Book Introduction:
WHEN THE BOY SCOUT MOVEMENT came of age a number of years ago, the founder, Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell, drew a sketch that showed how the "acorn" of the Scout idea which he planted on tiny Brownsea Island had grown into the "oak" of Scouting-spreading its branches around the world.
The mightiest branch of that Scouting "oak" is the Boy Scouts of America, with a membership today of more than five million boys and leaders.
The growth of the Boy Scouts of America from a struggling youth movement among many others in 1910, to its present pre- eminence in the youth field is a remarkable story. I am proud indeed to have been given the opportunity to tell that story in The Golden Anniversary Book of Scouting.
For the more than 28,000,000 former members of the Boy Scouts of America, the reading of this Golden Book will, I hope, bring back memories of happy days with the "old gang" in woods and fields. To the Scouts of today and tomorrow, the book should provide excitement and challenge. To the general public the book, I am sure, will be an eye opener to the scope and importance of the contribution of the Scout movement to the life of America.
It is because of this contribution that the Boy Scouts of America are respected and beloved by the country. Almost from the beginning the Scout movement in America was accepted as "a good thing." Fortunately, the Boy Scouts of America, through wise leadership, has successfully evaded the complacency, the "resting on the laurels" that often results from being considered "a good thing." It has constantly kept abreast with the currents in American life and for this reason is more dynamic today on its fiftieth anniversary than ever before in its history.
The Boy Scouts of America enters its second half-century with the promise of still further growth. This growth is one of the finest assurances that America has of a future citizenry that is "physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight"–worthy of our country and fit to serve her.
R. D. BEZUCHA
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