Farming has become so complex that the country can no longer afford to let its best youth go to the city. Today farming demands the best brains as well as the strongest bodies the nation can produce. The modern farmer must organize, manage, finance, produce, and market.
Scouting can, and does help round out a rural boy’s life. It builds the kind of men the nation needs on its farms.
=McMILLEN: This has been good talk. It has been all the more persuasive because we have heard the voices of men who have actually “reached out.” Rural Scouting is a fact that grows all the time.=
=One thought in closing: No one has much trouble to get boys into Scouting. But in order to keep the Scout groups flourishing, we need more men who will give leadership. I would like to suggest that no Council’s annual dinner, or outdoor event, will be quite complete unless the top leaders in farm and rural business activities are personally invited to see and hear for themselves. Pay them more attention and they will pay more attention to Scouting.=
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★ BOY SCOUT WEEK will soon be upon us. For one entire week in February you will hear and see a lot about Scouting as the general public finds itself becoming Scouting-conscious.
You will hear _Scouting_ on the radio, see _Scouting_ in newspapers and magazines, and rub elbows with _Scouting_ as Scouts go to and from school in their uniforms.
As a Scout leader, you will want to make the best use of the nationwide publicity and direct the attention of people in YOUR community to the activities of THEIR Scouts. One ideal method for a local Unit is through a Scout display in a store window with a prominent location.
The three immediate advantages of a window display are: ONE, the general public becomes Scouting-conscious; TWO, the Unit has a live and unusual program for several days; and THREE, boys who are not now Scouts see an opening for themselves to join the Unit.
Before you ask a merchant for window space, have some plans for your display on paper, or at least in your mind. Explain to him the advantages to the community, to Scouting, and to his store. Most storekeepers are willing to cooperate. Larger shops may even offer the services of trained window decorators. Once you obtain the space you have a responsibility to both the merchant and to Scouting to install the neatest and most interesting display you and your staff can create. No doubt you can get some valuable help from your Local Council.