Hearst was aware of the Boy Scouts of America, formed months earlier by the rival publisher William D. Boyce, but pursued his own vision of Scouting and incorporated the ABS in June 1910[3]: 68 [4] in New York along with James F. McGrath and James R.

[2]: 413-416  Edgar M. Robinson and Ernest Seton requested that Hearst unite the ABS with the BSA but were rejected.

Additional departments were also formed: Atlantic (New York City), Middle West (Chicago), Northwest (San Francisco), and Southwest (Los Angeles).

[2] The American Boy Scouts of Rhode Island was founded by Charles E. Mulhearn on August 29, 1910, with the meeting of an executive committee.

The next day, the Rhode Island committee requested a charter from the ABS New England Department Headquarters.

[6] Hearst had conflicts with the ABS directors over the methods of financing and the improper and unauthorized use of his name for the solicitation of money.

The ABS board of directors voted in October 1913 to change the name of the organization to the United States Boy Scout (USBS), primarily to prevent the confusion.

[citation needed] In 1915, BSA President Colin H. Livingstone claimed that the USBS carried guns as part of the program.

[1]: 315  After the BSA received a federal charter in 1916, Chief Scout Executive James E. West pressed the USBS to change its name without success.

The BSA filed a lawsuit for an injunction order to restrain the USBS from using the term "Boy Scout" in 1917.

[19] The BSA was represented by Charles Evans Hughes, former Governor of New York and former U.S. Supreme Court Justice.