Mexico Missouri message., 1910-03-10


be trained for several years before
they are competent to command regu-
lar troops.
The authorized number Of cadets at
the military academy is 533, but the
actual number in attendance at the
school falls far below this mark, the
deficiency being due to the fact that
there are always existing vacancies
caused by the failure Of candidates to
report or to pass the entrance exam
lnaions, or by the elimination of ca
dets who are found deficient in their
studies or their conduct"
Admit Training Is Needed.
members OF congress have come to
the conclusion, perhaps reluctantly,
for 1t is not the layman's way of think
ing ordinarily, that training is needed
for the military profession just as
much II not more than it is needed for
any other profession. So It is that
they are trying now to devise some
means of keeping the ranks full at
West Point so that the army can be
oficered at all times by trained sol
diers and so that the necessity Of Civ
ing up four or Eve years. time to the
training of civilians appointed as Sec
ond lieutenants may be done away
with.
The object of the senate bill is to
increase the number of cadets by
slight modification in the method OF
making appointments. The military
committee in its report on the sub
ject says:
Changes Proposed.
1t is proposed that the members
OF congress and the president, who rec.
commend and make appointments,
shall have the right to a second ap-
pointment as soon as their appointee
shall become a member of the gradu-
ating class after three years service
at the academy. In other words, those
recommending or making cadet ap-
pointments will each have one cadet
at the academy during three years
and two cadets during every fourth
year"
If this bill shall become a law the
cadet corps will be given the strength
in numbers which it is the intention of
the present law that it shall have. The
difficulty is that the present law does
not take into consideration the fact
that many boys who receive appoint
ments do not for some reason or other
show up at the academy, and that
some of the members of congress
neglect their duty in the matter of
appointing cadets. 1t is known that
in some congressional districts hun
dreds of boys want to go to the mill
tary academy, while in some others no
candidate appears, and as a result the
congressman not having any applica-
lions filed, forgets all about the matter
and his district goes without repre-
sentation.
Speaker Cannon May Retire.
While no word has come from
Speaker Cannon to clinch the matter,
the men who are closest to him per-
sonally and politically seem to feel
that before very long now the speak
er will say that he does not intend
to be a candidate again for re-
election as presiding officer of the
house. Even if the speaker does is.
sue a statement to the effect that
nc will give over any further ambition
to succeed himself, it is certain that
he will be a good deal of a factor in
the matter of choosing his successor.
Some time ago it was the feeling
in Washington, and it was touched on
in the dispatches from the capital,
that If the Republicans should carry
the next house they must of necessity
choose a speaker from the middle
west. This was the feeling for some
time and it was founded on knowledge
of conditions as they existed at that
time. Now it seems that there has
been some change of heart on the part
of a good many of the organization
Republicans.
Eastern Man May BE Speaker.
There seems to have been stealing
over the so-called regulars Of the
house the thought that an eastern
man now has a good chance to be
chosen speaker If the Republicans
succeed in carrying the house, and
that in choosing an easterner his sup
porters will have the votes and the
moral support of good many Of the
members who are called Insurgents.
Present Speakers Position.
If Mr. Cannon shall declare that he
is not to be a candidate to succeed
himself in case of Republican success
at the polls next fall, he can be, as
has been said, good deal Of a fac
tor in the matter Of choosing his sue
cessoY. 1t is only human nature that
the speaker should prefer to be sue
ceeded by a man who will do as he
has done, a man who believe in the
rules of the house as they exist and
who is not given to what the speaker
calls radicalism. There are some men
in the east, in the middle west and a
few in the far west who probably will
stand by the speaker. and 1t may be
that they can decide in caucus the
question of the successorship, but If
they are not numerous enough to do