[English] BOY POLITICIANS IN GERMANY. The Vogue of the Scout Movement.

BOY POLITICIANS IN GERMANY.

The Vogue of the Scout Movement.

Two very interesting questions have been raised by the trial of Rathenau's youthful assassin in Leipzig. The composition of the court assembled for the occasion includes many politicians of anti-monarchist opinion, whose questioning is designed to implicate members of monarchist leagues not yet indicated. This judicial tribunal can scarcely be called unbiased, and in the interest of German justice it is urged that the reform necessary since the revolution in a strictly conservative body of judges, should not be effected at the cost of impartiality. The prejudice so openly shown against the league of youthful monarchists, of which the accused boys were members, brings into public notice the astounding development of the Boy Scout movement in Germany since it originated on the English model a few months after Sir R. Baden-Powell's scheme had taken firm root at home.

Those early "Birds of Passage" and "Pathfinders" who went forth on Sundays in the early days in Germany, with no hats, bare legs, a primitive cooking outfit, and a guitar, are causing elderly pedagogues and citizens in general the gravest misgivings now. The organisations lacked the ethical suggestion contained in "one good action every day," but they implied long tramps in the open and good comradeship, to the tune of songs that delighted the ears of the old and jaded. The revolution seized the opportunity, and proletarian organisations of the young were born whose aims were frankly political. The other side promptly followed suit. "Young German," "New Pathfinders," "Free-German," and "Fatherland" Leagues have different political aims, in the sense that the Sunday gatherings and the guitar, with the songs snited to the political frame of mind, are common to all. Conservative leagues cling apparently to the idea of a uniform, and the strictly "national" members wear, on their excursions abroad, a very fair copy of the garb of the German peasant as worn in the Middle Ages. Very long hair, brushed back, and a coloured shirt belted over the knickers, as the uniform of a number of young men ranging in age from six to twenty-two, proclaim their political convictions at once. Proletarian youth scorns any such uniform, and, physically less fit, is more prone to hold meetings in balls, followed by those processions in the streets which form the main part of any Communist demonstration.

These leagues are far too numerous for any detailed enumeration. Highly interesting from the anti-feminist stand is the degeneration that has set in since members of both sexes were voted eligible for membership to nearly all of them. Immorality is not the general rule, but a painful exception occurs often enough to prejudice against them even those in favour of politics for the young.

Source:

1. Page 9, "Hongkong Telegraph", Wednesday, 22nd November, 11th Year of the Republic of China

   • 4th Day, 10th Lunar Month, Ren-xu Year

   • Wednesday, 22nd November, 1922 Common Era