Figure 1.--This portrait of Pack 144 in Seattle was taken in 1938. It looks to be an Elemntary School pack. The boys are all wearing the short pants uniform. As far as we can tell from the photographic record, knickers were much more common. We think that the short pants uniform were primarily worn on the West Coast and in the South. A reader points out hat there are Canadian Cubs mixed in with the American boys. He writes, "I see a sixer and an assistant sixer." We note about six boys that seem to be Canasdian. The portrait was taken by W.F. Goodrich Photography.

Cubbing in America grew slowly in its first few years. The National Committee on Cubbing closely supervised the new program. The Executive Board was pleased to find their fears that Cubbing would draw needed leaders from from Boy Scouts prove ill founded. Of the Cubbing Leaders, over 75 percent had never previously participated in Scouting. On May 25, 1933 the Executive Board removed the "experimental" label from Cubbing and aggressive marketing began. The operation of the original Cub packs and dens have many similarities to modern Cub Scouts, but there have been some major changes: Packs: The original Cub packs was quite similar to current packs. Cubbing was for the 9 to 11 year old boy. The ranks he earned were Wolf, Bear and Lion, (former Cubs through the 1950s might remember the Lion rank) and a boy had to pass Bobcat entrance tests before he could start working on his ranks. Dens: The original Cub den, however, was noteably different from modertn dens. As originally designed, the Cub Den was run by an older Boy Scout called the Den Chief (we still have those, they are helpers and not organizers). Although she had no official role in the den, the mother of the home where the den met frequently helped with the den. It soon became clear that dens with adult leadership did better than those with the Den Chief alone. Optional registration for Den Mothers (like the British Akela) was approved by the Executive Board on April 30, 1936. The first Den Mothers Handbook was published in March, 1937. Registration of Den Mothers was not required until 1948. Another major difference between then and now is the Den Chief or the Cubmaster signed off on the Cubs requirements, not the parents as they do now. The original Cub uniform was, like the modern uniform, blue. The boys wore knickers, there was no long pants in the original Cubbing. The uniform was fairly expensive, a considerable drawback in depression era America. (The stock market crashed in 1929 leading to the Great Depression.) The complete Cub uniform in 1930 sold for $6.05 (that is equivalent to about $57.00 today). The Den Mother's smock, first offered in 1937, sold for $3.50 (equivalent to about $38.00 today). The BSA in 1933 started a monthly publication called The Cub Leaders' Round Table offering ideas on pack and den activities. By 1939 many local councils were offering annual gatherings of Cub Leaders for training purposes. This continues to this day with annual training gatherings called Pow Wows. Cubbing ended 1930 with only about5,100 registered Cubs. In 1939 there were nearly 235,000 registered Cubs and 42,000 leaders--a considerable achievement considering the Depression. Cubs became entenched in many elementary schools.