The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1910-08-05

GERS should he men educated to the pro-
fession of a soldier There seems to be
pretty general feeling, one hard 1or
the authorities to account 1or oy the
way, that every man Is born soldier
and that the military profession Is the
only one for which no special training ~
is required Gen. Winfield Scott, at the V#5
close of the Mexican war; said that if it M
had not been for the officers of his army M.
who graduates Of the military N
academy the war would have been pro-
longcd for years. This praise of the in \
stitution and the whom it turns
out given by man not graduate,
and who, therefore, could not be said to
be prejudiced in favor of the institution.
The course at West Point is par
ticularly hard one and good many
diets are found deficient every year, gen.
orally in only one study. West Point,
however, differs from all other schools
of the world. There they do not strike
an average of studies, taking all the
lessons taught in lump. For instance
If man stands at the head of his class
in four studies, but is little bit below
the proficient average in one study, the q
authorities throw him out whereas in
other schools they would strike an aver !
age and give such a man a high stand d.
ing. ~
The result of such a system as this
is that men who are qualified for the
service in practically every way, but
who may be little lame in French or
a trite off In geology or chemistry, are
separated from the army to which they might
possibly be a credit If an average of excellence
was struck by the authorities.
1t is quite often the case that men who do
not graduate but who have had several years.
training at the academy succeed in getting
commissions in the service. There are no
records to show that any man who spent two
years at West Point failed to pass his exami
nation for commission after he had been
successful in getting an appointment to the
army from civil life.
Some of the boys who have been at West
Point. but have not graduated, enlisted in the
United States army in order to get their COM
mission from the ranks. When man does
so enlist he may be sent as a private soldier
to company in which some classmate is a
lieutenant. Now it must be remembered that
there is deep gulf between officers and en-
listed men in the regular army, a gulf which
it is necessary to have remain fixed, because
familiarity Of intercourse between officers and
enlisted men would lead to lax discipline It
is not the case, as some people seem to think
of an officer being too proud to associate with
enlisted men. The officers of the army hold
the enlisted men in high esteem. They know
that they are the backbone of the army and
they know that on their loyalty, obedience
and courage hangs success in war and the
credit Of the army in peace. Every army in
the world has learned the lesson that there
must be lack of familiar intercourse in
social way between the commissioned officers
and the enlisted men.
When young fellow who has been at
West Point enlists he is likely, as has been
said, to get into a command in which one of
his classmates may be an officer. Then it is
that curious relation results. The enlisted
man meets his former classmate, whom he
once called Bill or Jim and with whom he
possibly roomed as cadet, and he must SIM
ply salute him as any other enlisted man
would, and pass without a sign of familiar
recognition" Now this does not mean at all
that Jim Bill does not want to speak to his
former classmate. 1t means simply that the
enlisted man wants to preserve his own stand
ing with his fellow soldiers and does not want
to put his former classmate by and chance in
all embarrassing position. If the enlisted men
should learn that their newly enlisted fellow
was former classmate and friend of one
of the officers they might think that it was
going to be a case of currying favor on the
one side or OF showing favor on the other
The man who is once a cadet and who enlists
is more careful if he is built right, and he
generally is, to maintain proper attitude
toward the men who rank him.
They tell story in Washington of a young
fellow who came of rich parentage but who
never had been at West Point, by the way,
who enlisted in the army to get his commits
sion. He attempted to presume on tho fact of
his wealth and he not only got the officers
down on him, but the men as we'll. His lot
was not altogether a happy one. 1t can be
said however, that cases like that of this
young man few and far between. The
man who is willing to enlist in order to get
his commission, generally speaking, is of good
stuff enough to make him willing to take
things as they come and to take rather more
than his share of the duties and the hardships
of the enlisted men with whom he is thrown.
There was once upon time a cadet who.
having spent time enough at the United
States Military academy to cover a consider
able part of the course, was compelled by the
government to sever his connection with the
school he had hoped would prove to him
fostering mother until the end.
This cadet who shall be nameless because
of modest desire to avoid the use of the pro-
noun in the first person, had a yearning for
military life, and so few years after leaving
the academy he walked into Boston recruit
Ing Office and enlisted. Several classmates