Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-28
ETHICS OF FIGHTING
What Midshipmen Say Of the
Code of Honor.
TRIAL OF MERIWETHER
SIDE LIGHTS ON THE NAVAL
CoURT-MARTIAL.
Personnel of the Tribunal That Has
Been Sitting at Annapolis-Talk
Heard on the Outside.
Special Correspondence of The Star.

Special Correspondence of The Star.
ANNAPOLIS, Md, November 2s.-"They
can have all the id congressional In
quries they want. but they can't stamp out
fighting in this academy" That was the
pronouncement of one midshipman who had
been in some fights himself and who talked
over the matter with a Star reporter. The
opinion fitted pretty well with that of other
midshipmen and naval officers with whom
The Star correspondent talked. Reduced to
a composite photograph, the gist OF it can
be given. No one In particular need be
quoted, but 1t Is the cadets side OF the
case 1t deserves to be heard In passing
judgment on the traditions of the academy.
'Of course they send here to learn
to fight" say they but that has not much
to do with it. Fighting these days is done
with guns at long range. and there is not
much cutlass and boarder work about it.
Still man is trained to know how to box
and handle five-ounce gloves in the gym.
He is kept hard and there is almost as much
stress laid on the physical side there is
on mathematics or mechanical drawing. He
is taught to fight with his hands, and he
does not much mind 1t.
Hundreds of Fights.
Now, you put $50 boys together. The
classmen have not. Then there are unofh-
cial privileges that the upper classmen
exact of the lower. These rates are pretty
hard to a1here to- There are bound to be
personal clashes, and when there are we
have it out in what l consider the best and
easiest way. We fight, shake hands and
there Is very seldom any hard feeling after
ward. The midShtpmen approve of 1t ana
the officers don't disapprove This Branch
Meriwether affair resulted fatally, but to
my way Of thinking 1t was accident due
to Branch's physical condition, and l will
be surprised If the evidence does not prove
it. There have been hundreds Of fights in
the academy and this Is the first that has
ever resulted seriously There were six
fights between the Observation-Disclosures fight
and this trial l am not in the same class
with Meriwether and no particular intimate
OF his. but l think and all except few
members of Branch's class think, that
Branch went after trouble and got It, Ny
sympathies are with Meriwether because he
Is clean and straight. and he simply lived
up to system that he found already es-
tablished. If he had not fought he would
have been cut. l still think the system is
a good one and one from which harm very
seldom comes. 1 do not think you can
stamp it out as long as the school exists"
This question asked of several mid
sh1pmen Of different classes:
suppose an act of Congress were passed
prohibiting fighting In the academy MAX
ing the penalty. say five years in the pen
mgr
The answer was unanimous.
The men would still fight There are
times when you can't get away from it."
Effect Of the Code,
That is the side Of the midshipmen and
of a good many officers. The evidence has
shown another side, however Fighting
seems to be epidemic. There is more of II
now than there has ever been before THE
code Is the capitalization of tradition. 1t
governs meetings and the occasion for
meetings. 1t Is the creation Of the upper
classmen. and it gives the upper classmen
the advantage. 1t has been testified that If
a fourth classman offends the upper class
he IS called out by the upper class in Or
der until he Is knocked out This usually
Is not long in coming. either for the upper
classTan has at least years start of the
plebe IN physical training, and is nat
urally the tougher man.
But there is more than that to the
code 1t has made fighting the fashion.
ana the question now is not to control the
arrangements for fight when a meeting is
unavoidable, but to find an excuse for a
tight, II there Is the least difference of
opinion between the men. 1t is plain that
1t is only a step from this to the weekly
sword duels of the German universities
where there is not necessarily any dispute
between the men, but where there is mer-
ly class honor to be upheld
1t looks to an outsider as though the
code even admitting that 1t Is all right
in principle, has riot and needs pruning
even though the dictum of the midshipmen
be accepted to the effect that fighting can
not be stamped out.