Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1920-08-20


Harvard Teachers association, in
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NW1 which he severely criticized the
ll1STrTTn11 United States Military academy at
uNNlllIUUIl West Point as educational insti-
III WlllV tuition.
r&z7J Now, West Point is an institution
- of supreme national Importance. If
Dr. Eliot's criticisms can be sus-
tained II is the manifest duty of
congress and the secretary of war to bring about
all changes necessary to fit the institution to its
high public purpose.
Representative Fred A. Britten Of Illinois In
troduced a resolution requesting that certain In
formation be furnished the house by the war
department Representative julius Kahn of
California chairman of the committee on military
affairs, wrote to Secretary of War Newton d.
Baker concerning this resolution. Secretary Baker
took this opportunity to write Representative
Kahn long communication, which is In purpose
and effect q formal defense Of West Point and
an answer to Dr. E1ots criticisms. In view of
the supreme Importance Of West Point as an
American institution, summary of Secretary
Bakers defense Is well worth printing.
DIR. Eliots criticisms are as follows:
1. mo American school or college intended for
youths between IS and 20 years of age should
accept such illprepared material as West Point
accepts.
.. "No school or college should have COM
pletey prescribed curriculum
3. "No school or college should have its teach
ing done almost exclusively by recent graduates
Of the same school or college who are not teach
ers and who serve short terms.
T. "The graduates Of West Point during the
World War; both in the field and in business
Offices did not escape, with few exceptions, from
the methods which they had been taught and
drilled In during peace. The methods of fighting
were, In the main, new and the methods of sup
ply and account ought to have been new. The
red-tape methods prescribed to the American
IN
very mischievous all through the actual fighting
and remain serious impedment to the efficiency
of the war department to this day.
In answering criticism No /, Secretary Baker
sets forth the methods of admission to West
Point by congressional and presidential appoint
ment competitive examinations entrance exam
nations, etc. He then says, in part:
"From 1888 to 1915 the total number of candl-
dates who have presented themselves for admis-
sion to West Point has been 1919. OF these
1852 have been admitted. OF the residue 4220
were rejected for admission by the academic
board 2,746 failed to report 021 were rejected by
the medical board; 573 were rejected by the joint
action of the academic board and the medical
board COS passed, for whom no vacancies existed
10s failed to complete the examinations; 1SS de-
cIined appointments after completing the exami-
nation, and SO appointments were Cancelled.
"It thus appears that the process of selection is
countrywide; that the requirements from purely
academic standpoint, are adequately high, and
that the standards are rigidly enforced.
taking American secondary education as 1t is
for rich and poor, In the city and in the country
east and west, / am persuaded that no college
drawing its students from a wide geographical
area compares with West Point in the quality Of
the material which it receives. and If more uni
form excellence could be obtained by sectional ol
class selection surely the exchange would be
bad one for the national constituency which the
academy has always had"
AS to criticism No. 2, Secretary Baker says HI
does not attach any value to any opinion h,
might express to the controversy between th
prescribed curriculum and the free elective sys
TENS of collegiate education. But, he says, 1
cannot be conceded that West Point has a fixed
inelastic and unchanging curriculum. He men
tions the appointment Of a board Of investiga
ton in 1917, and says 1t is only one in a con
tnulng series Of investigations with the view O
adapting the instruction to the demands whic