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prominenl feature, but the late war with Spain shows that those officers who 
came from the land-grant colleges served with distinction and with credit. I 
believe thai Hie West results that we can hope to obtain will he by the recogni- 
tion of these institutions as .111 integral pari of our system of military educa- 
tion and a proper source from which, upon occasion the officers of the United 
States Army amy he recruited, 
C. II. Van Hisf. of Wisconsin. The question for us is. What is the minimum 
to which we can all accede? The irreducible minimum of two hours per week 
incorporated in the resolutions offered in general session this morning (sec 
p. f>:;i was selected because this is the amount which is the practice of various 
large institutions at the present time. We in Wisconsin have two hours per 
week, and we hold that to he a full and fair compliance with the Morrill Act. 
We require also two hours of athletic work two days per week in the gym- 
nasium, so students get the setting-up exercises and development work which 
in other institutions is done in the military department. The resolution does 
not say that the officers shall not give more than two hours per week during 
two years. Indeed, at the University of Wisconsin and at other institutions, 
all officers are selected from the junior and senior classes and are required to 
give two hours additional work during three or four years in order to make 
effective their work as drill officers. 
I am sure the resolution expresses the view of a large number of colleges as 
to the irreducible minimum. I feel that if the association will unite we can 
get the Secretary of War to give a decision on this point. 
Mr. Thach. It seems to me that taking action as to an irreducible minimum 
of two hours a week rather puts the colleges that require three or five hours 
in an improper position with their student bodies. 
Mr. Van Hise. Not at all. If a college does not require much gymnastic 
work it is proper to require more military work. In Wisconsin we used to 
require four hours a week in military in the freshman and sophomore classes, 
but when we got a large body of men we believed it proper to give half the 
time to military work and half to athletic work. 
A. Scott, of New Jersey. The original Morrill Act intended that the legis- 
latures of the States should prescribe the curriculum, only conforming to the 
general statement of the law. The State legislatures have very properly given 
the matter into the hands of the trustees, and the trustees have intrusted it 
to the faculty. There is in theory a perfect system of national and local con- 
trol. I am not behind any of those who have spoken in giving tribute to the 
excellencies of this form of education up to a certain point, but by virtue of 
the Morrill Act we are not constituted a set of military colleges, and I think 
this association should insist upon its right to control the military instruc- 
tion provided for in the organic law of the land-grant institutions. 
R. W. Stimson. of Connecticut. It seems to me that the relation of the land- 
grant college to the War Department is one purely of a bargain, and I think 
the War Department is at perfect liberty to state terms, provided it states them 
explicitly and does not mislead. If the War Department says. " If you want so 
much equipment gratis ; if you want a military officer gratis, and are willing to 
give five hours' instruction a week on specific subjects, we will close the bargain 
with you," it seems to me that is perfectly legitimate, right, and proper. 
L. II. Bailey, of New York. It is competent for any of these land-grant col- 
leges to have its own officers in military instruction. Is not this the solution of 
the matter? In that case we have no favors to ask. 
E. A. Burnett, of Nebraska. The conditions have become so difficult in our 
institution that unless some modification can he made within a year or two 
there is no question that the regents will find it necessary to permit the War 
