"Millionaires"

Long lines of omnibuses with the flags of 71 nations bristling in the wind, moved slowly through Birkenhead, England, passed through streets packed with hand-waving townsfolk to Arrowe Park, where there were broad green fields, freshly-cleaned parade grounds, stately trees. There the great flag-decked omnibuses deposited boys in khaki-colored uniforms, each with bundles, and a pack upon his back. Soon tents, 40 acres of them, had sprung up in neat, army-like rows.

Fifty thousand youths had come to celebrate the 21st birthday of the Boy Scouts of the World. Their ages ranged from 12 to 18, their color from white to black.

P: More commodious, more comfortable than the rest were the rainproof, U. S. wall tents. Lent by the U. S. Army, some had boarded floors, ventilators. "American millionaires," sneered other scouts.

P: More on parade than the parading Scouts last week were Bigwigs who came complacently to watch. Birthday greetings were pronounced by the Duke of Connaught, who was, Scouts had been told, uncle to King George V. English Scouts soon forgot their recent jibes of "millionaires" when Mortimer L. Schiff (Kuhn Loeb & Co.), U. S. Scout vice president, presented a $50,000 check to them, "for the advancement of the British Scout movement."

P: An airplane swooped down to the field. Out stepped Edward of Wales. Delighted at his presence, no Scout cared that he, Chief Scout of Wales, slept that night in a tent with pillow and mattressed bed, lavatory, boarded flooring.

P: Scout Clifford Taylor, of Des Plaines, Ill., was cleaning fish. Suddenly he heard a cheer outside. Poking his head through the tent-flap, Scout Taylor was quick to recognize sparrow-legged U. S. Ambassador to England Charles Gates Dawes. No lavatory in his tent, Scout Taylor rushed out, fishy paws and all. Ambassador Dawes held out a clean white hand. "Afraid I can't shake hands," said the Scout, "I've been scaling fish." The Ambassador grinned, gripped the boys wrist.

P: At the Scottish camp Edward of Wales lit his pipe, threw the match on the ground. Canny, a young Scot picked it up, auctioned it off for five shillings ($1.20).

P: Beaming Scouts from Venezuela, Latvia, China, Finland, squatted cross-legged side by side with beaming scouts from Siani, France, Australia, many another country, watched U. S. Scouts perform on the parade ground. They watched exhibitions of wrestling, mimic warfare, campfire making, model house building.

Nearby sat Sir Robert Baden-Powell, 72, founder of all Scouts. Chuckling, he remarked: "Some famous journalist said we would all be battling if we attempted to bring together so many different nationalities. Yet here we are, happy, ready and tolerant."