Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-08-29
Haziing Of Cadets;
Old Ways and New.
Reform Crusade Ended Brutality But Left the Idea

r NTIL Col Hugh L. Scott, SUPER
intendcnt of the United States
Military academy, expelled
eight cadets for hazing, it had
been generally believed that the child
ish. and sometimese brutal, customs
of the olden days were abolished 10
years ago. That Is not altogether I'M
true. Hazing was almost. il not quite,
annihilated by Brig Gen. Albert l..
Mills, who was head of the academy
from 1898 to 1905. 1t has had a new
growth since the appearance of Col
Scott who is now determined to up
root by harsh measures what mildcr
treatment has failed TO obliterate.
The term of Gen. Mills WAS the near
est approach to a real lapse Of hazing
In the academy's history. Legends of
West Point tell of its tlourishing, in
varied forms, through nearly a CEN
fury. Certain it is that few efforts to
stop it have been made in the memory
of the army officers now living. 1t
had become so firmly established be-
fore Mills day. in fact that a large
majority of the graduates did not want
it stopped. To Mills activity against
the practise is traceable a. part of his
unpopularity among his fellow officers,
although the rapid promotion accorded
TO him by President Roosevelt was
naturally responsible for most of the
jealousy aroused toward him.
When Scott assumed office, he found
the hazing spirit dormant, but not dead
The writer heard army officers at that
time, gravSly express their satisfac-
ticn that the custom of teaching
plcbcs their manners" might be re-
Vived. II was prophesied that Scott
would not pursue the Mills crusade. or
this feeling the civilian public knew
nothing II had been indignant over
the disclosures of the Booz inquiry, and
pleased at the news of prompt action
by Mills; thereafter occasional news
paper articles had described the grad
ual decline OF the abuses and by 1906
almost everybody outside of army cir
cles thought hazing was memory.
UNWORTHY TRADITIONS.
In the corps of cadets, all the while,
lurked the traditions of their predeces-
sors Though not allowed 10 please
themselves after tho barbarous methods
OF bygone days, they were kept posted
as to what they were missing and even
in the years when Mills had his frmest
grip there was never a time when the
prevailing sentiment of the academy
was not peYaded with contempt for
the pcbe. as the student OF the first
F''A ~ '''''N' 80 % va N''''f''N ". ~
ways not officially classed as hazing
he was made to feel his interiority ana
1t required unraillns discipline to pre-
vent actual recurrence Oh phySlcal IN
suits,
The substitutes for hazlns IN TINS M
teIval were, perhaps, as unpleasant To
the plebes as the recent exercises of
counting RED ANS ana wearing lhe,ll w
ones NAT An otleer VINO served rs
tour years at west folnt under Ml,I7
llhls oHle"r pS me way IL ~ the
minority mat vordlally agrees WIN tls
iorll,i Super'h,ehdon' polic'esl, NY"
described the other daS Whai TOOK me
piH,o pl hd@lnB III Tue peTlou Oh I's
aoollVoh
I'M my plepc year lhpush no ~
nsnu OF any OF tut previously nGcept'u
means OF suppression were possible we
g. r or ad iU dsc pi ''Ts y ave. rog,
latlou was brought into play as an