The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-07

I know the cause of tho unrest. Sub jects rarely complain Of sseverities that protect, of exactiohs that extrfcate. Cromwelps Ironsides and Jackson's Stonewall Brigade never complained of hardships that led them to victory. The cadets seldom complained of the military till its own dispensers brought 1t under ban. They complained of in. consistency. of vacillation, of divided authority; they complained of partial ity. they complained of injustice, they complained of class legislation. When the seniors were exempted from mili- tary seruice, end the under classes held they kicked, acd they kicked right eously. It is not in human nature to see special favors extended to equals and it is rarely profitable to superiors to accept them. That seniors should officer a corps may be construed to be the reward of superior experience and skill. but that they should be retired on account of seniority that involves no infirmity is hateful and wanton discrimination. and can only be con- strued into favoritism.
 Time was when there was a strike by the under graduates of the Univer- sity for spring vacations. They got them. For secret societies they got them. For baseball, for football. they got them. For interstate and inter- collegiate contests, when teams went gallivanting over the South-they got them. There was strike for senior emancipa ton and exemption from the military-they got them., Observe-the strikes, the bulges, the rushes were in every case in the direction of more liberty, license, the abolition of re- straint and discipline. the wrecking of | kA~ hA Aay nf "a fav ple of order. This was all natural enough, but 1t must have an end. There is only one mere bar to free dom, ana the harsh, rasping of the files proclaim that that is in danger. Disorders in 1S60 made necessary the introduction of the military; disorders pandemoniumo in 1860 ushered in the military pandemoniums in 1900 would abolish the military,
 During the war the corps of cadets constituted part If the National Guard of Alabama. The captains were State captains; the troops were State troops. They were subject to be ordered out at any moment at com- mand of the Governor. When the ca- dets desired to go into active service, and permission was not obtainable they had their resort. Two hundred de- merits constituted de facto dismiss sal, This was the alternative-to be dismissed for quasi low standing. or to leave without consent. and be posted as deserters. As Dr. Wyman would say. this was a brutum fulmen; but, year after year, 1t was solemnly and iudicrously launched.
 In 1882, as I travelled through the State, I rarely passed an old field where there was not young cadet with brass buttons. often perched upon a stump, putting an awkward squad of bump k!ns through their paces, preliminary to hurling them against the foe. Cadets were in great request as drill- masters, and they bravely bore the banner of their old Alma Mater from Bulls Run to Appomattox. Our State was proud of her gallant boys. Should the time ever again come. and God grant it never may, when Alabama shall go forth to war. If the military here be abolished-it will be to lead through Coventry a set of louts that walk wide between the legs-a Falstaf- fan regiment!
 What more beautiful or efficient means of reconciling the young to au- thority than to entrust It's administra- ton to their own hands. This the military does. It makes officers of the undergraduates. It commits them to the duty Of noting and reporting all irregularities and offences. It thus insensibly imparts standard of be- haviour and a code of conduct. It organizes public opinion against dere- fiction of duty. and enljsts 1t on the side of propriety. It reiterates and en- forces obedience, and makes men the spokesmen and supporters of good Dxr fIa xax.o o1ffr nf good order ,and making others see the effects of good order they insensibly come to love good order. With com munity of ideals, SO nourished in their hearts, individual weakness gives place to the solidarity of association, and they become body that, in the hands of intelligent and rightfui authority, can be yielded like a catapult.
 We do not need the military to make soldiers. My soul has revolted when have seen young men in heavy woolen coats marched round in the hot, blaz- ing sun in June until they tainted. We do not want exposure to kill or harden. We do not want the military for ex- ercise. The gymnasium and athletic games have superseded 1t in that res pect, but nothing can supercede 1t in it's ability to make men and good citizens. Retrench it's abuses If you will. but face the alternatlve-no military, no discipline; no discipline, no study: no study, no scholarship.
 What are yon going to substitute for the military? An, I see--scholastic dis cil.line. Credit marks. demerits? This will do for literary shortcomings. Dropping from the rolls? This will do for continued low standing or deport- ment Suspension or expulsion? These will expose while they punish. These harden. these fling cloud over young heart or/life These bring innocent souls at home to modification to grief. Would 1t not be better to save than to smirch, to reform than to de- grade? Will you substitute parental discipline? What parential discipline? The composite discipline of the faculty. or the individual discipline of It's head ? Either is preposterous. The parental