The comet., 1880-04-17

severe punishment upon him
send him to West Point. But in cases o. would
sort 1t makes no difference wheth VI This
cadet is white or colored, and hav The
for moment stopped to considsr not
phase of the question, and am olaI mat
that the s -nator from Indiana has nv. " Bee
80. We support this resolution unon l. uohe
grounds, and rest it upon considerat;na n,Rher
humanity and the good order and sfioins fioiis OF
necessary to the administration of The
portant public trust. The Senate ono,i in'
know all the facts in the case. and ;su' y 70
parties who belong to the corps of ,,,;l. me
this young man is a member. or 10 "ul"h
persons not connected with the ins,;,'aer o'aer
are the criminals, the country shonlJ ha
it and the guilty parties should be nro,~,, nnoW
and adequately punished. ''"p'ly
do not propose to institute n con,n-,
son between this and other instjtntoIp"ari.
learning as to their methods of admin" OF
ton; l do not know that there ,la' are oMu
Institutions as vicious in the direction ~'er n'
der discussion as West Point: bnt ~, 'a'
know that we arc more directly connoa. w
with the control of this, Governm mant o
National institution, than of anv otbos "uu
similar character in the country. and thot VI
public opinion holds us responsible for 'uat MI
conduct of its affairs 1t is hard to Sue
ceive that such excesses as have somat;,r on'
occurred at West Point, in the matton s
hazing ard other irregularities and persono VI
indignities, could happen in military ID
stitute with its exact and stringent dis discn ;n'
line, unless there was vice somewharo T.
the methods of governing the institutionu ~
and believe this investigation will bavo
healthy influence upon the officers charooS
with the administration and control W
West Point.
Mr.. Hoar. Mr.. President, I do ~.
think this case ought to be confonnded w
the Senator from Indiana seems to ooa 40
found it, with the ordinary cases of hszna
which has existed, as we all know. in ali s ons
large colleges, and which has existed n
West Point in the past. That brutal svsto -
came to us by lawful inheritance from inv
English schools. I suppose there are fa~ Jaw
illustrations of savage brutality to be fonnd
in the practices of civilized nations orastos
than those furnished by the brufaIities
practiced in former generations, and in somo
respects at present, by English BOYS unon
one another in their great public schools
That occurs in the first year, not in tbs
third year, in our colleges. The good
y in.
structors, the fact that boys now enter col.
leges at more advanced age than formerly
are largely curing that abuse in many inst.
tutions of education, but the treatment Of
the colored pupils at West Point stands hv
itself alone. The colored boys who have
entered West Point have been subjected tn
course of treatment there which, if
cannot be put stop to, ought to result in
the abolition of the institution itself and
the resorting to some other method of edu.
eating officers for the service of the Repub.
lie.
Now, as a rule, the young men at West
Point abstain from outrages of the charsc.
ter which have been alluded to by the Sen.
ator from Indianaa; but, as a rule, they
have INDUCED until very recently, and per-
haps do still indulge, in a course of conduct
more cruel than any physical brutality such
as has been described. The coored boy
who enters Wes. Point, unless the practice
of that institution has changed within
year or two, is in as complete solitude
from the time he enters until his gradua-
ton, as Robinson Crusoe was on his desc.
late island. Everything which the discip
line of the institution demands from one
soldier to another next him in the ranks is
scrupulously performed; but the boy Is left
absolutely without an associate; nobody
speaks to him; nobody calls upon him at
his room; nobody affords any sympathy 10
him in sickness or in sorrow. When be
enters the recitation or the examination
room aud takes his seat on bench, that
bench is left vacant. Who would not
rather have his son fight his way througha
dozen such attempts at hazing as have been
described than spend four years of his life,
of the sensitive period of growing boyhood,
in such solitude as that?
1 suppose that centuries ago. when The
pride of rank and of caste existed among
the civilized countries of Europe, some.
thing like that might have happened in the
case of boy of poor and humble origin;
who had gone into university which had
been appropriated to the children Of the
rich; but the manly feeling of boyhoOd
and the example and instruction of the
men in charge of the institutions, the
teachers, have long since cured all thatand
I suppose any English or American boy
would consider it the basest thing he could
do to treat in that way any other boy on
account of humbleness or poverty of origin
but | am afraid the Instructors at West
Point have not succeeded, and | am not
qnite sure that many of them have tried to
impress on the classes there that the basest
thing they can do is to treat a young color,
ed youth as a person to be exiled from all
the sympaGhies and associations of human.
ty on account of the color of his skin; and
this American Republic, with its -four
million colored citizens equal before the
and the law, will grind that in
stitution to powder unless this abuse Z"
cured.
The President then announced that the
hour had expired.