The sun., 1891-01-02

Of the shefleld School at Yale. Lieut..
MCCAIN Of the Louisiana State Uni
versity, Lieut.. KREBs Of Allegheny Col
lego ct Meadville. and Lieut.. OABANBs
Of the South Carolina Military Academy.
Lieut. KNIGHT reports Opposition on the
part Of individual members OF the faculty
to the strict and rigid rules 80 essential In .
thorough military organization" Lieut..
SoorT. at the Maryland Agricultural College.
suggests that the relation Of tho oficer to
tho general discipline OF the institution
should be clearly defined. Upon this opin-
NON the President Of the college makes
dry comment:
"This susssstion 10 agreed TO II the wsrds by The
college authortes' be added rhs dudes OF the ofosr
IN h relation discipline are clearly defined at
th ooess he executes the ofds OF the President ana
exercises such authority ~ 10 delegated 70 him"
As there are only thirty-two students In
attendance at that institution. and It pays
Lieut.. SooTT e400 yearly for instruction In
mathematics and drawing doubtless the
President feels at liberty to make this ex-
PLANTATION. Lieut.. HuaHEs, at the Bingham
School in North Carolina, thinks that all tho
institutions OF learning should pay some
thing for the services Of officers OF the United
States detailed to them.
There is much difference among tho insti-
tutions as to tho military COURSE some Of
them making 1t compulsory, others partially
80, others optional. Half dozen have had
some military camping. The United States
supplies arms and ammunition. except In
eight or ten instances, where the State or
the college furnishes them. Some officers
would like to have tents provided and also
field pieces. In some cases whore tho
latter are now available artillery tar
get practice Is indulged in; but In
seventeen cases there is no target practice
even with small arms. The annual inspec-
tion by War Departments officers recently
established may be Of service In bringing up
to better standard the institutions that
are inclined to make too little use OF the
privileges thus granted. The whole subject
becomes OF practical Importance, as the
Senate at its last session passed q bill TO
increase considerably the number Of de
tailed officers, and the House Military Com
mittee has reported 1t favorsbly. Mean
while Secretary PRooToB, finding that there
are more applications for such officers than
can be detailed under the present law. rec
ommends an increase Of tho maximum to
seventy-five.
That this is an economical method Of CIV
Ing popular military education, fitting .
large number Of young men for military
service should the country need them, can
not be questioned. Many Of the students
thus taught will also themselves become
teachers, and may instruct their own pupils
In turn. Still, II we examine the institutions
now on tho list we find that some OF them
apparently have too few students to Justify
the Government In parting with the services
Of line officer throughout the year. unless
there Is really surplus Of officers for such
purposes. For example. we find one Of
the colleges to which officers are now de-
tailed having an aggregate Of only 80 male
students; two others having only A each;
still another only 50; four more. fewer than
100. Even In those institutions which OK
ceed these numbers perhaps only a small
part may be found taking part In military
drill. One institution which has 94S male
students furnishes only SO to the military
department.; another which has S21 fur
nishes IS; third which has ITO furnishes "a,
and 50 on. We find no fewer than six col
leges which yield fewer than 80 each for
military exercises. one Of them giving only
%. some drill every day. others three times
week, six Of them only twice. and one only
once. Possibly, therefore, the bill author
izing greater number of details might be
accompanied by the provision that these
shall only be made when. in the opinion Of
the Secretary Of War, there are no COM
pany duties urgently requiring the presence
OF the officer 80 detailed to which he could
be assigned under the laws.