The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-14
! of cadets in my Judgment fulflls the most
important part Of his many responsible
PHYSICAL CULTURE.

of cadets. in my Judgment, fulfills the most
important part of his many responsible
PHYSICAL CULTURE.
The admirably equipped gymnasium is
built in connection with large swimming
pool, the whole under the control of a COM
petent instructor. 1t was the writer's good
fortune to watch the working of the swim
ming school A certain proportion of the
newly admitted cadets know how to SWIM
but they find here that their knowledgesis
very primitive. They are swung with belt
and cord. and are made to learn over again
under careful teacher. supervised by the
instructor, until they become regular and
UNIFORM in all their movements. They are
then allowed TO swim independently, and
tneir exercise is Kept up week after week
speed for ten minutes at a stretch. Here,
as in all else, the perfection of attainment
Is limited only by the capacity OF the lndl-
vidual Every man is made good as he
is capable of becoming.
1t may be by some questioned whether or
not it is necessary, in order that a young
man may become a good officer, that he
should know as much or be able to do as
much as he IS made to do end is taught at
West Point; but that ii is, for other reasons,
a great thing for the country at its own
eacb coneressionaI tlietricff throuehout the
land subject to such complete training and
development no one can question: Were the
graduates of the academy to make no other
return to the country than to go back
among their own people as an example of
what may be done by proper intellectual
and physical education the maintenance of
the West Point Academy would still be
justified.
such terrible severity, formality and rightly
of rcquirement--of such education? The use
must be measured by the result. The writer
was a member of the board of visitors to
the Military Academy some years ago, and,
as its secretary prepared the report OF the
board to the secretary OF war. The Hollow
W. m g.
ton:
We have carefully watched the various
examinations and exhibitions and not
speaking of the members of the class in
higher standing, but considering only those
of average grade, we have seen young men
who four years ago came here from coun-
ucated barely well enough to be admitted,
far from erect in their bearing, often
slouchy and delicate in physique, and inca
pable of enduring fatigue or of continued
physical activity-we have seen these young
men, erect, bright, claan-cut and intelligent,
standing square upon both feet for ten or
fifteen minutes while giving an intelligent
demonstration of abstruse scientific prob
lens or passing examinations in other
branches most creditably; going through the
evolutions of dress parade as well as sol
diers who have no other duty and no other
training; handling a light battery in active
drill, evidently without fatigue and without
hesitation; performing equally we'll in cav
airy drill at target practice with siege guns
and spar bridge building and in every
branch OF the duty Of a soldier Acquiring
themselves with the skill of veterans and
with the intelligence of educated men.
Their exercise in the gymnasium and fenc-
ing school is excellent. In the riding school
the exhibition was an establishment to all
who saw it for the first time. A near APP
proach to perfection in such Craftsmanship
as is indispensable to Well-trained cavalry
soldier was to be expected, but the bareback
riding, mounting with one hand, vaulting
INTO the saddle and over the horse mount
ing and dismounting at gallop, taking the
ground when in motion, performed by the
whole class present-these and other exer
cises, when considered in connection with
all else that a cadet must learn to do with
his head and with his body, were more than
remarkable
AS this development of the individual has
as its primary purpose the creation OF the
officer the use of it must find it's final
demonstration in war, where the efficiency
of the whole army is put to the supreme
test, and where the interest of the Nation,
if not its very life, depends on its meeting
that test triumphantly. The two military
proverbs, "A good coIonel makes a good
regiment and THE captain is the mother
true in every war, especially here, where
the volunteer force is such pre-emnent
factor.
VALUE OF THE TRAINING.
1t was shown in the war of the rebellion
that regiments largely Differed by men who
had been trained to the proper care of their
commands, especially in the matter of food,
discipline, could be depended upon to turn
out IS 80 per cent. of their full force
as effective for duty, while regiment Off
cered mainly by men from civil life-espe-
cially with a colonel of no special training
for his duties-would, after few months,
seldom exceed 60 per cent. of eftectives.
Furthermore, the ignorance and inefficiency
that put on the sick and absent list thirty
five men out of each hundred showed itself
whose lack of vitality, Vigor and discipline
greatly lowered their value in war. Regi-
ments SO Differed and in such condition
were by far the greater source of our enor--
nous pension list for comparatively few OF
the names on this list are those of men who
We're wounded in action, nor were any very
large proportion of those disabled by dis
ease members of regiments intelligently and
properly cared for by competent ofhcerS.
The relative economy in the matter of cloth
ing and transportation was even greater.
tanf that an officer Should know how to lead
his men in battle than that he should know
how to take care of them in camp and on
the march. AT West Point the latter is as
thoroughly taught as is the former, the ne
cessity for maintaining an effective force as
well as for using that force effectively. The
cadet is a soldier he is not only taught;
he is trained in and Injured to every duty of
the enlisted man; when he is given charge
of enlisted men, he not only knows how he
should control them and care for them, but
he knows how they want him to care for
them. He knows how to save their lives up
to the moment when they must needs risk
them, and he knows how then to make that
risk heroic and effective.
When the Mexican war broke out there
We're nearly six hundred graduates in serv-
ice, and in civil life there were about the
same number of graduates or of cadets who
had nearly completed their courses. These
latter were available for the command of
volunteer troops. General Cullom tells us
that in that war our small but heroic
American army, in less than year and
half, though opposed by the quadruple force
of the enemy, won thirty victories, captured
forty thousand soldiers, took thousand
cannon and an immense amount of small
arms and munitions of war, carried ten
fortified places and the capital of the enemy,
and extended our conqueSts over the i'm
mense territory of Mexico and California
General Scott said: Il give it as my fixed
opinion that but for our graduated cadets
the war between the United States and
Mexico might and probably would have
lasted some four or five years, with, in its
first half, more defeats than victories fall
ing to our share; whereas, in less than two
campaigns we conquered a great country
and peace without the loss of a single bat
tie or a skirmish.'
The effect of the education at West Point
is precisely the same as that of the educa-
ton at Annapolis. Captain Evans is said to
have ascribed the destruction of Cerveras
feet ito God and the good gunners." The
good gunners'' filled every rank from adj
mral to ensign. The spirit and the habit
of the army, as we'll as of the navy, was
illustrated by Captain Sigsbee's orderly,
who after the explosion under the Maine,