HUNGARY: Fourth Jamboree

Danube river steamers coasting downstream from Vienna were jammed last week with Boy Scouts of 37 nations, going to the Fourth World Jamboree of 30,000 Scouts in the former Royal Hunting Preserves 17 miles from Budapest. On one of the steamers, completely unnoticed by 100 U. S. Scouts keen at spotting the peculiarities of birds, trees and beetles, was an elderly Briton. The old man in mufti who kept the secret of his incognito was “B.-P.,” beloved Lieut.-General Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell, 76, founder of the Boy Scouts in 1908 and Chief Scout of the World. When he stepped spryly off the steamer, hailed by Hungarian Scouts who had been forewarned. Lord Baden-Powell was sped to a more than regal abode, an historic tent used by the Magyar conquerors of Hungary in 900 A. D., now the property of Count Teleki and loaned by him to the Jamboree.

A great patron of scouting. Count Teleki was in charge of the vast Scout Camp which had its own police, hospital, specially constructed water and lighting systems and a Jamboree newspaper published in five languages. Scottish Scouts stepped out in kilts, French came in green jumpers, blue shorts and berets. Swart Egyptian Scouts wore fezzes,Irak turned out in sun helmets, Siam sent scouts in black hats displaying a tiger’s head. But all proper Scouts in the Jamboree used the distinctive salute* of Lord Baden-Powell’s “Boy Scouts of the World.” Improper and ill at ease were 800 members of the Mussolini Balilla (substitute for Italy’s suppressed Boy Scouts) and 60 Hitler Youth Boys. When Nazis suppressed the German Boy Scouts last June, B.P. exclaimed: “I am very glad! The German Boy Scouts were not attached to us. They were military. We are unmilitary and unpolitical—just Boy Scouts and nothing more!” Last week Lord Baden-Powell, referring to the defunct World Monetary & Economic Conference, cried from his conqueror’s tent: “Old men have failed in all their recent conferences.† Now youth must show them the way!” Next day 10,000 Hungarian Boy Scouts and their 20,000 Scout guests showed the way to hold a Jamboree. (“Why call Scout get-togethers Jamborees?” reporters asked B.P. years ago. His answer: “Why not?”) Scout flags of all nations represented were blessed by Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Mohammedan dignitaries. In the reviewing stand appeared Sweden’s chief scout and presumptive future king, Prince Gustav Adolf, 27, eldest son of Crown Prince Gustav Adolf, 50. Then, as Scouts set up a mighty cheer, out on two prancing chargers rode B.P. and His Serene Highness Admiral Horthy, Regent of Hungary (whose 20-year-old pretender “King Otto” much resembles an apple-cheeked Boy Scout). “Hungary welcomes you!” cried Regent Horthy. “And Hungary welcomes the father of scouting, Lord Baden-Powell. I hope you will all enjoy your stay.” Ever practical, B.P. exhorted, “You are here for only a few days. I hope you all have notebooks and will list the names of all your new friends. Make a friend every day from a different country! Good luck to you all and good camping.” In the grand Jamboree march with banners flying, fifes trilling, bugles blaring and drums grumbling, Swedish Scouts distinguished themselves by releasing scores of toy balloons as they marched past Prince Gustav and his recently wedded Princess Sibylle. A letter from President Roosevelt, Honorary President of the Boy Scouts of America, was read: “It stirs our imagination and kindles our emotions to contemplate the possible implications growing out of this pilgrimage of these young men and boys . . . camping and living together for two weeks in good fellowship and harmony. . . . Such gatherings as this are among the most important contributions to world peace.” Soon 900,000 U. S. Scouts could hear two of their fellows speaking from the Jamboree over an international hookup. Both had obeyed the injunctions of B.P. “I have made five foreign friends in the short time I have been here,” reported Eagle Scout William Lloyd Smith, 17, of Newton, Mass. “Here we are making friends to last a lifetime!” cried Eagle Scout Joseph Summers, 16, of Jefferson City, Mo. ”The Fourth Scout Law is ‘A Scout is Friendly.’ ”

Aside from friendliness the business of the Jamboree will be to spread the Scout lore of each nation among all. U. S. Scouts will stage an Indian pageant. Today B.-P.’s Boy Scouts of the World number more than 2,000,000. Hungary, though she follows Great Britain, leads the rest of Europe in Boy Scouts, got the Jamboree for that reason. Of the 380 U. S. Scouts in Hungary last week most traveled on their earnings & savings, some at their parents’ expense, none on Scout funds. Greatest of Scout Jamborees was the Third at Arrowe Park, near Birkenhead, England in 1929. To that boomtime Jamboree went 1,300 U. S. Scouts and a total of more than 50,000 to make “the greatest gathering of boys of which there is any record.”

*Thumb and little finger touch across the palm while the three other finders are held straight. †The Geneva World Conference for Reduction and Limitation of Armaments also adjourned without substantial achievement (TIME, June 5).