The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-08-31
ENGLAND ADOPTS OUR
MILITARY METHODS.
Significance of Selection of Colonel
Kitson as Head of Royal
College.
HIS TESTIMONY IN LONDON.
Strong Believer in American Tao
tics Chosen to Reform the Old
British Academy at
Sandhurst.
HIS TESTIMONY IN LONDON.
BY CABLE.

SPECIAL BY CABLE.
London. Aug. 3O.-Great Britain is once
again paying the tribute of the 'sincerest
fiattery' to the United States In the proven
bal mauner-by imitation. And the COM
pliment to America is greater in this in
stance than ever before, because the insti-
tuition to be initiated is one which. until a
short while ago. the English fondly believed
was inferior to the similar institution in
their own country
The Royal Military College at Sandhurst,
one of those British Institutions which have
been regarded with almost as much rever-
ence as Westminster Abbey or the Tower
of London. is to be remodeled on American
lines. In other words, Great Britain Is to
have the nearest possible approach to West
Point.
Three years ago, before the Boer war, a
| declaration that this might be advisable
would have resulted in the denunciation of
the malicious iconoclast who made the sug-
gestion by every fine old Tory i'll the
United Kingdom. To-day, with the eXcep-
ton of a few walls in the Tory newspapers.
the change is admitted TO be necessary,
and Is heartily welcomed by all those who
have the interests of the British Army at
heart. This is one of the results of the
Boer war.
Change Has Been Effected.
This radical advance from old-time
methods is not merely under discussion at
the present moment: it has actually been
effected so far as the Government is con-
cerned. The old system of q Board of
Governors of the Royal Military College
has been superseded and a single head Of
the institution has been appointed.
The officer selected for this duty Is
| Colonel Kitson, who was at one time mil
tary attache of the British Embassy at
Washington, and who then made q very
careful study OF the methods at West Point.
eating the introduction of the West Point
system at Sandhurst, and there is no doubt
that his appointment to his new post is
due to his intimate knowledge of that sys-
TEN and his anxiety 10 introduce it.
Colonel Kitson recently had a chance of
expressing his views on army education un-
possible hearing for them, and, as the re
suit shows, the powers that be have needed
his advise.
Colonel Kitson's Comparisons.
He was called as a witness before the
Committee on Military Education and
Training which Parliament appointed at the
time when 1t really appeared as though the
great majority of British officers. Owever
brave and unselfish they might be, were
utter 'muffs'' when confronted with a
clever enemy; were almost without initia-
tive, and, worst of all, were without zeal
for their profession. regarding the army as
a superior sort Of club or a stepping stone
10 good society.
The committee did its work thoroughly
and Issued a report which was a remarka-
bly, candid document. In the course of his
evidence before the committee. Colonel Kit
son compared the systems at Sandhurst and
West Point, greatly to the disadvantage of
the former. and the report unreservedly
Military College and the Royal Military
Academy. The latter institution is at
Woolwich. and it Is there that artillery
officers are trained. or are supposed TO be
trained. : As
British newspapers have been discussing
the committees report ever since 1t was
London army clubs. and some old-fashioned
retired Generals and Colonies have regarded
it as only another indication that 1.-The
country is going to the deuce, sir." But the
facts and figures which the committee pre-
scented led to the conclusions which were
only only too too obvious to people leo, OF open p 10. MIND;
anxious to give the American system a
trial.
British Officer an Amateur.
THE British officer is an amateur"-that
was the burden of the report. The wit
nesses examined. so the report, which was
an extremely long one. said, were unan-
were lamentably deficient in military
knowledge and in zeal; 1t was declared
compelled to do SO; that 'keenness is out
of fashion," and mot correct form"
1t Is in giving a different tone to Sand
but he can also do a great deal in another |
way. 1t has been pointed out that not all
of the young men who enter the army are
itary title gives. There are many who are
genuinely anxious to learn their profession
thoroughly, and who don't care whether or
rot 1t is good form to become good SOL
diers. |
A letter from one of these was printed
in the London Times. and 1t revealed the
system which prevails at Sandhurst even
more completely than the committees re |
port had done.
General Lack of Interest.
"I was" said the writer. lat a private
school of high repute, at a public SCHOOL
second to none. and at a military college. !
and l find it very difficult to call to mind
any instructor who taught me anything
at all, or who took the slightest trouble
to arouse an interest in the work on hand.
There were books and punishment; l recol-
lect no teaching"
This apparently means that the writer
had been educated at Elton and at SAND
hurst He went on:
cadets are ordered to clean their belts
with pipeclay: they are not allowed to clean
their rifles. Does not this one sentence eX-
plain the whole situation. and, pray is thI> |
the fault of the cadet? l suppose 1t may
fairly be said that the two most Conspicn-
Gus failinsS displayed in the late war were
of scouting and ignorance of the
management of horses. And here is not
the ircapacity of the instructor very evil
dent?"
The superiority of. the system at west
Point, not only over that at Sandhurst and
but also over the systems at
military schools al over the Continent Of
Europe. has been admitted by the foremost
foreign military experts for years.
u