Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1915-12-07
POINTS TO LESSON
IN fAvY'S DEFEAT
Robert Eastman Suggests That
Daniels and Congress Study it.
PLAYERS LACK ENTHUSIASM.
Showed Evidence Of Meddling Inter-
ference in Academy Affairs.

The Army and Navy football game
furnished psychological lesson which
il would be well for Secretary Daniels
and Congress TO closely study and to
heed if they would have the personnel
of the Navy consist of men of unflinch-
ing courage. resourcefulness and hero
ic daring" said Robert w. Eastman, of
| New York.
Never before have ! seen Annapolis
boys enter and go through the game in
a less enthusiastic and less confident
manner than did the team which was
defeated by the West Pointers on the
New York Polo Grounds.
1T seems all the spirit. all The go,
the aH-defying and proud air of the
Annapolis toys had disappeared since
they have been made to feel the med
ding interference in the ancient and
honored customs Of the Academy by an
amateur Navy administration at Wash
ington, whose sole hobby seems to be
to take the very manhood and spirit
of independence out of the boys who in
the near future may be called upon tC
defend this country from foreign ag-
erosion
that eb. .yyjc .alsebb oit-t
1T would be decidedly better for the
efficiency of the Navy If the powers
that be at Washington paid more at
tention to the opinions of the men who
have spent their lives in the service
and are real experts in their respective
lines, and spent less time in listening
to amateurs and devising hobbies for
the naval arm of the government
How different were the Cadets from
West Point, Their bearing was so
obviously different from that of their
Annapolis brothers as to provoke pub
lie comment. They fought the game
with a vim and dash and vigor that
bespoke different environment They
exhibited the true spirit of the Amer
lean soldier, resourceful, enterpris-
ing, strong and daring Their en-
thusiasm was in marked contrast to
the seeming indifference of the sailor
boys. There is less meddling by anna
teurs in connection with the Army and
West Point and the War Office in
Washington is to be congratulated on
this particular point.
The meddling interference of the
Secretary of the Navy regarding the
navy in general can only be offset by
an enlightened Congress and the Wig
Orous pressure of public opinion Citi-
zens and representatives, when the
truth is brought home to them, will
not tolerate the puerile experiments
which have steriliZed and denatured
the Navy. But the officers of the Navy
are handicapped in bringing this pres
sure to bear.
"a large part of their time is spent
on service in home and foreign waters
They are out of touch with members
of Congress and men of influence So
it is that in the feeble hands of Wis
ionary,who confuses social settlement
work with the business of naval war
fare, the old esprit de corps, nurtured
under previous secretaries, has been
allowed to languish.
ut is different with the Army It's
officers are watching the welfare of
their branch of the service with jeal-
! Gus care. They have their homes in
the centre of population and many of
/ them in the capital. In their social
activities they keep in touch with the
4 members of Congress and the masses
I of the people. They are at hand to
stifle the tendencies which would en-
feeble the Army. They are ready
with expert information and the per
suasive power of their personality to
keep the Army at a standard worthy
of its best traditions.
Their quiet influence could neu-
tralize the mismanagement even of
wrong-headed Secretary of War, to a
large extent. The Navy, to a degree.
is orphaned, isolated, helpless in the
hands of an opinionated beurocrat.
The result? We saw it at the foot
ball game and the same despair of UNI
Stacking itself from the Secretary's
policy OF enfeeblement is paving the
way for similar lethargy when a real
conflict comes"