The Red Cloud chief., 1889-11-08
MExico'S WEST POINT.
How Cadets Are Trained In the MilitaI
School ut Chspultepec.

How Cadets Are Trained In the Military
School ut Chapultepec.
At present about thirty per cent. Of
the officers of the army are graduates of
the national Military College al Cha
pultepec, where about three hundred
cadets constantly are in training. and
whence about sixty officers are graduated
annually. The course pursued here is
similar to that at West Point, and the
gradual retirement of the older officers,
combined with this constant addition Of
young officers who have been thoroughly
trained in accordance with the best of
modern military theories, is having a
very marked effect in raising the moral
tone of the army and in increasing its
practical efficiency. The cadets, as a
rule. are drawn from the upper classes
of Mexican society, but among them
and this is a very prominent element in
the new army-are a number of young
fellows whose brown or brOwnish skins
show their native Indian blood. 1t is a
notable and hopeful fact that the
native Indians more and more are COM
ing to the front in the government Of
their own country. Juarez, who, all
things considered, was the greatest
statesman that Mexico as yet has pro-
duced, was an Indian Of the pure blood,
and President Diaz owes in part to his
dash Of this fine strain his patient reso-
luton and his steady courage in con-
tending with great difficulties. The
presence of these brown-faced lads
among the cadets, and of brown
faced men in the national Congress and
in the various departments of the
government, is q sign of healthy
national growth, Of which tho
Importance scarcely Ear be over
estimated. As a whole, the ca
Diet battalion presents a fine sOldierly
appearances; and the individual cadet,
as seen on the streets of the City Of
Mexico on Sundays and feast-days, when
off from Chapultepec on all day leave,
is as we'll set-up, sOldierly a young fellow
as is to be found anywhere. And even
the ''cOckyness" of these spruce lads in
their handsome uniforms. while likely
to make an old soldier smile a little in
a kindly way. is a sign of proper pride
in an honorable profession that an old
soldier best appreciates and is least dis
posed seriously to condemn. Pride in
the uniform means pride in the service,
and is a sign that when the time comes
for fighting neither the uniform nor the
service will be disgraced. The Chapul-
tepec boys have gallant traditi ons to
sustain them. for in the time of the
American invasion they bore a brave
part in defending the hill on which
their college stands against the assault
of SCOTS army. At the base of the
hill a monument fittingly commence
rates the heroism of these young SOL
diers and elOquently exhibits how we'll
they fought by the long list of names
craven upon it OF those who that day
died. Altogether, the Military College
is an institution of which the Mexicans,
in the army and out of it, are justly
proud: for both in it's processes and in
its results it is highly creditable to the
nation at large. Ao,important adjunct
he college, Ae&tly established, is
artillery schdka jim which officers of
that arm take a postgraduate course,
and 10 which officers in the service are
detailed for observation-disclosures A.
Janvier. in Harper's Magazine.