THERE was an excited crowd near the curb. It pressed around an injured child lying with her head in her mother's lap. The mother begged for help, for a doctor, anyone. A call had been sent for an ambulance. There was no doctor near-no one who knew what assistance to give. And the child was bleeding profusely.

Suddenly voices startled the throng: "Here come two Scouts! They can do something!"

The crowd parted to let the two boys through. Then it closed in to watch. The mother allowed the Scouts to take charge of her little girl. There was a quick examination, a brief consultation, then the tearing of cloth, a few expert movements, and a tourniquet had been applied and the jagged wound protected from exposure.

The ambulance came. The young doctor in white made a swift survey of the Scouts' job. "Fine work, Scouts!" he said. "You have helped to save this girl's life."

The point in this little story is not the First Aid skill shown by Scouts in an emergency. That is an old story these days. The point is that these Scouts were recognized (and consequently called into service) by their Uniforms. The Official Boy Scout Uniform was a guarantee to that crowd of men and women that those boys were PREPARED to help. They could do SOMETHING to help, because they were Scouts.

The Uniform to the Scout and the public alike is the outward expression of the boy's inward qualities as a Scout.

How The Scout Uniform Came Into Being

When the late Chief Scout of the World, Lord Baden Powell, started his experiments with Scouting fo; boys, he quickly realized that it would be necessary to develop some kind of uniform for the Scouts.

He knew that a boy loves to have a uniform to wear, with badges to show the awards he has won. He knew that a uniform would give a boy pride in his appearance, and help him toward self-confidence. He knew that with the boys dressed alike, rich and poor, a real brotherhood might be established. He knew that the right kind of uniform would give the boy a standing in the eyes of the public.

The return from the mountain top where they spent the night. Toughness and service are built into an Official Scout Uniform.

So Baden-Powell set out to design a uniform of a character applicable to all phases of Scouting.

The design which emerged-with the broad brimmed hat, the shirt rather than a coat, the loose shorts rather than tight fitting pants, the stockings, the shoes rather than high boots-was made for comfort, for greater freedom of action, and for health. The khaki color was decided upon because it blends with the leaves of the forests, the mountains, the fields.

Immediately it started its conquest of the world. It came to America with the Movement. But we did not accept it unconditionally. The fact that it had been accepted in England, in India and Africa was not enough. So we experimented with the uniform design, tested it in the north and the south, in the east and the west. It stood the test, and since then millions of American boys have expressed their approval of it: "The Scout Uniform is the one for us!"

The Scout Movement did not follow a fashion, it created one, one that is now being copied by millions of civilians interested in sports and the out-of-doors.

The Why Of The Scout Uniform

If you ask a group of Scouts why they became Scouts, you will discover that the desire to wear the Scout Uniform was among their foremost reasons. Why? Because, as Chief West says, "The Scout Uniform is a part of the romance of Scouting. It is a symbol of the ideals and outdoor activities for which the Movement stands. It has the picturesque touch which helps the Scout identify himself with the great traditions of our outdoorsmen-the pioneer, the explorer, scout and cowboy-which underlie the game of Scouting." A boy gets into the Uniform, and immediately it does something to him. To be dressed like a Scout makes him want to act like one, makes him want to do the things that Scouts do! There are individual values, group values, community values involved, especially if through wise counsel from his leader the boy has been made to understand the full significance of that khaki

The Uniform-a great drawing card for boys not Scouts. The Uniform gives Scouts a realization they belong, a sense of group consciousness.

Uniform and has been given the reason for the many 'Why's' connected with it.

The significance of the Uniform and its parts is described in the Handbook for Boys. Its values are summarized in the following pages. The belief that Scouts and Scouters have in these values is the reason WHY we have the Uniform, WHY every Scoutmaster will want to get himself and his boys into the Official Uniform of the Boy Scouts of America, as soon as possible.

Values Recognized By Congress

The values inherent in the Scout Uniform and its proper use were recognized by the Congress of the United States, when it granted a Federal charter to the

Boy Scouts of America on June 15,1916. In that charter was established a permanent protection of the Scout Uniform, Badges and Insignia. The report submitted by the Committee on the Judiciary, recommending the passage of that Bill, stated:

"If any boy can secure these Badges [the Scout Badges] without meeting the required tests, the Badges will soon be meaningless, and one of the leading features of the Scout Program will be lost. Likewise with the Uniform which designates the Scout."