Scout Leaders

President A. W . Ivins, Richard R. Lyman, James E. West and a number of other prominent scout leaders During the recent visit to Salt Lake City, and Utah, of Chief Scout Executive James E. West, of the Boy Scouts of America, he was asked as to the status of troops of Boy Scouts formed by different religious denominations. In answer he said: "A scout is reverent. He is reverent toward God. He is faith- ful in his religious duties, and respects the convictions of others in matters of custom and religion. Because of the deep con- cern in the religious instruction of the youth of America, we have very definitely advocated the troop being organized in connection with the church, so that there might be given to the boys of that troop all of the influence, all of the traditions, which stand back of that church." With this instruction coming from the chief executive of- ficer of the Boy Scouts of America, our Latter-day Saint leaders in Scouting should not hesitate in giving our manual lessons to their scout troops. If there are boys in our troops who are not members of our Church they should be encouraged to join a troop of scouts which finds its home in the church of the faith of the boys' fathers. If, however, because of companionship, or because there are no other scout troops in the neighborhood, boys of other faiths join our troops, their fathers' permission should be obtained in order that there may be no misunder- standings in relation to our manual lessons associated with our scout troop meetings. — Oscar A. Kirkham.