Loyal but Untrustworthy

Scandal has spread to that bastion of model morality, the Boy Scouts of America. Last week the organization acknowledged that leaders in at least ten local councils had ignored the Scout oath to be "mentally awake and morally straight," and padded their membership rolls with tentfuls of nonexistent boys.

Their purpose was to meet the ambitious quotas of a recruitment drive called the Boypower Campaign. Begun in 1968, it was supposed to increase membership by 2 million boys, to a total of 6.5 million by the time of the U.S. Bicentennial. But some of the organization's 4,600 full-timeprofessionals soon found their quotas unattainable. Apparently fearing for their jobs, they signed up thousands of fictitious scouts, in some cases even paying the registration fees. Scout officials have already resigned or been fired in Chicago, Detroit and Tulsa, Okla., and the investigation is continuing. Says Detroit Area Council Director Joseph Wyckoff: "When you try to teach youngsters integrity and trustworthiness, it's inconceivable to have professionals who don't follow scouting rules and the law."

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