The Spectator., 1915-06-29
Use of PurIoined Examination Papers at Annapolis Hits
 Traditions of Navy.
CODE OF HONOR IS PECULIAR
Rigid Discipline Develops Certain Pc culiar Customs-Hazing and Use of Intoxicating Liquors Stamped Out-To Succeed at An
 napolis Means Hard
 Work.


 United States Naval academy is caus- ing a pang to every officer in the serv- ice, for 1t hits them in a quarter of which they are very jealous-their honor.
 The traditions of the service have been stained-this graduates of ten and twenty years standing admit The situation seems to be that the course of study in the academy has been too severe for the material which 1t gets. The prescribed studies are i fitted to turn an exceptional candidate into an exceptional naval commander and the academy gets only the ordi- nary run of young Americans.
 However, this is not given here as palliation. The naval code of hon. or is a peculiar one, but it does not in any way cover up cheating to pass exams"
 To succeed at Annapolis the ordi- nary young man has to work very hard. He has to make himself an au- tomaton. The authorities do all they can to turn him into a machine Six days a week he has to jump out of bed at six o'clock; and on the seventh at seven.
 He has his allotted number of min utes for dressing and for breakfast; he has his study hours and his reel tation hours all rigidly marked off. and at ten o'clock he must go to bed, willy-nilly.
 Orderly Habits Taught
 He must keep his room in apple pie order. hang his bedclothes over the footboard in a prescribed way every morning, and be ready for an inspec- tion of his bureau drawers at all times.
 Even his dancing is prescribed and forced down his throat, whether he in clines to the society of the fair sex or not.
 Under this rigid discipline the naval cadets have developed certain peculiar customs, some of which are continued after they leave the school. They have even their peculiar language, which is largely unintelligible to an outsider The duel persisted in the navy many years after it had died out in Ameri- can society elsewhere. The frequent serious and sometimes fatal boxing matches are relic of the old time encounters of pistol and sword.
 Navy discipline has troubled the halls of congress on numerous occa- sions. Most often hazing was the sub ject. Brutal and humiliating treat ment of lower classmen long be- smirched the academy, as it did other American higher institutions of learn ing.
 The fatal Branch Meriwether boxing match in 1905 was the cause of revela- tions of peculiarities in the academy. The fight was held in a room of Ban croft hall during supper time one eve ming. Meriwether was then a third class man and Branch a first-cass man. To hold the fight at such time involved the consent and connivance of first-class men, for under the co'e such fights must be refereed by first class man: another senior class man must act as timekeeper, and in this instance it was necessary for two company captains at least to fail to re- port absent from supper formation the principals, their seconds and the time keepers. It was also necessary for the officer of the deck (noorl upon which the fight was held to fail to report what was taking place.
 Fist Fight Is Fatal.
 Many such fights had been held be- fore and everyone. including the sur geon, who had to patch up the partici- pants, had winked at the practice.
 But this time Meriwether became unconscious in the twenty.second round and later died without regain ing consciousness A rigid investiga. ton was helc and punishments were meted out. but the very superior of ficers who imposed the penalties had little stomach for their work because they realized that everyone involved had simply followed the code.
 Indeed. to a landsman it seems that the naval cadet will tell a falsehood to protect brother officer at any tme It is a part of the code that no classmate shall report another for a violation of academy regulations un. less as consequence of his failure to make such report he himself will be reported and for more serious ohense than that of which his class mate is guilty.
 Conditions have improved somewhat at the academy of late years. Secre- tary of the Navy Josephus Daniels has stamped out serious hazing by dismis- sing man guilty of violating an or der in this regard. He further threat ened to sentence hazers to one years