Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-07-29

confinement He said in transmitting
IN order on the subject:
Il have no sympathy with hazing.
A hazer Is essentially a bully and
must necessarily have in his nature q
streak Of the same innate cruelty pos
sessed by brutes who torture dumb
animals for the pleasure Of watching
their suffering"
Betting Is Forbidden.
Betting is another forbidden de-
light to midshipmen. In the fall Of
1912 half the students or about 400
men were involved in a pool Of $4,000
which was raised to be wagered
against an equal amount collected at
West Point on the result Of an Army
Navy football game. The authorities
have stamped out the drinking of in.
toXicating liquors with an iron hand.
Another practice more than frowned
upon is the running of extravagant
bills, especially for flowers and for
CLlCll ali lllcllI VI guests. I.a. -.
This Is not the first time that acad-
envy examinations have caused rue
tons. The entrance requirements
ments have been a fruitful source Of
trouble. The charge has been made
on the floor Of the house Of repre-
sentatives that the tests have been
made In such a way that candidates
were forced to 60 to the preparatory
schools which specialize In getting
boys into the academy. III
On several occasions, too, it has
been reported that candidates have
had substitutes take the examination
for them. Brilliant and unscrupulous
youths have been found to palm them
selves off as the candidates in the ex'
animation room with the result that
young men deficient in preparation en-.
tered Uncle SANS free school. o..
The cadets have a lot of things to
learn nowadays which were unknown
80 years ago. Much attention is paid
to electricity. The modern battleship
is a great machine shop. The success
full naval officer has to be a good me-
chanical engineer, as wireless, automo-
bile, torpedoes, submarines and a
thousand and one other things must
be digested by the cadet today which
Farragut knew nothing of.
Indeed, for many decades of its
history u navy got along without a
naval academy. Midshipmen went to
sea from the first and learned how to
use a big gun on the deck of a man-o'-
war. Navigation was learned from
the officers of the ship as they did the
actual work. A senior officer might
gather together the young e under
his care for a lecture now and then
or he might not.
1t was not until 1916, in the days OF
James X. Polk, when George Bancroft
was secretary Of the navy, that the
agitation for a naval school gained
Roadway. Fomented principally by the
younger officers, who saw as the navy
increased that the requirements were
multiplied, the tide began to rise I'M
til it brought the first buildings to the
grounds Of Fort Severn.
Early Days in the Academy.
The course under Commander
Franklin Buchanan was fixed at five
years Of which only the first and last
were to be spent at the school. In
January, 1916, four months after the
opening, the students consisted Of sc
midshipmen Of the date of 1910, 10
of the date Of 1871, and v acting
middies appointed to the previous
year. The first group was graduated
after their limited course Of n year
in 1916.
In 1850 came the first reorganization,
providing for a course Of seven years,
the first two and the last two to be
devoted to study and the three inter
mediate years to be spent at sea. Next
year q board of examiners dropped the
three years of sea service in the mid.
die Of the course and the present four
consecutive years Of study was in
a%ugurated. The practice cruises Of
the summer supplied the place Of the
omitted sea service.
The work of the academy was sad
ly interrupted in the Civil war, when
part of the students went to the front
and the rest were moved for safety to
Newport, R. I. But it has since then
followed the development of our navy
study until it gives today a more thor
ough technical training than any sim
Var institution in the world.