The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-21
Circulation Statement.
False Sentiment.

Mark Twain has spoken on the hazing
question. and his remarks are character
lied, as usual. by good. sound, American
sense. He makes no objection to fighting
in itself. recognizing the fact that no boy
out of petticoats can be kept from more
or less squabbling with his fellows; but
he does object emphatically TO fighting
which is purposely unfair. He says:
THE fourth class man who is compelled TO fight
. from the first class has not show in the
world. and it is not intended that he should
have i have read the rules provided TO prevent
such practices. and they wholly deficient, be
cause one provision is omitted. | would make
it the duty of a cadet to report to the au-
thorties any of hazing which came TO his
notice; make such reports part OF the vaunted
West Point code Of honor, and the beating oil
young boys by upper class men will be stopped
| not opposed to fights among boys as gen
eral thing. Ii they conducted in spirit
OF fairness. | think it makes boys manly, but
l do oppose compelling a little fellow to fight
some man big enough to whip two of him. When
] was boy going to school down In the Ms
sssippi Valley, used to have fights, and
I remember occasion which | got souRdly
trounced, but we always matched boys as nearly
Of a size possible, and there were none Of
tho eoWardly methods tina; seem to prevail at
West Point"
Those who are familiar with the writ
ings of this biggest and best of American
humorists Will remember that he has
shown. on more than one occasion a dis
position to sift out the true from the
false. in the very mixed code of honor
which prevails in various parts of our
country. His merciless satire on the
feudal system of Tennessee and Kentucky.
in ''Huckleberry Finn is a good example
Of this Life on the Mississippi which
contains a good deal of the raw material
Of "Huckleberry Finn has in it some
quotations from the public press describ-
ing the way in which some of the repre-
sentatives Of old-fashioned Southern
chiyalry' blew one another's brains out
and carved their fellow beings with bowie
knives, and in this chapter the author
gently suggests that while Scott's novels
are good novels, the methods of the
twelfth century, transplanted TO the
southern section of the United States,
may not be so charming. There is no
body like Mark Twain for taking the bonn
hast out of things. When large masses
of rhetoric are devoted TO the business of
convincing the country that no methods
are too harsh to protect the honor of a
gentleman or secure the safety of his
family il is difficult to make any ade-
quafe reply, because ii is all SO vague
But directly following this interview with
Mark Twain, in one of the newspapers in
which it appears, is an account of the
lynching of a negro tramp in Florida. II
is alleged that he was a train wrecker be-
cause his shoes fitted the footprints left
by the criminal. After they lynched him
they cut of his fingers for souvenirs A
great deal of rhetoric might be used 10
prove that the outraged sense of the
community demanded that this man should
be destroyed without recourse to the slow
processes OF the law, but what particular
ends of justice were served by cutting off
his fingers?
1t is exactly the same with this West
Point business. Around the somewhat
elaborate system of hazing in vogue there
has grown up misty atmosphere of ro-
mance-schoolboy romance-and an idea
that honor is somehow concerned in its
retention. 1t is important that school
boys should have ideals. but il is also
proper that they should be of the right
sort. What kind of ideal does that boy
have who is set to pound another boy OF
half his strength? How is the code of
honor of the army served by developing
a spirit OF bullying? 1t is not the influ-
ence of this system on the victims which
IS alone to be considered. 1t must neces-
Garily have also an influence on the
hazers. Is it desirable that boys should
go into the army with ideals formed by
systematic course of tormentlng other
boys younger and weaker than them
selves? The absurdity of this kind of
code Of honor is as obvious as the col
lapse Of a pricked balloon.