Science Number
The New Education
No. 11
STILLWATER, OKLAHOMA, MAY 15, 1910
Vol. 1
COLLEGE MILITARY TRAINING
The advantages of military instruction to col-
lege students are numerous. The student, the
institution, the community, the state and the na-
tion all reap benefits therefrom.
The student is taught habits of punctuality
and obedience,—necessary and sublime \ it lues.
Military training also inculcates a sense of honor
and general manliness that is seldom derived
elsewhere. What the gymnasium does for his
physical welfare the military training does for
his integrity and sense of fairness and justice.
He loses his shuffling, clumsy gait and ac-
quires an alert, businesslike, manly step. In-
stead of a tendency to stand first on one leg
then on the other, like a tired horse, or to lean
on a desk or throw one leg over the corner of
it, looking all around the room at the same time,
the student learns to stand erect, to look in the
eye the person to whom he is talking and to
speak in a brief, straightforward, gentlemanly
manner. A manly bearing is a valuable asset.
To those who are fortunate enough to become
officers it gives the additional experience of
studying, controlling and judging men —the abil-
ity to do so being a valuable qualification in
those who employ men.          ,   ,  ,      , .
In after years the student looks back on his
college days and dwells with great pleasure on
the hours spent in his military duties. To some
students this seems “far fetched , but by inquiry
of those whose college days are past the state-
ment will be verified.
The institution is benefited by the improvement
of the individual student. Military organization
J. L. R. Agassiz, the great and beloved natural scientist
of the first three-quarters of the Nineteenth Century, was
born in Switzerland, May 28, 1807. In 1846 he visited
America for the first time; and in 1848 lie accepted the
chair of geology in the Lawrence Scientific Institute of Har-
vard University; a position which he held with world-wide
power and success until his death, December 14, 1873. At
that time he was a member of nearly every scientific society
in the world. With a mind broader than his specialty, he
was one of those rare spirits that live in a world forever
wonderful,—transfigured to its minutest details with eternal,
divine beauty, glory and marvelous meaning. A teacher of
noble enthusiasm, his powerful influence is still felt in every
college and laboratory in the world. An intellectual and
social democrat, he poured forth broadcast the finest scien-
tific truths in simple, beautiful language that plain men
eagerly read. With singleness of mind he said, “1 have no
time to make money”. With divinely expanded soul, a citi-
zen of the world, he was at home “in God’s Out-of-Doors”.
AERIAL NAVIGATION
(Address at the College Chapel, April, 1910.)
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
The last time that 1 had the pleasure of speak-
ing to you 1 told you how at a critical period of
my existence I fell violently in love with a col-
lege. Since that time some of my friends, or
supposed friends, have been unkind enough to
asert that the college 1 fell in love with was a fe-
male seminary. In order to set myself right be-
fore the public, 1 wish to assure you that it was
no such thing. Indeed, it was not even a co-
educational institution. Now, gentlemen, I think
we can understand a young man fall-
ing half in love with a co-educational institu-
tion, or perhaps I should say falling in love with
half a co-educational institution,—especially if
that half was as sweet, as fair, as charming, and
as loyal to Alma Mater as the better half of the
A. & M. College. And so, partly as a slight
tribute to the relining influence that their gentle,
gracious presence has on our college life, and
partly because 1 believe that they have a peculiar
interest in my subject I wish today to address
my remarks particularly to the young ladies. _
Young ladies, 1 recently heard a friend of mine,
a young man of rather poetic temperament,
speak of the angels that might be seen flitting
across our campus. Now there are three
requisites for being an angel: first, an angel
should look beautiful: second, an angel should be
able to sing; and third, an angel should be able
to Uy. Now as for looking beautiful, 1 am sure
that my fair colleagues, the lady professors and in-
structors, a r e
facilitates com-
m u n i c a t i o n
with the stu-
dents individu-
ally and col-
lectively. (The
i n s t i t u t ion
shares this ad-
vantage with
the home folks
of the student.)
And,   on   ac-
count   of the
greater degree
of acquaintance-
ship among the
student body, a
more enthusias-
tic college spirit
is enhanced. A
military college
always has a
more loyal
alumni.
A military
training causes
the student to
have more re-
spect for the
rights and prop-
erty of others.
He learns that
for the strong
to take advant-
age of the weak
or unprotected is neither manly nor just. He
learns to do right because it is right and not from
fear of the sheriff. The average person must first
learn to submit to control by others before he is
able to control himself or others. The value of or-
ganization and trained unity of action is impressed
upon the student body, the institution and the
community.
The community is also benefited by the infor-
mation it obtains in a very small degree of mili-
tary customs and duties, concerning which the
average American has strange ideas. This is
due in part to the fact that most stories or plays
of military life, or which include one or more
military characters, are written and presented
to the public without first being submitted to
competent military criticism. The literary
crimes that are committed in this way are ap-
palling and the worst is that in some cases the
Part of Firing Line—Field Problem
REGIMENT OF A. & M. COLLEGE CADETS
author attaches a misleading military title to his
name.
On account of the military training the state
derives a better class of citizens and, scattered
throughout the state, they by their example as-
sist others to become better citizens. I he state
also has a partially trained set of men from which
to select some good officers and non-commis-
sioned officers for her militia companies.
The nation gains by having a number of citi-
zens who are trained in what might be termed
the “First Grade” in military science and tactics.
This is especially advantageous in a nation such
as ours which makes the great mistake of de-
pending almost entirely on volunteer forces for
not only the second and subsequent lines in case
of national emergency but also for its first line of
defense. Our present army will be but "a drop
in the bucket” to what will be needed in case of
war with a first class power.
Why prepare for war? Permit me to quote two
thoughts of the late General William T. Sher-
man :
“1 cannot help plead with my countrymen, at
every opportunity, to cherish all that is manly
and noble in the military profession, because
peace is enervating and no man is wise enough
to foretell when soldiers may be in demand
again.” And: “At the close of our Civil War,
lasting four years, some of our best corps and
division generals, as well as staff officers, were
from civil life: but 1 cannot recall any of the most
successful who did not express a regret that he had
not received in early life instruction in the ele-
mentary principles of the art of war instead of
being forced to acquire this knowledge in the
(Continued on page 4)
doing a great
deal to encour-
age you if not
by precept, at
least by exam-
ple. Professor
Zackheim i s
teaching you to
sing, and I
shall endeavor
this morning to
give you some
slight instruc-
tion in the gen-
tle art of fly-
ing.
A p p 1 i a n c e s
for navigating
the air may be
divided into,
those that are
lighter than air
and those that
are heavier than
air. The first
class consists of
the old fash-
ioned lifting
balloon and the
dirigable hal-
lo o n s. The
heavier than air
machines may
be sub-divided
into machines that work with flapping wings,
helicopters, and aeroplanes. These latter may or
may not be motor-driven..
The balloon is now somewhat over a hundred
years old, having been invented in Paris about
the time of the French Revolution. Little im-
provement has been made in this style of appar-
atus since its invention. Except for use as a
capitive balloon for making military observa-
tions, and on one or two historical occasions,
when it has been used for carrying letters out of
besieged cities, it remains practically what it al-
ways was, a curious scientific toy. Its vast bulk
must always stand in the way of its being used
for traveling in a predetermined direction. If
you have noticed the papers lately you will have
seen that at the last balloon race, balloons of
from 75,000 to 100,000 cubic feet capacity were
used. The cubical capacity of this room is al-
most exactly 100,000 cubic feet, and if any of you
have ever wrestled with an obstinate umbrella
(Continued on page 4)