Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-01-26
MORALS AT WEST POINT.

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The Chicago Tribune publishes private
letter from graduate at West Point, which
is rather severe on the morals Of the Mill.
tary academy. After praising it as a school
of science, the writer says:
At West Point there is no moral infiu.
ence. Not even the common barriers Of
! society are there 10 check and restrain the
strong tendency toward vice. Religion
there is not even a name, save to be scoffed
at and derided. The natural result of all
this il immortality, vulgarity, profanity and
iicentiousness to fearful degree. Much Of
this is checked by the strict confinement
and ridgid discipline, but it bursts forth al
every opportunity, and nothing but strong
thorough reorganization of the whole course
of training can ever change the moral at.
mosphereat West Point.
Yonng men go there every year with
good habits, with unsullied regulations
and ere six months have passed they are
completely debauched-their ideas are all
changed. The principles which were as
dear 10 them as life are broken and forget.
ten. Morally they are ship-wrecked, and
those who come after them imbibe their
ideas and follow their bad example. In
order 20 make their practices more distinct,
ly known to you, will begin with the time
the new cadet reports He is put under the
eharge or the older cadets, who, under the
pretense of teaching him discipline, treat
him with the greatest brutality; and those
whose duty it Is to care for him will assist
the other cadets to heap insults and petty
indignities upon him. He is made TO re-
peat, from the mouths of his tormentors,
the vilest and most indecent stories and
songs stand upon mantel>pieee and adj
dress upon some vulgar subiect) his audi
ence of Older cadets, until his limbs are
ready to fall of their duty and many
other harrassing things-some of which
it would not be decent to Write--he is made
to do.
You may ask why an American youth OF
any spirit will endure such things, and why
the officers allow it. First, when new
and at once he Is set upon by twenty or
thirty old cadets, whom he hardly knows
whether he ought to obey or not. If he
dares to disobey he must fight, else the
opinion of the corps will be that he is a
coward. If be fights, he is sure of being
beaten, for a stronger man is always pitted
against him, and il is custom of the corps
for the third class 10 go into " training
about month before the "Plebes" arrive,
so az to be able to fog the new corners.
You may exclaim, "What high-toned
honor % 1t is the honor which West Point
cadets show to new cadets. After going
into camp the new cadet, or Odd Plebe,"
as he is called, must do the work of the
old cadets, make beds, clean guns,
run errands, light pipes, and fill pals OF
water, which have been upset on purpose
to make work for him; these and other
things must he do and at the same time
hear the most brutal language addressed
to him at all times If he refuses TO work,
he is struck, or pail of water is thrown
upon him, and then the public opinion OF
the corps requires him TO fight, and with
seconds, umpire, and all the equipments of
the prize ring, these affairs of honor come
off. Even at the mess hall, this petty
tyranical system is displayed; the ''Plebes"
are only allowed what the Older cadets do
not wish to eat themselves.
There are certain number Of the upper
classes of the cadets, appointed officers
over the rest, and if they have any dislike
for any of the fourth class (PIebes), they
show their reYengefnI spirit by reporting
them for deeds which they have never com-
mitted. The old cadets do not consider it
dishonorabIe TO treat a "Plebe" in this
manner They are dead to every idea Of
justice, deeency, or even common humans
ity