The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-14
Hazing Mt the Naval Academy.

The conferees of the House and Senate
having agreed to amend the Anti Hazing
bill by giving to a cadet whose dismissal
is recommended by the Superintendent
of the Naval Academy the right to a
court-martial if he .traverses any ma
terial statement of fact in the Superin-
tendent's report to the Secretary OF the
Navy, the bill will soon become q law,
with the Presidents signature. That
Annapolis has seen the last of hazing
may, nevertheless, be doubted. There
will be no aggravated cases if the Super
intendent is vigilant, but somehow the
practice of curing m~egalomania will
endure in spite of him. Human nature
is so constituted that it could not very
well be otherwise in a school of the SOL
der or sailor, and there is the history
of self-government among the young
sters to confirm the view.
1t does not seem at all doubtful and
it is altogether reasonable to suppose
that hazing has been looked OF by the
officers at the Naval Academy without
di%sapproval, and as a part of the disci-
plinary education of the cadets which is
valuable and accomplishes useful results
not secured by the official discipline at
the institution.
There comes to the United States
Naval Academy a somewhat motley col
lection of lads, when they arrive at An
napolis, from every part of the Union and
from almost every social condition which
exists in. it. They are generally very
raw material; but the regulations by
which they are whipped into shape work
rapidly and efectually, so that by the
end Of their first year they are in a highly
creditable form. Even more than the
students admitted to our colleges an
nually they come to Annapolis with a
very good opinion of themselves as
especially selected for the appointments.
Their selection is either wholly by favor
or as the result of a competitive exami-
nation, in a public school usually. In
der such circumstances il is not remark
able that instances Of the big head
should appear among them. These
bumptious lads need to be called down,
for their W and for the general good.
The administration of the discipline may
at times have been unduly harsh because
of the absence of discretion in those en-
forcing it; but that generally it was not
injuriously severe is demonstrated in
the persons of many of the most robust
of the officers in the navy.
If a vote Of the a V were taken on the
question Of the continuance or abolition
of hazing, we venture to predict that by
a great preponderance the opinion ex-
pressed would be in favor of preserving
the practice as such. Even if sound ar
guments for its abolition in colleges gen.
orally could be produced, they would not
apply to an academy especially for the
preparation of young men for the mill
tary service. Physical endurance is a
prime requisite in those young fellows;
also obedience and ~self-control. They are
fighting material, picked out as such and
developed by the severe ordeal of train
ing at the academy. They are not under
education for the ministry, but to be
officers of the naval service, ofjstrong
endurance and morally fit for command
under conditions which may call into
exercise their rougher rather than their
gentler qualities. The method of correc-
ton employed by the lads at the academy
is continued in a modified form by the
shipmates Of the Objectionable officer.
"Haaine in this sense, said a naval officer
in a letter printed in THE Sun, goes on
all the time on s%hipboard.' 1t is inevita-
BILE that it should be so, as a means of en-
forcing decent manner and reducing a
"big head" There are likely to be al
ways officers for whom their %shipmates
are cunning" Petty violations of the
regulations, overlooked in a decent fellow,
are watched for and made much of in the
case Of a boorish and disagreeable officer.
The wardroom makes laws for itself very
much after the principle Of the hazing
cadets at Annapolis.
A system which has been developed
before the eyes Of the officers Of maturer
years and has been tolerated by them as