June 16, 1924. The end of the Lone Scouts.

 

The Lone Scouts of America, which had been formed in 1915, merged with the Boy Scouts of America.

Founded as a Scouting organization, the LSA was formed by W. D. Boyce, publisher of the Chicago Ledger and the Saturday Blade.  Bryce was of the view that the BSA didn't help rural boys as the BSA wasn't attracting enough young males to the organization, backing up something that I said here the toher day. . . Scouting was an urban, not a rural, movement.

James West of the early BSA disagreed with Bryce on an organization being needed, as he felt that 4H fulfilled the needs of rural youth.

Lone Scouts were just that, lone.  No leaders were required, although LSA members could form "tribes" if there were other members nearby. Or they could form a "mail tribe" and interact in that fashion. All members received The Lone Scout in the mail.  In 1924 a radio program was added. No uniforms existed until World War One, when the Lone Scout Supply Company was created to form one.

Racism appeared in 1922 when the organization determined to no longer accept black youth.  In that same year, the masthead of The Lone Scout changed from "A Real Boys Magazine" to "The White Boys' Magazine."

The merger came about due to the persistence of the Boy Scouts, which thereafter ran a "lone scout" program, although many of the LSA members dropped out.  When Cub Scouts were added in 1930, a Lone Cub Scouting program was also added.  The program still exists today, with the requirements being, according to Scouting USA:

The Lone Scout plan is a way for any youth ages 7 to 10 (or who is in the first through fifth grades) to become a Lone Cub Scout; or ages 11 to 17 to become a Lone Scouts BSA member. A youth applies for membership as an individual Lone Scout only if he or she cannot conveniently join a Cub Scout pack or Scouts BSA troop.

Scouting was a big deal, so it's not too surprising to find that some famous personalities had been Lone Scouts.  Burl Ives, who we mentioned the other day, was.  Also in the organization were Broderick Crawford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Orval Faubus, Hubert Humphrey; Fred MacMurray, and Harry Morgan.

King Victor Emmanuel III held an extraordinary council to discuss the Matteotti crisis.  Mussolini's grasp on power appeared to be slipping.

Last prior edition:

Saturday, June 14, 1924. Flag Day.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, California, Flag Day, Holidays, Ku Klux Klan, Unions

Friday, October 13, 1921. Giants take the Series, Turks take former Imperial Russian Territory, Hine takes photographs of 4H Club members.

The Giants took the World Series with a 1 to 0 victory over the Yankees.

The Treaty of Kars fixed the boundary between Turkey, still at war with Greece, and what was effectively the Soviet Union.

The treat effectively operated in Turkey's favor, granting it territories that had been within Imperial Russia's boundaries.

While both nations were in a shaky position at the time, it's worth remembering that Turkey, while on the defensive, was holding its own against Greece. France and the UK, initially allies in the Greek effort, had abandoned Greece as it became more aggressive in regard to its territorial demands and efforts.  The Turks, on the other hand, had shown an inclination to look East into Turkic territories, something the USSR didn't need to happen.  Moreover, the Soviet Union was having difficulty imposing its moronic economic system on an unwilling population and its political thumb on various ethnicities, so it was arguably in a worse position than Turkey was.  Also, its population was enduring famine to the lunatic nature of its farm policy.

After World War Two Stalin pressed for the return of Imperial Russian lands, but Turkey resisted it, and the Western Allies backed Turkey's position.  Soviet demands were dropped, but Georgia and Armenia have never been happy with the border that the treaty created.

A photographer took a photo of Jacksonville, Florida.

Jacksonville, Florida.  October 13, 1921.

Hine was at the state fair in Charleston, West Virginia, where he photographed members of the 4H clubs.

Philander Knox, a well known U.S. Senator, was reported as having died the day prior.

He was 68 years old.

The original Lyric theater (there's been one since, which while relatively new, is no longer a movie theater, was running Man-Woman-Marriage, a film released that previous March.  It's interesting in that it gives us a glimpse of the touring speed of movies at the time.

A less lurid ad from somewhere else.

Billed as the "Greatest love story of all time" by advertisers, the ostensible plot involved something to with a woman rebelling against a forced marriage, but also gave the filmmakers view of marriage throughout human history.  Robert Sherwood of Time magazine described the film as the worst move ever made, adding that it was "a grotesque hodgepodge about woman's rights through the ages (interminable ages they are, too) with a great deal of ham allegory and cheap religious drool, used to cloud the real motif — which is sex appeal."

Based on the Casper ads, that was probably about right.

Be that as it may, the ads run in the Casper paper got the biological facts right.  Generally, they showed some guy leering over a woman dressed in about as revealing fashion as allowable in the Casper papers, and, viewed left to right, a baby ensues.

Monday, October 10, 1921. Putative Beginnings

On this day in 1921the Federation of Central America, made up of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, came into existence. Tegucigalpa was the capital.  The treaty creating the union provided only for provisional delegates to its parliament, so in reality it never took off.

There have been numerous efforts to create such a union, following the end of Mexican claims to the region in the 19th Century. All have unfortunately failed, which has been a major contributor to the agony of the region in the 20th and 21st Centuries.

On states that failed, the Kingdom of Kurdistan was proclaimed on this day in 1921.

Encompassing a fairly small area of the region inhabited by the Kurds, all of which was within Iraq, the British put the putative kingdom down in 1924, and it was incorporated back into the British mandate in Mesopotamia in 1926 by the League of Nations.

Here too, if the state had been allowed to exist, much of modern history in the region would have been different, and potentially better.

The Yankees won game 5 of the 1921 World Series, regaining the lead from the Giants. The score was 3 to 1.

In other sports, a photographer caught a group of Army officers playing polo at Camp Grant., Illinois.

Polo, Camp Grant, October 10, 1921

Polo had become a big Army sport in the early 20th Century, and the interwar years were really its high water mark. During that period it was widely participated in and encouraged by the Army.  Polo became common not only in the Regular Army, but in the National Guard.
 

Hines was back at work photographing Appalachia, including the members of an African American 4H Club..

Miners cabins on the Elk River at Bream, W. Va. near Charleston. Others on slope beyond. A typical mining community here. Children go to Big Chimney school. Oct. 10, 1921. Location: Bream, West Virginia

Former 4H members who were attending an African American agricultural college in West Virginia.

Friday October 7, 1921. 4H Clubs and Baseball Clubs.

A Third year high school girl in the chemical laboratory, - Greenbank Consolidated School, Oct. 7, 1921. Location: Pocahontas County, West Virginia

A photographer spent a second day documenting the lives of teenagers and the condition of schools in West Virginia.  In doing so, he took this photo of a "third year" (either a junior or a senior) girl in the chemical laboratory.

The photos speak volumes. She's of our age, but not  Very plainly dressed and very adult looking.

On this day in 1921, The New York Giants beat the Yankees 13 to 5 in Game 3 of the 1921 World Series.

China responded to a demand from Japan for certain rights in Shantung province with a complete rejection.  The demands were based on the Treaty of Versailles transferring German possessions to Japan following World War One, which included port cities in the province.  The Chinese were not willing to go along with the treaty on these points, and ultimately their position prevailed.

Austria and Hungary submitted a territorial dispute between them to the League of Nations, with Italy to act as the mediator.

The same photographer that toured schools in West Virginia took the photos of members of a 4H Club.

Betsey Price, - First year High School at her club sewing. 4 H Club work - Marlinton, W. Va.  She would have been in 9th or 10th Grade, but again looked quite mature in this photo.

Forest Kellison, 4 H Club Member raising a sheep. Examining the quality of the fleece under direction of Harold Willey, Farm Bureau Agent. Location: Pocahontas County, West Virginia

Forest Kellison, 4 H Club member, treating his sheep for internal parasites.

Susie Kellison, raising chickens. Examining the wing and looking for smut. The club in this county had 250 members at the time. Location: Pocahontas County, West Virginia.

Harry Harper, with his registered calf. Location: Pocahontas County--Hillsboro, West Virginia.

Earl Kidd, with his registered calf. Hillsboro, Pocahontas Co. W. Va. Location: Pocahontas County--Hillsboro, West Virginia

The photographer also documented conditions at schools, some of which were quite advanced, and some not so much. This was a one-room schoolhouse, and the photographer disapproved of the location of the privies.

And he photographed farms as well.

Gen. W. D. Connor, who was a significant figure in the Department of the Army at the time, sat for a portrait.

Brig. Gen. W.D. Connor.

A group of South Dakotans visited the President.

Thursday October 6, 1921. Winners and Losers.

On this day in 1921, the New York Yankees beat the New York Giant 3 to 0 in game 2 of the 1921 World Series.

California Here I Come, April Showers and Toot, Toot, Tootsie were introduced in the musical Bombo at Jolson's 59th Street Theatre.  The songs were popular enough that I actually learned the lyrics to all three as a kid somehow, probably from the Lawrence Welk Show.  The production was one of the popular, weird, racist black face musicals of that era.

The dog funeral of Buster Snook, a Spanish poodle, owned by, Selma Snook, of Washington D.C., took place.

A photographer examined the schools and students of West Virginia.

Little Levels High School, Hilsboro West Virginia.

"On the way to school. Country children en route to the Buckeye Grades School, near Marlinton, W. Va. These come from some of the poorer farms and walk from 2 to 3 miles each way. One walked 4 miles all winter."

"The "East Side" of Pocahontas Country. The Aldrich home, - Buckeye, near Marlinton, W. Va. This is one of the worst homes in the county. Note the duck-coop, made out of an old trunk, - in front yard. Mother said "The colt kicked the winders out." She is a no-'count mountaineer from Kentucky and her husband is a shiftless farmer who has let this farm run down to worthlessness. His father ran a prosperous farm here and owned hundreds of acres but the son has run thro[ugh] it all. Typical of worst conditions in the country. Oct. 6, 1921. Location: Pocahontas County--Marlinton, West Virginia."

A Product of the 4 H. Club. Gradie Walton, 17 yrs. old, - is very deficient in most school branches (except in mathematics where he shines). He is much handicapped physically, - lost one eye in an accident and the other is weak. This year he raised 135 bushels of corn on one acre"