55 
of the order. They were especially insistent upon the idea that the Secretary of War 
would not he willing to make any modification, because he had given so much 
attention to the matter. 
I have often wished in the course of these years that I have been connected with 
this committee that the Secretary of War would consult us in advance, and I think* 
we might well be consulted before orders are issued. This order was made without 
any previous consultation with the institutions concerned. It seems to me, as we 
come in contact with the War Department, we ought to impress upon it the idea that, 
while we are in thorough cooperation with the purposes of the Department in gen- 
eral, our interests are not respected as perfectly as they seem to suppose, and 
therefore a little previous consultation would save, if not friction, some hardship at 
certain points. 
On the occasion to which I have referred we found the officers were insistent 
upon a literal interpretation of the order, but on the other hand they were very 
willing that the interpretation should be made as elastic as the circumstances of the 
different institutions required. It was difficult to get any concession further than 
that; but the substance of the suggestion wereceived was that, while they did not 
feel willing to yield anything in form, they were willing to yield all that was neces- 
sary in substance. We met, as a representative of the Department, an officer who 
has had active military service during the Spanish war, who is a thorough soldier in 
all his instincts and training, and at the same time a stickler for the literal inter- 
pretation and application of his orders. Yet, going over this whole field with him 
as we did, and with his purpose distinctly stated to carry out the orders of the War 
Department just as far as circumstances would allow, we had absolutely no difficulty 
in fulfilling the requirements of the War Department according to his understanding. 
The order of the War Department is likely to stand; there is no likelihood of 
securing any important modification or relaxation of it, but with good sense and 
patience, with due consideration of the circumstances of each institution, and with 
a thoroughly loyal purpose to carry out the object of the law, so far as circumstances 
will allow, there is not likely to be any friction with the War Department, or, if 
there is, a personal visit to the Department, either by the committee or some of its 
members, or by a Senator or Representative in their behalf, will secure a fair and 
considerate statement of the situation in every case — certainly in ninety-nine out of 
a hundred — and relieve all possible cause of complaint on our side. 
I do not think, Mr. Chairman, that the committee needs to be continued, and I 
should like to move that it be discharged. 
The motion of Mr. Atherton was seconded. 
E. A. Bryan, of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I am opposed to the discharge of the 
committee; I should be glad to see it continued, and I should be glad to see some 
improvement in the condition of military instruction in this country as a result of 
the action of this association and this committee. 
The system of military education in the land-grant colleges has now been in oper- 
ation for forty years; in all that length of time it has made no advancement. If this 
class of instruction is to be a part of the recognized military instruction of the United 
States, there should undoubtedly be a great deal of improvement in the conditions 
now prevailing. If it is not to be a part of the system of military instruction of the 
United States, then I think it would be well that some change should be made. I 
think that this committee ought to be continued and we should look forward to 
some change. 
As a matter of fact, there has been less attention given on the part of Congress to 
the military instruction in the land-grant colleges than there has been to the instruc- 
tion of the National Guard in the several States; yet the amount of instruction in any 
given year to any given set of men has been twenty times as great in the land-grant 
colleges as in the National Guard. 
