1915

​

Scouting was off to a great start in 1915. By April 2, all of the troops were registered, and eight more were in the making.  P.E Gunn, Scoutmaster of the First Methodist Episcopal troop, and P.D. Banning, Scoutmaster of the Highland Park Baptist troop, continued organizing troops during the summer of 1915.
 

Support for and Disapproval of the Organization

 

Nevertheless, as early as 1915, society scrutinized the Boy Scouts. World War I, still within its first year, sparked fears that the new Scouting movement was formed for military purposes.  Even in Chattanooga, the question was asked: "Are they training our boys for the war?"  This should not have come as a surprise.  As early as the November 1910 meeting, supporters of the movement were proponents of military-type drills within the organization and 1914 newspaper reports called the organization "the Boy Scout army." 

At a time when the front pages of local newspapers carried the most recent news about the war then taking place in Europe, concern about the Boy Scouts occupied the daily attention of Chattanooga citizens. Some were concerned that school principals would begin training the boys for military drill. The sight of uniformed Boy Scouts—what one Chattanoogan called "little toy soldiers"—parading in the streets struck
fear into the hearts of many.

There was plenty of support for the organization, however. An anonymous citizen wrote to the newspaper and quoted a speech by President Woodrow Wilson, who had recently received a group of Boy Scouts in the White House. As honorary president of the organization, Wilson said in part, "I like the idea of the Boy Scouts—because of their secure notion of being responsible to society. They are responsible to the people who live around them—to help maintain the standard of order and fidelity upon which the community depends."

It was clear the movement was being attacked, and Chattanooga leaders reacted creatively. The Scouts carried flowers to the sick in the hospitals during "anniversary week" in February of 1915.  They also went to church dressed in their regulation khaki uniforms.  At Central Baptist Church, Dr. E.L. Grace used the biblical David as a topic for his anniversary week sermon.  In closing he described the ideal boy: "A boy who has developed a good, strong, healthy bo[d]y: a boy faithful to his daily duties: a boy who uses his spare time to advantage, such as the boy David, who learned to sling stones, to play on the harp and to know nature, and a boy who opens his heart to God."
 

Boy Scout Film

​

To alleviate concerns of local citizens, as well as for general public relations, the Council decided to make a 1,000-foot film showing the work and activities of the boys involved.  The Chattanooga Motion Picture Company contracted to make the film.  The plan was to include many prominent Chattanoogans in the film and dedicate it to Charles Boyd Coleman, mascot of the organization.  It was to be filmed throughout Chattanooga, not only publicizing deeds of Scoutcraft, but also promoting Chattanooga as the story unfolded.  The film was called "The Boy Scouts of America."

The Scouts held a contest for writing the film, with a cash prize for the winner. Judges were W.H. Sears, commissioner in charge of the Chattanooga Council; Edward Whiteside, from Chattanooga Motion Pictures; and Frank H. Dowler, Jr., Alcazar theater manager.

There were eight rules for submission of the film manuscript:

1. All scenarios submitted must be typewritten, double-spaced, and one side of the paper, on legal size paper, with a broad margin.

2. Each scenario submitted shall be limited to from fifteen to twenty-five scenes, suited to the purpose locally.

3. All exposures for screen "entre-acts" shall be carefully and briefly worded.

4. The presentation of the scenario shall not require more than 1,000 feet of film.

5. No scenario shall be considered which is not accompanied by the correct name and address of the writer.

6. The privilege is reserved to make any use thought best of any part of any scenario submitted, whether said scenario should prove the winner of the prize or not.

7. All scenarios shall be submitted and in the hands of the council at the chamber of commerce on or before midnight Feb. 28, 1915.

8. The decision shall be announced during the last show at the Alcazar Theater Saturday night, March 6, and in the Chattanooga Times March 7, and the payment of the award, $25, will be made at the Boy Scout headquarters the following day.

​​

Sears suggested different scenes for the movie, including a juvenile court scene to demonstrate how the movement had rescued boys from their sentences, a woodcraft or other Scout-skill scene, a lifesaving-on-a-river scene, and possibly "first aid work after a street accident of a thrilling sort."  Miss Marie Macpherson’s scenario won the first prize, but was not used.

​

Filming continued through March 1915. One scene included W.C. Fowler, Judge Martin Fleming, and two Scouts. The scene, filmed at the Courthouse by the Georgia Avenue entrance, was directed to portray the "juvenile court work" there.

​

On April 21, 1915, 150 Boy Scouts paraded downtown to advertise the film that was supposed to be shown at the Auditorium the last three days of week. The parade began at 4:00 pm and was led by the Third Regiment Band. Taking part in the parade were two newly minted East Lake troops, which Scout Executive Burelbach had formed in an effort to expand the movement beyond the city limits.  It began in front of the Chamber of Commerce, which also served as the Council Office, proceeded down Broad Street to Sixth, and then turned onto Market.

​

The Scouts advertised that they would show the film, finally completed, at the old city auditorium on East Ninth Street on April 22, 23, and 24 along with "Griffith’s Famous Home, Sweet Home" and a Charlie Chaplin comedy. A printed ad promoted the event as "A Great Eight-Reel Show, Quartet and Music . . . for 10 cents."

​

The first showing of the movie was supposed to be on April 22, and "a continuous show" would be held April 23 and 24 from 3:00 pm to 10:30 pm, with 2,000 seats pre-sold for the picture. The Scouts invited the children of the Vine Street Orphanage to view the film on its first day.

​

Unfortunately, the film arrived late from development in New York. Large crowds gathered on the first day of its advertised showing and were disappointed to see only part of the film. However, all tickets sold for April 22 were returned and remained valid for the April 23 and 24 showings.  The film eventually arrived in Chattanooga on April 24 to the delight of a large crowd.  The film showed on April 26, along with "Home, Sweet Home" and a "Keystone comedy."

​

The film served its purpose. Those involved remembered putting in a lot of hard work to put it together. Thousands of people came to the theater and saw the film, which was priced low enough so more people could see it. The purpose was to promote the Scout movement to the public, not to make a profit. The ticket prices just covered the expenses in making the film

On May 6, 1915, 4,000 people saw the film at the Bonita theater, and it was in great demand in nearby cities and towns. Over the years, the film was lost. It resurfaced again around 1935 when Mr. Sears found it.  The film’s current location is unknown.

​

New Scout Executive

 

Major M.J. Burelbach became the acting Scout Executive for the Chattanooga Council on March 20, 1915 (with a salary of $80.00 per month) following the resignation of Mr. Fowler.  Fowler returned to his home in Chicago after his four-month stay in Chattanooga. The Boy Scout organization, 300 boys strong, rose to perfection under his guidance.

​

Fowler gave the following farewell address to the local Scouts:

​

Four months ago I arrived in the beautiful city of Chattanooga not with the idea of starting the Scouts but on a visit to my aunt. I might say in connection with my visit that she is the one to whom the Scout work here in Chattanooga is dedicated.  Mrs. J.W. Moore is the one who started the Scouts in this town.

​

In leaving your town I know that I have [left] behind me an organization of which the city can well feel proud, and I ask the ones who will come after me to keep the good work going, and have an organization which will make itself felt all over the country.

​

I have made many friends while here and some few enemies, but to those I hope after my departure will throw themselves into the harness and pull for the good of the cause.

I want to say for the boys, that in all my connection in the Scout work at home and other parts of the country that the boys of Chattanooga, taken as a whole, are the best of any that I have met, and it will be with a feeling of regret that I will have to leave them. I[n] leaving them I want to leave them with this article by the vice president of the Boy Scouts, the Hon. Theodore Roosevelt:

​

"To the Boy Scouts of America.
Of course what we have a right to expect from the American boy is that he shall turn out to be a good American man. Now the chances are strong that he won’t be much of a man unless he is a good deal of a boy. He must not be a coward or a weakling, a bully, a shirk or a prig. He must work hard and play hard. He must be clean minded. And clean lived and able to hold his own under all circumstances and against all comers. It is only on these conditions that he will grow into the kind of a man of whom America can be proud. As in life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: hit the line hard: don’t foul and don’t shirk, but hit the line hard."

​

If all you fellows will live up to these principles you will never get into trouble and if I ever come back to Chattanooga, which I will someday have the pleasure of doing, I hope to see the same fellows that I helped to enlist into the Scouts holding the positions of trust so that they will be a credit to their God and to their country.

 

Burelbach had worked extensively with the Boy Scouts in many places, and was a highly capable leader. The Chattanooga Scoutmasters and Scout commission fully supported his selection as
leader.  Burelbach aimed to expand Scouting in Chattanooga by adding new troops. The new executive sought to start new "Scout patrols" in the Jewish synagogues of the city: East Lake, St. Elmo, and Rossville.  When Burelbach took over, there were about a dozen troops and about 200 boys already enrolled.  It appeared that things were looking up for the Boy Scouts of Chattanooga.

 

Reports of Good Character

​

It was in this first full year as a recognized Council, 1915, that Scouting’s values set the tone in society’s attitude toward the movement. Exceptional character defined Chattanooga Scouts at that time:

​

[T]he rule inculcates the principle of self-control and individual responsibility, and is based on common sense—the only way in the world to make self-reliant, strong and disciplined men. The scouts organization has a wonderful influence on the morale of the enlisted boys and has given them a new perspective of their importance in the maintenance of our social orders and a more positive understanding of their responsibility for the future peace and progress of civil government.

The idea inculcated is the "honor system," and it has had a most beneficent effect upon the plastic mind of the youngster just entering the ranks, appealing strongly to his imagination and accentuating the idea, that has such a charm for boyhood, that he is under no restraint except to keep faith with his own promises.

​

Yet, the movement faced challenges in ways not dissimilar from more recent years. The leaders in 1915 struggled with the role Scouting played in the moral guidance provided to its youth and how that role affected the family structure of the boys. While the general values—personal responsibility, citizenship, self-control, and loyalty—have not changed, the organization’s positions on substantive acts have:

​

For instance, it was charged that the "Boy Scout" officers did not discipline the youngsters under their command and permitted them to smoke tobacco—hence the whole outfit was to be condemned. The supporters of the Boy Scout movement very frankly admit that they do not think tobacco smoking is an unpardonable sin, although they counsel boys not to indulge until their majority. So in regard to this vice, they put the boy on his honor not to smoke without his father’s permission and they exact this rule: "That if he smokes at all he do it at home and in the presence of his parents and his brothers and sisters, as well as on the street and in secret places, and that under no circumstances will he smoke while he is in uniform or in any part of it, nor while he is with boys in scout uniform."

​

As might be expected, some reserved judging such a new organization. To others, its benefits were clear. H.D. Huffaker, Chattanooga Commissioner of Health and Education, fully endorsed the program:

​

My life having been spent largely in educational work, I am naturally interested in any movement which is for the improvement of conditions affecting the physical and moral environment of the boy. I have watched with interest the Boy Scout movement and its influence on the habits and lives of boys and do not hesitate to give the movement my unqualified [e]ndorsement.

​

1915 Service Projects

 

The week following the Scout Executive transition, the city’s women’s clubs requested the assistance of the Boy Scouts in "Clean-up week", the clubs’ annual spring clean-up campaign.  The annual event was geared toward making the city "as clean and germ proof as it is possible for a city to be."  The Boy Scouts, under the supervision of Scoutmaster Burelbach, helped clean vacant lots.  This further bolstered the Scouts’ positive reputation.  They received many letters of appreciation from the various women’s clubs for the effort.  Mrs. (T.F.) Margaret A. McFarland, the secretary of Kosmos—Chattanooga’s first women’s literary club—sent a letter on May 20 indicating her gratitude for the Scouts’ work:

​

Kosmos wishes to extend her most sincere thanks to you and the Boy Scouts for the assistance so gladly rendered during the recent clean-up campaign, under the chairmanship of Mrs. J.H. Daly. The scouts assisted very much, and their help is thoroughly appreciated.

​

Clean-up week continued to be a tradition for Chattanooga Scouts as late as 1920.  They enjoyed providing service to their community as word of their existence and abilities became better known.  When Governor Rye was in town, they were called upon to escort him to his hotel.  When hotels could no longer accommodate the number of people attending the convention of the Southern Conference for Education and Industry in 1915, the Scouts escorted visitors to private homes.  The Scouts took part in Decoration Day and the Confederate Memorial day exercises, as well.  While it is unclear whether this tradition has continued uninterrupted, this may be viewed as the origin of the current annual flag placement at the Chattanooga National Cemetery held every Memorial Day.  In June, the Scouts assisted the police department in marking sidewalks to regulate pedestrian traffic, as well as distributing 6,000 flyers informing citizens of proper rules for foot traffic.  So successful was the campaign that the city saw immediate benefits and Police Chief Hackett asked the Scouts to continue their work.

The Scouts attended a lecture sponsored by the Chattanooga Humane Association that directed Scouts on how they could assist by watching for signs of animal abuse.  The association instructed Scouts on the procedure to follow if they ever saw a horse down.  Troop 7 reported keeping a watch out to ensure all horses were well shod and enforcing a new "check-rein" ordinance.  If a Scout found a horse standing with his check-rein fastened, he would unfasten it and leave a card with the copy of the ordinance printed on it.

In 1915, the Scouts celebrated Independence Day on Lookout Mountain. Mrs. John Stagmaier organized a drum and bugle corps that performed for the citizens of Lookout Mountain on July 4.  The Scouts also participated in a large-scale effort to plant trees along the Dixie highway through Hamilton County.  At a local fair, Scouts rendered first aid to a boy who had been kicked in the head by a pony and found another boy reported lost by his father.

The local citizenry was impressed with the organization, and was willing to dish out as much work as the Scouts could handle.  It began with the women’s clubs but quickly the good word about Scouts spread. Even the Chief of Police sent a letter to the Scout Executive on May 20, expressing his feelings about the movement:

​

I am heartily in sympathy with the Boy Scout movement.  In my opinion it is the most complete of all nation-wide movements for the uplifting and enabling of the boy.  Boys are eligible for membership just at the age when nature cries out for action, when they are bubbling over with enthusiasm.  This superfluous energy must find an outlet some way.  Lucky the boy who can have the privilege of joining an organization where he is directed and trained along lines that develop all that is noble in his nature, and leaves no room for the growth of crime.

​

Financial Challenges Ensue

 

Finances were tight as the organization expanded, and its work was handicapped because of it.  M.J. Burelbach had volunteered since March 20 as acting Scout Executive.  The executive committee officially appointed him as Scout Executive on June 18, 1915, for a salary of $80 per month.  Limited funds required this small salary, and Burelbach led the Council in keeping office expenses to a minimum, using the free space afforded to the Scouts by the Chamber of Commerce, furnishing his own typewriter, doing his own stenographic work, and walking or riding streetcars for business travel.  Sacrifices such as these helped "keep the movement alive."  Mr. Sears personally took out loans to fund the organization, as did John A. Patten.

In May 1915, the executive committee decided to take part in a financial campaign to support the local movement.  At that time, there was no Community Chest from which the Scouts could receive money. Upon the invitation of Judge Joe V. Williams, W.H. Sears, J.W. Tyler, Ed Finlay, and Ellis C. Soper, a special field commissioner of the Boy Scouts of America from New Haven, Connecticut named B.M. Russell came to Chattanooga to bring Chattanooga Scouting to a new level of efficiency and excellence.  These leaders’ objective was to make the Chattanooga Council the example to follow for the rest of the nation.

A meeting on May 20, 1915 of the executive committee planned the fundraising drive.  The members—W.H. Sears, president; Ed Finlay, secretary; Taylor Durham, treasurer; Judge Joe V. Williams, James Tyler, and Ellis Soper—agreed to lead a campaign to solicit contributions on June 3, 4, and 5.  The committee invited one hundred Chattanoogans to a meeting on June 2 at the Golf and Country Club, and asked them to give $3000 a year for three years.  The committee earmarked this money for several purposes, including maintaining an executive officer and stenographer and for office expenses.  A portion of the money was for outfitting boys in need with proper uniforms.  Another amount was for a "camping outfit" to give every boy a chance to go camping.  The goal was to increase membership to 1,000 boys.

About fifty people attended the June 2 meeting.  The Scouts raised $1,000 at the meeting, with more pledges promised.  Gen. Lewis M. Coleman presided over the meeting.  His keynote address almost sounds appropriate to use today:

​

The conditions of modern city life . . . are so complex, the duties of parents so many, that the boys and girls can’t receive the home care and attention we used to receive on the farms and in the towns and villages of our land.  The public schools and the private schools see to meet the general educational demands, but the future citizen needs much more. There must be a physical and a moral education, keeping pace with the mental education. Without these we can make no promise for our future citizenship.

There must be inculcated into our boys a due consideration of the rights of others, such a consideration as will insure a fair estimate of one’s self. Thus is demonstrated the converse of Polonius’ advice to his own son "To thine ownself be true, and thou casn’t not then be false to any man."

To meet this demand for moral and physical and civil education the Boy Scout movement was ina[u]gurated. To be successful this movement must be superior to all caste, all creeds, and all race prejudices; it must be universal, embracing the brotherhood of boys.

​

This speech must have roused the interest of the general public.  The first day of canvassing the city, the Scouts collected about $3,000.150 This effort was reported to the national Boy Scout headquarters as being the most important factor in the Scouts’ success.  Although Scouts raised only half of the targeted amount of $10,000, they persisted and continued canvassing beyond the
three-day period advertised.
 

National Events Require Local Response

 

Concerns raised earlier in the year about the Boy Scouts’ "militarism" waned in Chattanooga toward the end of 1915.  Unfortunately, the subject came up again when news of Ernest Thompson Seton resignation from the national organization reached Chattanooga in December.  Seton was Chief Scout from 1910–15 and helped Baden-Powell start the Boy Scouts of England in 1908 and the Boy Scouts of America in 1910.  Seton disagreed personally and professionally with James E. West and Dan Beard, two other BSA Founders.  Seton was concerned that militarism would surpass woodcraft—the original purpose of the movement—as the most prominent feature of the organization.  In a statement, he announced, "The study of trees, flowers and nature . . . is giving way to wig-wagging, drills and other activities of a military nature, thus destroying the symbolism of the organization."

The National Council of the Boy Scouts issued a statement making it clear Seton had not resigned, but was dropped from the organization because he was not an American citizen. They emphasized that the organization was not involved politically, militarily, or in any antimilitary activities.

Regardless of whether Seton resigned or was dropped from the organization, the Chattanooga Scouts feared the impact of the news.  Burelbach worked hard to start an archery club in Chattanooga instead of a rifle club to avoid fears of military training.  Earlier in the year, he stated:

 

The scout officials are meeting with more or less unnecessary opposition on the part of well-meaning folks who misunderstood the Boy Scout ideals.  One of the prevailing mistaken ideas that seem to exist is that the scout movement is military.  Certainly the movement here has done much in a civic way and nothing has ever been done which should give anyone the above idea.

The scout movement all over the country is doing all in its power to instill ideas of self-restraint and calmness under provocation. . . . Of course, the movement has in its organization the necessary di[s]cipline. Without di[s]cipline no organization can exist.

​

Hoping this message would not be lost after Seton’s disassociation with the Boy Scouts, Burelbach addressed the community:

​

The resignation of Ernest Thompson Seton will not have any influence over the local scout movement. . . . Mr. Seton was not an American citizen.  The teachings of the movement are practically the same as when it was first organized in the United States.  They are certainly the same now as when Mr. Seton was chief scout.  Wig-wagging, or in other words signaling, drills and such activities as the scouts have taken part in this city could hardly be construed as militarism.  One of the so-called drills are first aid to the injured.  Does the fact that a boy is taught how to care for an injured person indicate that the movement is military? . . .

Chattanooga Boy Scouts’ education in woodcraft has never suffered on account of alleged military activities.

​

The debate over the Boy Scouts’ militarism seemed never ending.  The State Federation of Labor voted unanimously to oppose the Boy Scout movement because

​

a military spirit is aroused [by the Boy Scouts] which finally means joining the state militia. . . . [I]t is just one step behind the state militia, and we have found that the state militia always has been used to fight the labor movement.  It always, as is shown by history, is at the call of capital, and is directed at the striking workmen.  Led by young and inefficient officers usually, the militia, instead of maintaining order, hastens disorders. That is the reason why organized labor is opposed to the Boy Scout movement.

​

The media did not seem to help matters.  In an article discussing summer camp, the headline mentioned that the camp schedule seemed militaristic.  The article mentioned the cook’s status as a veteran of the Spanish-American war, where he was a cook as well.

 

1915 Draws to a Close

​

• In October 1915 the band of the First Baptist troop, assisted by Mrs. Stagmaier, was active. Col. I.R. Summers, and later Joe Stagmaier, instructed the band.

• The Council operated a model Scout camp on the grounds of the Chattanooga district fair on November 3, 1915 while demonstrating field events and assisting the officials of the fair in general.

• The Council boasted a band, two drum and bugle corps, a hospital corps, and an archery club.

• Thanksgiving found the Scouts contributing and delivering eighty-five baskets of chicken and other groceries to the poor.185 An even larger effort was organized and executed for Christmas.

• On December 8, 1915, one year after the Council was started, there were 206 registered and about forty nonregistered Scouts in Chattanooga.  That number increased to 239 registered and thirty nonregistered boys by January 23, 1916.  The growth of the organization seemed extraordinary to local leaders, but the National Field Commissioner found that "Chattanooga contributed a much smaller number to the increase than other cities even of less population."