Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-10
CENTURY COMPLETED
United States Military Acad-
envy 100 Years Old.
GRADUATES GATHERING
GEN. sCHoFIELD AND OTHERS
MAKE ADDRESSES.
Opening Exercises, Presided Over by
Veteran General John S. Nc
Calmont of Washington.
GRADUATES GATHERING

Gen. John s. McCalmont of Washington,
class Of 49, and perhaps the oldest living
graduate Of the Military Academy. presided
at the opening exercises of the centennial
in Thayer Hall late yesterday afternoon.
Gen. Miles was honored with a salute
upon his arrival. The class of 90 and all
preceding classes were provided with seats
on the stage.
Gen. John NJ. Schofield. class 49, made
the first address, in which he said:
Gen. Schofeld Speaks.
The high character always sustained by
the corps of cadets and by the graduates
of the academy has been due in great
measure to the natural characters of the
young men appointed cadets. That this has
been far above the average follows a
matter of course from the fact that the Sc
lection has been made by the congressman
himself from his own personal acquaint-
ance with the candidate and his family.
The corps Of cadets has always been
a real American aristocracy-an aristocracy
of character. If the time ever comes when
competitive examinations or school GER
tif1cates are permitted to take the place of
established character serious injury will
be done to the corps of cadets and to the
army.
1.-The honor as officers and gentlemen. of
which cadets have justly been most proud,
Is very largely in their own keeping. 1t is
greatly to be hoped that the appointing
power will do nothing to diminish the purity
rect from what is best and purest in the
Countrywide respectable family"
At the conclusion Of Gen. Schofield's ad-
dress the band played 'Tenting on the Old
Camp Ground" after which Gen. Thomas
J. Wood, class Of AS, veteran of the Mexi-
can war, delivered an address, in which he
alluded to incidents OF that memorable pc
riod. Gen. Wood was greeted with con-
tinued applause after he had finished. The
band then struck up Benny Havens,"
which was an incentive for Gen. Wood and
the other gray-haired graduates to begin
a hearty clapping of the hands.
Gen. E. Porter Alexander, class of 81
(confederate). and Gen. T. H. Ruger UJnion)
made addresses. Gen. Alexanders topic
was The Confederate Veteran" He pre-
raced his address with these lines:
The Confederate Veteran.
"Once more the light of Jackson's sword
Far flashes through the gloom,
There Hampton rides, and there once more
The toss Of Stuart's plume.
''oh, life goes back through years today,
And we men once more;
And that old hill Is Arlington,
And there the alien shore.
"And over yonder. on the heights.
The hostile camp fires culver.
And suddenly, 'twixt and them,
Flows by Potomac's river"
After reciting the verses the general con-
tinued
The Confederate Veteran: With these
words does there not arise in every mind
the thought of meteoric army which over
forty years ago sprang into existence, as it
would seem, out of space and nothingness
and after a career of four years, unsus-
tanned by treasury or arsenal, but unsur-
passed for brilliant fighting and lavish out
pour Of blood, vanished from earth as ut
terly as if it had been phantom of imagi-
nation?
And now a generation has passed away.
The smoke Of civil conflict has vanished
forever from the sky, and the whole coun-
try under the new conditions evolved in it's
! four years struggle finds itself united in
| developing Its vast resources in successful
rivalry with the greatest nations of the
earth.
Whose vision is now so dull that he does
not recognize the blessing it Is to himself
| and to his children to live in an undivided
country; who would today relegate his own
state to the position it would hold in the
| world were 1t declared sovereign, as are
the states of Central and South America?
To ask these questions is to answer them
And the answer is the acknowledgment
that 1t was best for the south that the
| cause was lost The right to secede, the
| stake for which We fought so desperately
were it now offered us as a gift, we would
reject, as we would a proposition of sui
eide"
Gen. Longstreet Cheered.
In his address General Alexander casually
mentioned the name of General Longstreet
and the large audience went wild with on