New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-26
Six Out of Eight College
Heads IndorSe Defence
Training Plan
LETTERS TO BE READ
AT GENESEE DINNER
University and Army Life
Should Be Separate,
Says DR.. Eliot

Letters from eight college presi-
dents. expressing their views on mill
tary training, both in their own insti-
tutions and the country in general, Will
be read at the dinner of the Society OF
the Genesee at the Hotel hnicker-
booker next Saturday evening. At the
end Of the dinner national defence will
be discussed by General George W.
Goethals. DR.. Rush Rhees, OF the Uni
versity Of Rochester, DR.. John II. Fin
ley and others.
With the exception Of David Starr
Jordan. president of Leland Stanford
University, California, and Henry ".
McCracken. of Vassar College, all OF
those who replied 70 the society's let
ter Endorsed the plan for universal
military training. There is disagree
ment, however, on whether college stu
dents should be obliged TO enlist in a
university corps.
Dr.. Charles ". Eliot, president
emeritus Of Harvard. says:
The universities ought 10 inspire in
all their students an ardent love OF
country and of public liberty. This
seems to me the only and the sufficient
contribution which universities should
make toward national defence. In the
present highly developed condition Of
warfare on land and sea there is only
one way Of providing for the national
defence, namely, universal military SER
vice of the Swiss Sort
DR.. Butler Agrees with DR.. Eliot
Or. Nicholas Murray Butler, Of Co.
lumbia. agrees with DR.. Eliot in his
stand that military training should be
kept separate from the life Of a uni
versity.
1T is my opinion" he says, that the
specific military training Of young men
should be kept separate from their
school and college life and should be
under direct national supervision and
control. This is the case in both
France and Germany, and the principle
on which 1t rests is, in my judgment,
SOUND"
On the other hand. President Arthur
7. Hsdley Of Yale says:
81 believe that the university should
be so organized as TO train men who
can serve as officers for the instruction
of reserves in time Of peace and for
acting as their leaders in time of war"
Dr.. J. q. Schurman, of Cornell. also
heartily incOrses the training Of the
collegian in military matters, and adds;
If war were banished from our
planet ! would retain military training
side by side with athletics as an instru-
rf Nh aaT
versitics, and not only for its physical
advantages, great as they are, but also
for the moral, mental, social and civic
effects and reactions
President Benjamin Ide Wheeler of
the University Of California announces
that he is in favor OF universal MILL
tary training, and says:
when il comes 10 choosing officers
for the reserves we Americans cannot
base our choice, as Europe does, on So
cial caste or the possession Of goods.
We must turn TO the colleges. Natural
leadership of some sort there must be,
and that leadership the higher educa-
tion will provide"
George W. Pepper, a trustee OF Penn
sylvania. also declares himself a sup
porter of military training in colleges.
Or. Jordan Opposes Training
DR.. Jordan says: 81 do not believe
that the universities have any normal
relation 10 the military side Of national
defence beyond their general obligation
TO ascertain and make known the truth"
President McCracken Of Vassar be-
lieves that the duty Of the college is to
impress upon the student his obligation
% the state.
"Our problem, then, is not TO stir up
long dormant prejudices by the creation
Of an upper military class, but, rather,
how TO stir American public opinion TO
its depths through the realization Of
what national honor means"