The Washington times., 1913-08-06
MILDLY CANDIDATES
FACE HARD QUERIES
Many Posers Among Questions
: Asked Youths for Entrance
/ to Naval Academy.

II some high-browed individual, who
made a daily practice of solving the
fourth dimension" would nonchalantly
ask you to trace the democracy Of the
United States since 17T6 you'd think he
was giving you a hard task. You'd
probably remark on the elusiveness of
that democracy and request several
days to consider, en-? But what If the
same audacious one would confront
you with the same sort of a problem
and remove 1t from the present several
more centuries?
Suppose you were asked to trace the
democracy of Rome prior to the Punic
wars, and were given just fifteen
minutes to do II? The ordinary indi-
vidual would call it a 'mind-killer''
and it could not be answered in so
short a time. Yet this is one Of the
many questions-aye, one OF the easiest
of the many questions-which candi-
dates for the United States Naval
Academy have to answer before being
admitted to the ranks of the navy's
embryo officers.
These Are easy" Questions.
Tracing the growth and death of po-
litical parties and solving that time
honored puzzle. the fourth dimension,
are among the cas-. t things the would
be naval officers do, If perusal of the
questions given them in the entrance
examination can be taken as a cri-
terion of their accomplishments.
That mental sprint for the democracy
OF Rome prior TO the Punic wars and
the subsequent Sherlock Holmes investi-
CATION Of said democracy is as easy as
the task Of yelling al blal game when
q home team star hits for four bases,
the would-be 'middies' say. Compare
that task with some of the other Ques-
tions given the candidates for the Naval
Academy in the entrance exams"
Explain the Macedonian phalanx and
the Roman legions-What were the ad-
vantages of each" is another of the
questions. BY the shadows Of Julius
Caesars ghost! If these are the easy
questions asked and answered in many
instances by naval officers in the embryo
the brilliance of a full-fledged ensign
after four years real schooling is prob
ably Of considerable radiance.
Mathematics Hardest Test.
Listen to this-this is another from
the recent examination papers:
Mention the chief political parties at
the present time and state the position
of each on two important questions"
But to be passed as a candidate-just
mentally, not physically passed-for the
United states Naval Academy you must
answer these mind testers and consider
them easy. The real hard problems
with which the ambitious youth
wrestles are classed under the heads
of arithmetic, geometry, and other sub
jects. Take the following as an illus
tration: Regarding the orbit of the
earth around the sun as circle of 92-
10000 miles radius. find the velocity in
miles per second Ito the nearest tenth il
the time of one revolution is 365h days.
What the Figures Show.
That's an easy one for the adult
mind, well versed in mathematics. 1t is
one of the easiest questions propounded
by the examiners for the sixteen and
seventeen-year-old boys who take the
examination for the Naval Academy.
The following compilation of the re-
suits of the examinations during the
years lsoS-l9l2 shows what happens:
Number examined, 3.054. OF these, there
failed in the subjects mentioned as fol-
lows: English-grammar and compost.
tion-aS: geography, SO; history, 945;
arithmetic, I,2S9; algebra. 1,66S, and
geometry. l,529. This exhibits the ap-
parent paradox of an aggregate of 1896
failures out of but 3,054 who took the e&-
animation, or more than 200 per- cent.
But this, of course, can only be ac-|
counted for on the ground that all the
failures fell short on two or more diff
ferent subjects, and this, too, after
many of them had been reappointed and
were allowed re-eXamina tions.
OF the total number examined during
the FIVE years above computed, but l,2i7
passed. which number includes all the
alternates as well as principals exam
ined, many of whom, of course. were
not admitted because their principals,
TOO. had passed.