The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-07-22
NAVY men AT SCHOOL.
WHERE OUR SEA OFFICERS ARE
EDUCATED AND TRAINED.
Cadets Have Little Leisure and
Must Submit to Very Strict
Discipline.

at Annapolis about o'clock yesterday
morning, the curtain fell on the last
act of the fifty-second academic year
OF the institution that fits young men
to- be officers of the navy
As the happy and lovely women who
graced the bali given to the graduating
class by the class next Junior to them
turned from the ballroom their verdict
was that there was no place like the
Naval Academy, and this opinion was
echoed by men holding responsible and
important places in civil life.
The graduates of the Naval Academy
have invaded the field of general liter
azure and obtained distinction in its
honorable ranks; they have been sue
cessful in business; they have died on
the field of battle for their country;
they have been their country's defense
in time Of peril, and they have made
the new ships of the American navy
possible
Among the graduates, now civilians,
are NJ. E. Cooley, professor in the Uni
versity of Michigan; Louis Duncan of
the faculty of Johns Hopkins Universi-
ty, Baltimore; r. NJ. Thompson, Presi-
dent of the Oxford Copper Company:
Park Benjamin, scientific expert; ]. S.
Barnes, banker; Lewis Nixon, ship
builder; j. w. Miller of the New York
Naval Militia and E. w. Very of the
Hqotchkiss Gun Company. Among the
brilliant younger men stiIl in the navy
are Lieutenant n. j. L. T. Halpine, in
ventor of a dirigible torpedo; Lieuten-
ant b. A. F'iske, inventor of the range
finder, and scores of other inventors.
The graduates of the Naval Academy
have been the indispensable coadjutors
Of the older naval constructors in the
designs for the ships of the new navy,
and have, indeed, largely produced the
new ships. They have built their en-
gines they have invented the methods
Of installing the electric appliances of
the latest ships; they have designed,
built and tested the armament of these
men-of-war which they command when
afioat; they manage the largest gun
foundry in the United States; they rep
resent the Government abroad as naval
attaches of foreign legations; they de-
fend our commerce in distant seas; they
support the flag and the rights Of the
nation in every zone; they have Gre
ated an educational naval literature;
they have invented scientific apparatus
=
they have devised apparatus that has
benefited the navigators of every coun-
try, and they have kept in touch with
every need of a scientific navy.
George Bancroft created the Naval
Academy. Isaac Mayo located it at
Annapolis The first agitation for the
establishment of a school for the ed
ucation of the officers of the navy be-
10 oh oil
tary academy for the army In re-
port made by the Secretary of War,
James McHeny, in 1900, submitting a
plan for a military academy, he sug-
gested four schools-a fundamental
school, a school of engineers and ar
tillerists, a school of cavalry and in
famtry and a school of the navy.
West Point was established in 1902,
but no provision was made for the ed
ucation of the navy beyond the schools
on shipboard. which were admitted fail
ures-irst, from the impossiblity of
making scholars of youths who were
subject to official duties: second, the
inadequacy of the school apartments;
third, the incompetency and insufficient
cy in numbers of the teachers for the
several branches of learning necessary
1t was not until October 10, 1916, that
Secretary Bancroft established ''the
greatest naval school in the world" as
Admiral Montt of the Chilean navy re-
Gently called it. The students at that
period were men, midshipmen. who had
seen service af1oat, and had learned all
the wtldness of the navy, without any
of it's seriousness. They dared viola
A. ~ hos "A
would not be dreamed of in these times.
For giving unnecessary evidence that
implicated others in an inquiry pending,
a cadet was seized bne evening, just
after supper and carried to the gas
house and tarred and featherd; two
other midshipmen fought a duel with
pistols in the yard, and one conviviai
young salt rode up the steep steps of
the City Hotel on horseback into the
bar and demanded a drink.
The aim of the course at the Naval
Academy is to educate a naval cadet
professionally. Whatever of culture,
outside the knowledge peculiar to his
profession as naval officer, that he ac-
quires. the naval cadet will have to OBJ
tain before he enters the academy, or
after he leaves it. There is room for
nOLnlUS
ty-four hours can be pressed into day,
the academic term heightened, or new
man invented The cadet is on a re-
sistless move from 6 a. m. to 10 p. M.
with only time to meet one regular duty
before another is at hand. Hence,
propositions to increase the studies re-
ceive no encouragement from officers
familiar with what is taught at the
oaada,oxr opd roc,1fY-pd " 10 service
At o'clock the cadet rises to the
sound of the reveille gun and the bugle
call. An inspecting officer opens his
room door to see that the cadet is up.
He dresses and turns down his bed
clothes for airing. At O'Clock he goes
to roll-call chapel and breakfast.
These over he returns to quarters.
makes up his bed and puts his room in
order for inspection. Woe be to him
If a piece of paper is found on the floor,
or the wardrobe door is left open, for
report and dement's follow. At s
O'Clock. the cadet, if he has Rotations
moves off in his section under military
leadership. the ranking cadet in scho-
lastic or official standing having COM
mand of the squad. If the cadet have
no recitations at that hour he remains
in his room for study. He dare not
leave it except for special and permit
ted causes. This order continues until
nearly l o'clock, when the bugle sounds
for dinner formation. when the bat
TALON is formed again and roll-cali of
the four companies is made.
Dinner over. recitations and study
hours begin again at , o'clock and end
at O'Clock, when practical exercises