The Washington times., 1911-10-26
Wfix Nof Ti4E oLD-FAsHloN-
s ED PREsCRIPTIONs M I

II
ance, from tie rule Of fiapdoodlel
Lots of things might be cited rs
inspiration for that devout wish, but
at the moment. it is moved by new
eflux of hazing troubles at the
Naval Academy, and of secret society
woes in some Of the public schools.
Magnifying microscopic molehill
of boyish foolery into mountain of
almost capital offense, the authorities
of the. military and naval schools
must have their hazing sensation at
pretty regular intervals. Think of
this reasonable outbreak, which gets
first page position all around the grand
circuit,
1t Is reported that a plebe was forced
to sing q song and dance in the pres
ence of a party Of midshipmen and
young women. - i
Let the reserves be called out at
once. While we maintain only small
regular army in this country, the
second line Of defense. now numbers
near a half-million well-organized
militia. Let 'em all be put into the
field, if need be, to avenge this out.
rage. Let Congress debate it few
days, as it did not long ago; let some
new laws be passed; let somebody get
somebody enjoined. HI
Do the military and naval authori-
ties honestly want TO stop hazing I
There has always been well-defined
suspicion that public opinion in both
services inclined 10 wink at the Of.
fenses, but TINT, in the belief that
there was somehow, somewhere, a
body of public sentiment against haz.
ing, it was necessary to kick up just
about so much row every time case
was discovered. Maybe SO; but the
performance is old enough now to be
tiresome. r
If the authorities at West Point and
Annapolis honestly want to put an
end to hazing; if it really is bad
practice--then, with the whole power
of military regulation, of rigid dis
control over the young men,
hazing ought to be ended in a day. III
the anti-hazing protestations are just
buncombe, then the public ought to be
relieved from the obligation of seeing
the theatricals restaged two or three
times year. They are tiresome.
In short, if the Academy authorities
want to stop hazing, they should stop
it. If they don't want to stop it they
should shut off the fapdoodle about it.
And about the secret societies in the
public schools. All over the country
these are alleged to represent a grave
problem of the educational world. The
authorities hold up their hands in i'm,
potent confession of inability to deal
with it.
More flapdoodle. But a very short
generation agone, Dad, back home,
had system of dealing with grave
and menacing problems. Its elements
were simple; it's results efficacious.
There was required a woodshed, a
sinewy limb of greening hickory, and
elbow grease i'll proper proportions;
vigorous external application.
Dad had a number of his own prob
lens to handle, and there is room for
doubt whether his rudimentary pro-
cedure deserved the contemptuous re-
lection it has been accorded in these
modern times. No, it is true, Dad
didn't make model boys. His correc-
tives didn't always work complete
cure. But at least they were applied
in the decent, decorous privacy of the
woodhouse,, and the community didn't
have to be narrowed with court
martial, legislative investigation, a
lot of official harangue, and a daily
spread of first page fapdoodle. The
youthful offender wasn't made to
imagine that he was a popular heroi
his head wasn't turned by "a lot of
silly publicity; he was given no en-
couragement to believe that all he
needed was a direct primary and a
popular vote to secure the complete
abolition of the tyrannical power OF
Dad.
Boys will be boys; at least, that used
to be the case. But this sort of non
sense, that gives them the notion that
parental and institutional discipline
is subject for joint debate is cal
culated to make them prigs and snobs
The swelled head will always be am
ply in evidence in this world. Measures
which inevitably tend to it's promo
tion and exaggeration in the infant
class might reasonably be discouraged