New-York tribune., 1899-02-10

such drill or the former the number receiving
military drill is too small 10 be taken INTO ac-
count In all the Union only three cities. and
they small and unlmportant ones, require such
drill In their schools. Five others. including
New York permit It. provided tho parents OF
the children pay the cost. And here in New
York. rs we all know. II exists in only few
schools and there Is only tolerated, not encour-
aged II is not recognized part II our school
system. In the high schools academies, etc.
the ease is little better. or not so bad In
about . per cent of In" public high schools and
in nearly 10 per cent Of the private institutions
military drill is given. about fifteen thousand
five hundred boys receiving It out Of n total Of
two hundred ana thirty thousand. or. say. 6Al
per cent That is the case rs it stands to-day.
Dr MacCrackcn asked great number Of prin-
cpalS Of public and private high schools and
also of grammar schools. what they thought of
military drill as affecting the physical, mental
and moral wellbeinc of the boys and rs affect
ing their value as citizen soldiers. We have not
room to give in full rhc highly interesting mass
of replies which he received. and which he read
to the convention. Their unmlstakahle purport
may however be briefly stated. The over
whclming weight Of testimony from the high
is handsome proportion Of that from the
grammar schools. Some principals take the op-
posite view But most of them regard military
drill Il benefit to the boys physically, men
tally and morally and in their relations to So
cicty and to the State and their possible future
service in the militia
In this latter view pr MacCracken heartily
joined. lie did not attempt TO formulate any
tnfI.
schools That was not his province But he
made one fundamental suggestion on that phase
of the subject which seems to us to be of great
interest. That was that if all the hsh-school
boys received military drill and instruction they
would be enough to provide officers for the un-
drilled grammarschool army at the rate of one
officer 10 twenty privates. In other words. the
high-schOOl graduates would in after life not
only make efficient National Guardsmcn, but
they would be able to organize and drill in case
OF need, their more numerous neighbors who
had been graduated from only the grammar
schools. The value Of such potential nucleus
Of an army. such military leavcn in the social
lump, is obvious and great.
1t is not necessary 10 dwell further upon the
point eloquenty and convincingly set forth by
Dr. MacCraclien, that the tendency Of such in
struction of our youth would be not toward war
INT toward peace. That said the speaker and
rightly, is the supreme argument II is, and II Is
Il welfoundcd and valid argument Establish
the rule that the more highly educated Il man is
the stronger and more efficient fighter he is. and
You have Nation secure against foreign az
greSson or domestic insurrecton. Establish the
converse. that the stronger and better fighter Il
man is the more highly cultured is he in brain
and heart and you have n Nation that will shun
war and follow after peace. These are PROPOSE
tons all but automatic in their lucdlty and con-
vinclng force. If Or. MacCracken and the con |
ycntion he addressed shall succeed I'm bringing
them 10 the mind of The Nation in such n way as /
To assure action in accordance with them. they /
VIII do good and lasting work