And State Papers 7 1 



of facts, when I say what I have said. And more 

 than that; not merely has West Point contributed 

 a greater number of the men who stand highest on 

 the nation's honor roll, but I think beyond question 

 that, taken as a whole, the average graduate of West 

 Point, during this hundred years, has given a greater 

 sum of service to the country through his life than 

 has the average graduate of any other institution 

 in this broad land. Now, gentlemen, that is not 

 surprising. It is what we had a right to expect 

 from this Military University, founded by the na 

 tion. It is what we had a right to expect, but I 

 am glad that the expectation has been made good. 

 And of all the institutions in this country, none is 

 more absolutely American, none, in the proper sense 

 of the word, more absolutely democratic than this. 

 Here we care nothing for the boy's birthplace, 

 nor his creed, nor his social standing; here we care 

 nothing save for his worth as he is able to show 

 it. Here you represent with almost mathematical 

 exactness all the country geographically. You are 

 drawn from every walk of life by a method of 

 choice made to ensure, and which in the great ma 

 jority of cases does ensure, that heed shall be paid 

 to nothing save the boy's aptitude for the profession 

 into which he seeks entrance. Here you come to 

 gether as representatives of America in a higher and 

 more peculiar sense than can possibly be true of any 

 other institution in the land, save your sister college 

 that makes similar preparation for the service of 

 the country on the seas. 



