690 Presidential Addresses 



decisive upon the standing and promotion of the lat- 

 ter. Just such a system now obtains at West Point. 

 The quality of each year's work determines the 

 standing of that year's class, the man being dropped 

 or graduated into the next class in the relative po- 

 sition which his military superiors decide to be 

 warranted by his merit. In other words, ability, 

 energy, fidelity, and all other similar qualities de- 

 termine the rank of a man year after year in West 

 Point, and his standing in the army when he grad- 

 uates from West Point; but from that time on, all 

 effort to find which man is best or worst, and 

 reward or punish him accordingly, is abandoned; 

 no brilliancy, no amount of hard work, no eagerness 

 in the performance of duty, can advance him, and 

 no slackness or indifference that falls short of a 

 court-martial offence can retard him. Until this 

 system is changed we can not hope that our officers 

 will be of as high grade as we have a right to expect, 

 considering the material upon which we draw. 

 Moreover, when a man renders such service as 

 Captain Pershing rendered last spring in the Moro 

 campaign, it ought to be possible to reward him 

 without at once jumping him to the grade of brig- 

 adier-general. 



Shortly after the enunciation of that famous 

 principle of American foreign policy now known 

 as the "Monroe Doctrine," President Monroe, in a 

 special Message to Congress on January 30, 1824, 

 spoke as follows : "The navy is the arm from which 



