and the
money to make all of these things possible, if we but
have the vision and the courage to channel these re-
sources into Scouting service.
FOR ALL SCOUTERS
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 41, Number 2, February 1953, periodical, February 1953; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth329213/m1/5/?rotate=180: 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.