THE JESTER OF ST. TIMOTHY'S ***
Produced by Jonathan Niehof, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL.
Honorary President, THE HON. WOODROW WILSON Honorary Vice-President, HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT Honorary Vice-President, COLONEL THEODORE ROOSEVELT President, COLIN H. LIVINGSTONE, Washington, D. C. Vice-President, B. L. DULANEY, Bristol, Tenn.
Vice-President, MILTON A. McRAE, Detroit, Mich. Vice-President, DAVID STARK JORDAN, Stanford University, Cal. Vice-President, F. L. SEELY, Asheville, N. C. Vice-President, A. STAMFORD WHITE, Chicago, Ill. Chief Scout, ERNEST THOMPSON SETON, Greenwich, Connecticut National Scout Commissioner, DANIEL CARTER BEARD, Flushing, N. Y.
NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
THE FIFTH AVENUE BUILDING, 200 FIFTH AVENUE TELEPHONE GRAMERCY 546 NEW YORK CITY
FINANCE COMMITTEE John Sherman Hoyt, Chairman August Belmont George D. Pratt Mortimer L. Schiff H. Rogers Winthrop
GEORGE D. PRATT, Treasurer JAMES E. WEST, Chief Scout Executive
ADDITIONAL MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD
Ernest P. Bidwell Robert Garrett Lee F. Hanmer John Sherman Hoyt Charles C. Jackson
Prof. Jeremiah W. Jenks William D. Murray Dr. Charles P. Neill George D. Porter Frank Presbrey
Edgar M. Robinson Mortimer L. Schiff Lorillard Spencer Seth Sprague Terry
July 31st, 1913.
TO THE PUBLIC:--
In the execution of its purpose to give educational value and moral worth to the recreational activities of the boyhood of America, the leaders of the Boy Scout Movement quickly learned that to effectively carry out its program, the boy must be influenced not only in his out-of-door life but also in the diversions of his other leisure moments. It is at such times that the boy is captured by the tales of daring enterprises and adventurous good times. What now is needful is not that his taste should be thwarted but trained. There should constantly be presented to him the books the boy likes best, yet always the books that will be best for the boy. As a matter of fact, however, the boy's taste is being constantly vitiated and exploited by the great mass of cheap juvenile literature.
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To help anxiously concerned parents and educators to meet this grave peril, the Library Commission of the Boy Scouts of America has been organised. EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY is the result of their labors. All the books chosen have been approved by them. The Commission is composed of the following members: George F. Bowerman, Librarian, Public Library of the District of Columbia, Washington, D. C.; Harrison W. Graver, Librarian, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Claude G. Leland, Superintendent, Bureau of Libraries, Board of Education, New York City; Edward F. Stevens, Librarian, Pratt Institute Free Library, Brooklyn, New York; together with the Editorial Board of our Movement, William D. Murray, George D. Pratt and Frank Presbrey, with Franklin K. Mathiews, Chief Scout Librarian, as Secretary.
In selecting the books, the Commission has chosen only such as are of interest to boys, the first twenty-five being either works of fiction or stirring stories of adventurous experiences. In later lists, books of a more serious sort will be included. It is hoped that as many as twenty-five may be added to the Library each year.
Thanks are due the several publishers who have helped to inaugurate this new department of our work. Without their co-operation in making available for popular priced editions some of the best books ever published for boys, the promotion of EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY would have been impossible.
