Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1912-01-25
HAz|NG now ENDED
No Case Is Developed in West
Point for Months.
CREDIT DUE GENERAL MILLS
After Others Failed He Succeeded In
Breaking Up the System, for Which
Has Been Substituted a Better
Method of Discipline.
BY GEORGE CLINTON.

Washington.-Word has come to the
war department from West Point that
Notwithstanding the fact that it holds
The largest class of new cadets which
1as reported to the institution, the
members have not been hazed, either
In camp or in the barracks. For some
months there have been no develop
ed cases of hazing of the newcomers.
Recently Brig. Gen. Albert L. Mills
was ordered to take command of the
department of the gulf, with headquar-
.ers at Fort Mcpherson, Atlanta, Ga.
1t is probable that the news that there
has been no hazing at West Point in
IF particular interest to General Mills.
When the Spanish wal broke out
Mills was a first lieutenant in the
First cavalry. He was given the rank
of captain as an assistant adjutant
general Of volunteers. While on this
staff duty he was in the thick of the
light in front of Santiago. He showed
1eroism that day that won him a med
al of honor. an appointment to West
Point as superintendent, with the rank
Of colonel, and later a promotion to the
grade of ~brigadier general, a promo
lion that advanced him over the heads
Of several hundred senior officers.
Brig. Gen. Albert L. Mills is the man
who broke up hazing at West Point.
The system passed bewailed by every
graduate of the academy, except the
man who gave it its death blow. Pos
sibly way down in his heart General
Mills was sorry that he was able to
do wat many a soldier before him
had failed to do, but it was a matter
of duty, and hazing was drum-headed
and driven out Of the camp.
The scars of war are or ,eneral
Mills. but conspicuous as was his field
service, it is probable that the fight
against the time-recognized, If not
time-honored "plebe deviling" institu-
ton, will outlive the other service in
tn. memory of the army and the coun-
try. "Bracing'' has succeeded hazing
at West Point. A (plebe is no longer
asked to recite the Psalm Of Life"
with appropriate gestures, to his hu-
initiation. and to the delight OF a
host Of unconscionable yearlings. but
he gets the military end of the siren
aous life as no plebe ever got 1t be-
fore, and the %perfunctory soldier du-
ties at the academy were always soul
trying and ~body-racking.
Others Failed to Stop Hazing.
When Albert L. Mills went TO the
Military Academy as its superintend-
ant he was only a captain, though the
position of chief of the school car
red with 1t the temporary rank OF colo
mel. The list of his predecessors at
West Point carried the name of some
Of tie most distinguished soldiers of
the American army. Lee. Schofield,
Howard and Merritt are four of the
names that come to the memory. Lee
could not, or did not, stop hazing. I'm
der Schofield six cadets were dismissed
.or hazing in a single summer. but haz-
ing went on. Merritt tried his hand at
roofing out the practice. He dismissed
d Chicago boy summarily on the
charge of deviling a plebe sentinel, but
hazing went on.
General Howard was probably the
only superintendent that the military
academy ever had who did not believe
in his heart that a certain kind of
hazing was a good thing for the hazed.
Rich mems sons came to West Point,
the most democratic school on the
~footstool, and gave evidence that they
thought they wero better than the
ION of poor men. 1t didn't take long
to induce them to change their view
point. The y~earlings changed 1t for
them. There never was the brutal haz-
Ing at West point that there was at
Annapolis. The sea school brand was
~lndefensible. Howard tried to kill all
forms OF hazing and failed.
Before General Mills had been in the
academy long there we're several cases
Of severe hazing. and, mindful OF his
duty, ne campaigned against an enemy
that had overcome his predecessors as
no enemy had overcome them in war.
fare. Mills routed the well-intentioned
foe, but he took care that a system of
discipline should be installed which
would do the regenerating work that
the better kind of hazing had done be-
fore.
Great Diplomatic Reception.
This is the season of the society
whirl. ct makes no. difference wheth-
er one is invited or not invited,
he cannot keep away from the
receptions and the balls and the par
ties; that is. keep away from them
in the sense that he must not know
about them, for the streets are throng-
ed nightly with uniformed corners and
goers and their begowned wives,
daughters and sweethearts. Presi-
dent Taft has just given the greatest
diplomatic reception eve seen in
Washington. The crowd Of attend.
ants was tremendous and 1t was a
g~loriously bedecked and bedizened
gathering. 1t was foreign night with
an American environment. The
guests were about equally divided be-
tween aliens and native born.
The diplomats are a picturesque lot
and In the main their wives and their
sisters and their daughters are beau
tiful. something which cannot be said
for all of the diplomatic husbands.
brothers and fathers, II n looks
above the always beautiful uniforms.
WE" H ENLM- AH"L LN