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decide on what to omit where time is so limited. Many students find the whole 

 subject uninteresting and even distasteful. ;ind these are the ones to whom much 

 attention should be given, for they are generally the ones most in need of the 

 physical exercise — for their own health. The athletic men are generally the 

 best soldiers and take the most interest in lectures and recitations as well as in 

 the drills. 



"That the work so outlined is of value to the Government can not now be 

 questioned. The many valuable odicers now in the Army whose only military 

 training was obtained in the land-grant colleges bear testimony to this. 



" Earnest and faithful work on the part of the instructor, with the cooperation 

 and support of the faculty, aided l>y the natural liking of many students for the 

 military, can not fail to render the course successful and give the Government a 

 fair interest on its investment — even with but three hours weekly for each 

 •student. The more this time can be increased the better for the Government 

 and, in the opinion of the writer, for the physical and mental welfare of the 

 student and the ultimate good of the college." 



Coming now to the second part of the question proposed, namely, the relation 

 of the colleges to the War Department, there are two attitudes which the 

 Department may take with reference to military instruction in the colleges. 

 The one view is that the Government has bestowed large endowments on these 

 colleges, and has a right to demand in return special military service which 

 men educated in these colleges can render, and to prescribe the methods of the 

 training which tits them for that service. To this view no objection can be 

 taken if it is not in in-actlce carried so far as to exact of the students an amount 

 of effort which wotdd imi)air then* efficiency in their chosen field of study, and 

 so drive them into other institutions and thus defeat its own intent. It is 

 natural also and honorable in the military authorities at Washington that they 

 should seek to prescribe a stand;ird of instruction and discipline which bears 

 some comparison with that splendid training at West Point which gives dignity 

 and prestige to an officer in tiie Army of the United States, or at least that 

 their point of view and their estimate of military education should be largely 

 under such influence. Then there arises a difference of judgment between the 

 Department and the colleges as to how much may be insisted on in the way of 

 military discipline, in which we find the Department virtually saying to us, 

 with milit.-iry courtesy, but with military firnmess : "We will not detail an 

 army officer to conduct your military instruction unless we can dictate substan- 

 tially the amount, the methods, and all the conditions of such instruction." 



The other view which the Government might take is not to insist on military 

 training as an obligation on the part of the colleges and the detail of an officer 

 as a concession carrying with it a certain supervisory right over the colleges, 

 but to look at the whole situation as an opportunity of which both parties 

 should strive to make the utmost for the good of the country at large. 



Here is a body consisting of many thousands of the choice young men of all 

 the States < f the I'nion, as good material as the country or the world affords 

 for making citizen soldiers — such soldiers as the country is likely to need— 

 and at an ex]iense to the Government which is trifling compared with what 

 any other method of getting such soldiers would cost. There is a certain 

 amount of the military spirit — call it the patriot-military spirit — which it is 

 desirable to cultivate in our youth — not too much, not the militarism of France 

 and Germany — not too little, not the supineness and neglect, inviting assault, 

 of the North before the war — but enough to inspire a sense of security and 

 compel respect. Let the Government take advantage of the opportunity it has 

 to get this moderate amount of military spirit diffused among the young men of 

 the nation and, along with it, the moderate amount of military training 

 which will make it practically effective in time of need. This it will best 

 accomplish, not by setting up a military regime of its own within a literary 

 institution, not by issuing orders from Washington which ignore or override 

 the policy and the regulations of the colleges, but i>y cooperating with the 

 institutions in a patriotic endeavor to make such adjustment of the legitimate 

 claims of the civil and military departments, respectively, that all shall attain 

 their maximum efficiency. Passing over some of the obvious considerations 

 tmder this head, we may be permitted respectfully to suggest for the con- 

 sideration of the Department : 



(1) That less emphasis be placed on the manual and technical branches of 

 military training, and more upon the higher, the intellectual, topics in the mili- 

 tary art. College students take "military tactics" as part of a liberal educa- 

 tion, not to fit them to serve as enlisted men. Introducing a cerain amount of 



