Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-02-16
MILITARSM IN
SCHOOLS OPPOSED
DR.. Mullowney, Peace Advo-
cate, Discusses Pros and Cons
of Teaching Boys to Shoot


a letter which showed the writer
strongly and enthusiastically in favor
of Teaching the boy In the school to
shoot" Here is the opinion of the presi-
dent of the Harrisburg Arbitration and
Peace Society. DR.. John ]. Mullowney.
whose views are emphatically opposed
to military training in the schools.
Further discussion through these col
umns is invited.
The letter in full follows:
Paxtang. Pa
Honorable E. ]. Stackpole.
Editor of the Telegraph,
Harrisburg, Pa.
My Dear Friend:
graph has opened its columns to the
parents of Harrisburg for a discus
sion of the subject of Military Train
ing In the public schools. 1t Is a sub
ject of vital Importance and should be
considered most carefully by educa-
tors and parents.
such that l would naturally be in favor
of anything that was to promote the
health and physical well-betnE OF the
young people of the nation. My life
work has been in the field of Preven-
tive Medicine and Sanitation, several
years have been spent a teacher of
young men, both in public schools and
In medical college. l would. there
fore. be prejudiced. If preJudiced at all.
In favor of a system of education which
would put great stress on the making
opinion is that while military train
Ing or military drill does give GER
tain degree of bodily exercise 1t does
not give that a1l-roundness of muscu-
lar development which is necessary to
produce that perfect symmetry of body
which We so much desire for the youth
of the land. No man in this country
has had larger experience in eXamin-
young could
less prejudiced against military train
ing because Of moral or religious
D., director of the Hemenway gym
nasium, Harvard University, Cam
bridge, Mass. and yet this is what he
wrote for the Boston Medical and
lection to military drill as a physical
exercise is that 1t does not to any ex-
ts tent t. meet meet the physiological demands
the respiration and quicken the circu-
lation to sufficient extent to secure
the constitutional benefits that should
accrue from exercise. dislike
to take from the drill one of the strong
est attributes that has commended 1t
to parents and teachers, but unless /
have been misled in my observations
there Is nothing in the drill itself that
tends to make one erect or graceful.
On the other hand, I am prepared to
maintain that 1t tends to make him
stiff and angular In his movements, as
ers.
AFTER taking the most favorable
view. possible of military drill as
pnySlcal exercise, we are led to con-
clude that Its constrained positions, and
closely localized movements do not af-
ford the essential requisites for devel-
oping the muscles. and improving the
respiration and circulation, and there
by improving the general health con-
dition of the system. We must further
conclude that in case of malformation,
1ks,As
bility, the drill tends by its strain upon
the nerves and prolonged tension on the
muscles. to increase the defects rather
than relieve them.
Finally, if the ultimate object of the
drlll was to prepare young men for the
life and duties of a soldier. we should
be forced to conclude. that the drill
itself would still be defective as
means of developing the chief requisite
Tor men in that profession.
This DEFECT, we are pleased to state,
tions of Europe, and measures are
taken to give all recruits from three to
twelve months gymnastic training to
develop them as men before they are
ments of the soldier"
If military training or drill in the
schools are as beneficial as some of the
Preparedness" orators would have MS
believe, is 1t not strange that more of
the great private schools and acade-
mics of this country. schools which are
dS oiu DIS tne country itself, and which
are free from popular clamor and po-
litical intrigue. have not introduced
military drill into their curriculums?
Yet The Phillips Exeter Academy and
The Phillips Andover Academy, two of
the oldest preparatory schools in the
land, and, by the way, two of the
schools whose athletic contests are of
national fame. have never introduced
military drill.
am in hearty sympathy with Sill
perlntendent Downes. of Harrisburg,
When he advocates physical training
Tor the boys (and why not the girls.
too) OF our High Schools, but does not
advocate military drill.
/ would like to urge upon the parents
or this land just a word of caution
from the Father of His Country:
'Overgrown military establishments
are under any form of government
inauspicious to liberty, and are to he
regarded as particularly hostile to re-
publican iberty."-George Washington.
In his farewell address
hold that the effort to introduce
military training or drill into our pub-
lie schools is an insidious and cunning
~ devised plan to foist upon this couT,
try those "overgrown military estah-
lishments" which to-day have made
Europe a seething. bleeding mass of
hatred and destruction.
am,
Respectfully yours.
JOHN ]. MULLOWNEY, M D.
(President of Harrisburg Arbitration