1920 Wj1 Tjb 27 » Pine Tree Web Home Page

1st World Jamboree, 1920
Olympia, London, England

From: The Jamboree Book, 1920, Boy Scout Association

The Press and The Jamboree
Selected Comments from the National Press

"At the close of the great Jamboree at Olympia on Saturday night Boy Scouts, representing twenty-six nations, acclaimed Sir Robert Baden-Powell Chief Scout of the World. Well did he deserve it, for through him a great gift has come to the boys of Great Britain, and from them has spread to the boys of all nations." —The Times, August 9th.

"If only we could seize the microcossus Jamborensis and inoculate the whole world with it, there would be better hope of the immediate present and of the immediate future. The Boy Scout is one of the best hopes of the world. More power to their poles! There are still foul dragons which await their slaying." —The Daily Telegraph, August 2nd.

"Sir Robert Baden-Powell opened the door upon the real elemental world, which, as the boys knew very well, still blooms unchanged beneath the ugly crust of an ironbound age. When its elementary fires blazed forth in the great war the Scouts, at least, were "prepared," and bore their part in the business like the good lads they are." —The Morning Post, July 31st.

"The result of Scout training is unanswerably to be found in the firmer physique, the alert eye, and the eager courtesy and fine consideration for the weak which seem to be qualities inseparable from the bare-kneed brigade." —Daily News and Leader, August 2nd.

"HOW TO BE HAPPY THOUGH GOOD.

"The Boy Scout is one of the select products of our civilisation upon which we are entitled to congratulate ourselves without reserve. The essential genius of boyhood, with its instinct of goodwill, its eagerness for experience and its pride in usefulness, can be more effective than anything else in engendering a truly national and social spirit which will overbear snobbery, selfishness, and indiscipline." —The Pall Mall Gazette, July 31st.

"For jaded nerves the spectacle of so much youth and enthusiasm ought to be a tonic at least equal to any that the seaside can produce, and no one can watch the "chumming up " of the youngsters of various nations through the Jamboree without gaining new hope for the future of the League of Nations." —The Westminster Gazette, July 30th.

"The Boy Scout movement is in the happy position of having no enemies. All shades of opinion are agreed that it inculcates a rule of conduct which must be morally beneficial to the rising generation. And as young missionaries in the faith of universal tolerance and goodwill, the Boy Scouts may well play an effective, because natural, part.—The Outlook, July 31st.

Behind the Jamboree, in which the Boy Scouts of half the world are "playing the wise fool ‘ " is the fact that the movement of which it is the triumphant expression stands for love and service within the nation, not for mutual jealousy and hatred of class against class, and for comradeship and brotherhood between the nations." —The Daily Mall, August 2nd.

"A FREEMASONRY OF BOYHOOD.

"The love of the country-side, traversed in many a trek; the memory of "days of fresh air in the rain and the sun," and of yarns by the camp fire; the knowledge of many useful arts which makes the true Scout—wherever he finds himself a handy man; and always the joy to be had in service these and other gains have been won by the Scouts." —The Sunday Times, August 1st.

"THE ORDER OF YOUNG KNIGHTHOOD.

"The things of our own generation are notoriously difficult to estimate, because to estimate them at all adequately requires the use of a quality which is rare among men of vision. But I am persuaded that there was a great world-idea born when General Sir R. S. S. Baden-Powell thought of the Boy Scout. It is the plain duty of every well-disposed person to help forward this movement to the best of his-and her-ability." —Horse and Hound. July 31st.

"THE CALL OF YOUTH.

"Nothing else has ever captured the imagination of the youth of the world as the Scout movement has done; nothing else has ever linked the boys of all nations in such a band of brotherhood and service. When statesmen lose the vision and rulers blunder into war it is youth that must pay the price. It is good, therefore, that the youth of the world should get to know one another, and to have ideals and enthusiasms and boyish jokes in common." —The Daily Chronicle, August 2nd.


		Boy Scout Association The Jamboree Book, 1920 Contents

		Baden-Powell Photo Gallery 1st World Jamboree Home Page
		Baden-Powell Photo Gallery Baden-Powell at the World Jamborees Links to the World Jamborees, 1920-1937
		The Baden-Powell Home Page

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