The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-03-12
MONDAY, MARCH Il, 1917
DISTINGUISHED COLLEGES. >

One of the steps recently taken to
add numbers to the officers in the reg
ular army service was the call by the !
secretary of war to presidents Of dds
tinguishcd - colleges to name ten men
from the graduating class this year for
appointment to the regular army as
second licutcnauts, the same grade that
graduates Of West Point get. The use
OF the term distinguished colleges
has stirred no small amount Of curios
itv. Harvard and Yale are distin-
guishod colleges but not in the sense
used here. The classification in this
ease is based on the inspection made
10y officers of the general staff of the
regular army of the colleges and
schools of the United States having a
military course as part of their currie-
ulum. Any institution which maintains
military course at which q hundred
or more men attend will be furnished
by the war department with equipment
ald an officer to direct drilling and to
teach military science. All the schools
created By land grants of congress are
required to maintain a military course.
ln the long period between the Civil
war and the present preparedness cam
paign, little attention has been paid
this very important feature. But now
people are paying more attention.
The grading system by which "dis
tinguishcd' colleges are differentiated
from the rest was started in 1901 un-
der the Roosevelt regime, by the way
and the first three schools to get dis
tiuguishcd' mention were Norwich
University ia Vermont, the Virginia
Military Institute and the Citadel
school Of North Carolina In the twelve
wears since Norwich and V. NJ. l. have
retained their position on the list
Other institutions have fallen into
line as follows: The Citadel Charleston,
:. C., the years 1901, 1908, 1908, 1909,
1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1918. 1916;
st. John 5 college, Annapolis, Md, the
year, 1905, 1909, 1910, 1915, 1916; Agri.
cultural and Mechanical college of
Texas, the years 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913,
1914, 1915, 1916; University of Califor,
MIA, the years 1914, 1918, 1916; Univer-
sitY of Illinois, the years 1914, 1915,
1876 University Of Kansas, the years
1914, 1915, 1916; University of Mime
sofa, the years 1914. 1915, 1916; Univer-
sty Of Missouri, the years 1914, 1915
1916; Ohio state university, the Years
1914, 1915, 1916; University of Yer
mont, the years 1915, 1916; University
of Wisconsin, the years 1915, 1916;
state college Of Washington, 1916.
OF the colleges and universities des
| i2uated as distinguished f." Norwich
| university, Virginia Military institute
/ the Citadel of :. c., st. John s college
| of Annapolis Nd, and the Agricultural
| and Mechanical college of Texas are
strictly military institutions. at which
the cadets are under discipline twenty
four hours day and the routine
life is patterned more or less after the
United states Military academy al
II West Point.
It is something of a coincidcnt that
Of the fifteen colleges and schools now
rated in the distinguished - class, tive
of them are Vermont institutions. Tn,
Green Mountain state Is the only on,
that has that honor. II happens that
II Col. Ira l.. Reeves, now president oil
Norwich and one of the educators tC
/ whom people are turning their eyes