The Hastings Herald (Hastings, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 41, Ed. 1 Friday, August 27, 1920 Page: 3 of 8
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7
IIARLES W ELIOT president emeri-
tus of Harvard university made an
address not long ago before the
Harvard' Teachers’ association In
which he severely criticized the
United States Military academy at
West Point as an educational Insti-
tution Now West Point Is an institution
of supreme national lnportance " If
4 Dr Eliot’s criticisms can be sus-
talned' It 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-
jtroduced a resolution requesting that certain In-
formation be furnished the house by the war
department Representative Julius Kahn of
‘California chairman of the committed on military
affairs wrote to Secretary of War Newton D
(Baker concerning this resolution Secretary Baker ’
took this opportunity to write Representative
Kahn a long communication which Is In purpose
and effect a formal defense of West Point and
an answer to Dr Eliot’s criticisms In view of
the supreme importance of West Point as an
American institution a summary of Secretary
Baker’s defense is well "worth printing
Dr Eliot’s criticisms are as follows : J
1 “No American school or college intended for"
lyouths between 18 and 20 years of age should
accept such ill-prepared material as West Point
(accepts '
2 “No school or college should have a’com-
jpletely prescribed curriculum '
3 “No school or college should have Its teach-
jing done almost exclusively by recent graduates
(of the same school or college who are not teach-
‘ jers and who serve short terms
‘ - 4 “The graduates of West Point during the
World War both In the field and In business
offices did not escape with few exceptions from
jthe methods which they hag 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 thei American
Regular Army officers of passing the buck were
very mischievous all through the actual fighting
’and remain a serious Impediment to the efficiency
of the war department to this day
In answering criticism No 1 Secretary Baker
sets forth ' the methods of admission to West
Point by congressional and presidential appoint-
ment competitive examinations entrance exam-
inations etc He then says in part:
“From 1838 to 1915 the total number of candi-
dates who have presented themselves for admis-
sion to West Point has been 17919 Of these
' 8352 have been admitted Of the residue 4220
' were rejected for admission by the academic
board 2746 failed to report 921 were rejected by
the medical board 573 were rejected by the joint
action of the academic board and the medical
board 698 passed for whom no vacancies existed
198 failed to complete the examinations 188 de-
clined appointments after completing the exami-
' nation and 53 Appointments were canceled
“It thus appears that the process of selection is
countrywide that the requirements from a purely
academic standpoint are adequately high and
that the standards are rigidly enforced
“Taking American secondary education as It Is '
for rich and poor in the city and in the country
east and west I 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 or
class selection surely the exchange would be a
bad one for the national constituency which the
academy has always had”
As to criticism IJo 2 Secretary Baker says he
-does not attach any value to any opinion he
might express as to the controversy between the
prescribed curriculum and the free elective sys-
tems of collegiate education But he says it
cannot be conceded that West Point has a fixed
Inelastic and unchanging curriculum He men-
tions the appointment of a board of Investiga-
tion in 1917 and says it is only one In a con-
tinuing series of investigations with the view of
adapting the instruction to the demands which
the World War has shown could be made upon
military men He then says In part :
“After all West Point Is a special school as Is
the Naval academy at Annapolis 'as la any
school of mines or of chemistry or of languages
This does not justify the turning out of soldiers
or mining engineers or chemists who know noth-
ing else but it does Justify a course of Instruction
whfcb emphasizes the specialty while It - pro-
duces an educated man The purpose of West
Point therefore is not to act as a glorified drill
sergeant but to lay a foundation upon which a
career of growth In military knowledge can be
based and to accompany it with two Indispensable
additions first such a general training as edu-
cated men find necessary for intelligent inter-
course with one another and second the Incul-
cation of a set of virtues admirable always but
indispensable In the soldier -Men may be Inexact
or even untruthful in ordinary matters and suf-
fer as a consequence only the disesteem of their
associates or the Inconveniences of unfavorable
litigation but the inexact or untruthful soldier
1 trifles with the lives of his fellow men and the
honor of his government and It is therefore no
matter of idle pride but rather of stern dis-
ciplinary necessity that makes West Point re-
quire of her students a character for trustworthi-
ness which knows no evasions
“I ought to point out that West Point is but the
beginning of education in the army In each of
the services there are continuation schools of
growing breadth and usefulness and the plan
toward which army education is tending will
more and more seek only the fundamentals both
of education and character at West Point and
look more and more to the special schools for
the technical scientific completion
“A test may be appealed to with confidence
During the first hundred years (1802-1902) of Its ‘
existence 2371 graduates of West Point left the J
t army to go Into civil life The occupations of
these graduates are shown in the following
table: President of the United States 1 presi-
dent of the Confederate States 1 presidential
candidates 3 vice-presidential candidates 2
members of the cabinet of the United States 4
ambassador 1 ministers of the United States to
foreign countries 14- charge d’affaires of the
United States to foreign ' countries 2 United
States consul generals and consuls 12 members
of congress 24 United States civil officers of
Various kinds 171 presidential electors 8 gov- i
ernors of states and territories 16 bishops 1
lieutenant governors 2 judges 14 members of
state legislatures 77 presiding officers of state
Senates and houses of representatives 8 mem-
bers of conventions for the formation of state
constitutions 13 state officers of various grades
51 adjutants Inspectors and quartermaster gep-
erals and chief engineers of states and territories
28 officers of state militia 158 mayors of cities
17 city officers 57 presidents' of universities
colleges etc 46 ' principals of academies and
schools 82 regents and chancellors of educational
institutions 14 professors and teachers 136
superintendent of coast survey 1 surveyors gen-
eral of states and territories 11 chief engineers '
of states 14 presidents of railroads' and other
corporations 87 chief engineers of railroads and
other public works 63 superintendents of rail-
roads and other public works 62 treasurers and
receivers of railroads and other corporations 24
civil engineers 228 electrical engineers 5 at-
torneys and counselors at law 200 superior '
general of clerical order 1 clergymen 20
physicians 14 merchants 122 manufacturers
77 artists 3 architects 7 farmers and planters
230 bankers 18 bank presidents 8 bank offi-
cers 23 editors 30 authors 179
“Not all of the foregoing occupations are sig-
nificant of Intellectual supremacy or necessarily
superior training but the list is one which could
not have been made by a college with an inade-
quate or archaic system of education These men
have stepped out of West Point Into civil life
and qualified in large numbers for positions from
the very highest within the gift of the people in
all walks of life a list quite too large and im-
posing to represent the triumph of talent over
obstruction”
Discussing criticism No 3 Secretary Baker
says that the special character of the education
which West Point must give limits the field of
selection of Its teachers He defends the practice
of teaching by recent graduates He then points
out that there Is more permanency In the aca-
demic staff than Is commonly supposed Of the 12
beads of departments 7 are permanent and 5 are
detailed for periods of 4 years
Secretary Baker says in part concerning
criticism No 4: -
- “Nothing short of omniscience can analyze the
intricate multiplied and scattered activities of
the war department during the recent war at
home and in the field give Just weight to the
circumstances surrounding these activities and
apportion either the credit for success or the
' blame for mistake as between the persons en-
gaged' in those activities The handful of West
Point graduates the larger handful of Regular
Army officers drawn from civil life reserve offi-
cers officers of the National Guard and the
vastly larger body of officers hastily Instructed in
officers’ training camps altogether comprised ap-
proxlmately 205000 men ‘ of whom the West
Point graduates numbered 3081 In the per-
formance of their work these officers were aided
j by an immense body of civilians— captains of
Industry masters of business scientific technical
commercial industrial and all other kinds of ex-
perts worked side by side It Is my settled con-
viction that the commercial and industrial or-
ganization of America during the war was a
colossal success but whether It was or not the
result was not an outcome of the system of edu-
cation at West Point The thing was done by the
nation and all the varied processes by which our
citizens are trained contributed”
He explains why federal statutes and govern-
ment regulations produce red-tape he admits
- that the system may be slow at times but holds
that conservations of public safety require that
these transactions be matters of record and that
the person responsible for a decision should make
the decision His explanation of passing the buck
is that “there is as to each question a proper
person to decide it to ask the wrong person can
have but one or the other of two results either
to be referred to the right person or get an un-
authorized answer” He says the fighting was
not new but old Then he says:
“The comment seems to imply a belief on
President Eliot’s part that graduates of West
Point have not shown up well In the military
history of the United States It is incredible that
he could really entertain this belief- In every
war in which the United States has been engaged
since the academy was established its graduates
have been conspicuous alike for heroism and suc-
cess The following list Is made up of names
which illustrate American ' history They are
graduates of the Military academy and they are
men whose memory we teach our children to
revere
“Indian wars: Custer Crooke Wright Macken-
zie Cooke A S Johnston Jefferson Davis Aber-
crombie Casey McCall Canby Rains
“Mexican war: Swift Sherman Totten Bragg
R E Lee McClellan Beauregard Huger Reno
Grant Jefferson Davis Early
Civil war : General officers in Union Army 294
in Confederate Army 151 Grant Sherman Sheri-
' dan Schofield Buell Burnside- Glllmore Halleck
Hancock Heintzelman Hooker Howard Hum-
phreys Kilpatrick Lyon Meade Merritt Mc-
Clellan McDowell Ord Pope Porter Reynolds
Rosecrans Slocum Thomas Warren Wright
Beauregard Bragg Cooper Hood A S Johnston
J E Johnston R E Lee Kirby Smith Anderson
Buckner Early Ewell Hardee A P Hill D H
Hill Holmes Jackson S D Lee Longstreet
Pemberton Polk A P Stewart Wheeler Fit
Xee Lovell Pickett J E" B Stuart Van Dorn
“Spanish war : Otis King Fltz Lee Whegler
Bell Pershing Lawton Barry r
“Explorers builders of railroads canals light-
houses etc Swift Totten McClellan Poe Ab‘
bott Warren Humphreys Talcott Comstock
Bache Wheeler Wright Whistler Sidell Porter
Wilson Greene Du Pont Ludlow Meigs Griffin
Holden Black Goethals Sibert Gaillard Casey
Hodges
“Public life: Grant Polk McClellan Hancock
Porter Buckner Lee Longstreet Du Pont Briggs
“World war: Pershing March Bliss Bullard
Liggett Goethals Summerall Jervey Scott
Graves Biddle McAndrew Black Richardson
Connor et at"
HEN a dress Uncalled “practi-
cal” we are apt to feel that it
has been condemned with cold praise
and "practical” offered as Its ex-
cuse for not being pretty House
frocks for the average woman
must be practical and their manu
facturers have undertaken to make
them at least good looking They
have succeeded so well that there are
many models that are both practical
and pretty The simpler designs are
planned to launder easily usually cut
with kimono body and sleeves made
In one piece and with a loose adjust-
ment about the waistline where a belt
of the material slips through straps
of it to give the waistline the required
definition
House dresses for everyday ordi-
nary wear are shown in a variety of
designs that are really attractive
After experimenting with other good
fabrics and successfully designers re-
turn to gingham with unshaken confi-
dence In plaids and checks It has
been a great favorite this season with-
out laying any claim to novelty But
designers have managed It cleverly as
one of many good models will prove
This is shown in the picture It ls
noticeable that the skirt and tunic are
cut on the straight of the goods and
the tunic left open at the front IF
is bordered with a bias band of the
goods The waist is plain with three-
quarter length sleeves and has an or-
gandie vestee and rolled collar plcot-
edged with four flat pearl buttons!
making a neat finish at each side of It
The vestee has two plcot-edged
flounces set on a plain foundation and!
there are rather large patch pockets!
capped with organdie - -Checked
ginghams in the daintier
colors with white are particularly'
pretty made up with organdie but'
they are out of the arises of practical
house frocks Plain cbambray with!
organdie and these checked ginghams
have made some of the prettiest sum- -mer
dresses Usually they have or-
gandie collars cuffs vestees and’
sashes and occasionally organdly veils
the entire waist
Blouses Invite Embroideries
JUDGING by such blouses as have
lately arrived from the hands of
those who create them we have not
seen the last of the brlght-hued em-
broideries on dark-colored georgette
Nor the last of blouses made of vivid
colors in georgette with silk or bead
embroidery in contrasting colors as
an embellishment But we are see-
ing the first of long sleeves and they
are causing much surmise as to the
fate of sleeves for the coming fall sea-
son Some very handsome blouses as
well as gowns for fall feature rather
delicate embroidery In all-over pat-
terns on georgette crepe de chine
marquisette and chiffon The early
styles make cheerful promise of allur-
ing color in new blouses for dressy
wear at least
A fore-runner of the fall mode Is
shown here Whoever is fond of em-
broidery will be arrested by this model
since it goes to great lengths in
its decoration To make it one has
to select a dark colored georgette a
satin In a lighter contrasting color for
bindings And It employs narrow
plcot-edged ribbon declaring Itself as
opposed to simple things with bind-
lngs and ribbons and embroidery all'
amplifying its story The ribbon
heads the deep flaring cuffs with a:
band terminating In a bow and ends! '
But we cannot give undivided atten-i
tion' to this pretty finish while bind-
ings of satin Insist on the fact that
sleeves are long and cuffs are full
falling over the hands The neck Is
round with bound edge and the large
embroidered motif at the front is In
several rich colors But in the blouse
Itself it is not os conspicuous as in the
photograph
Flannel Skirts
Flannel skirts make their
ance occasionally
appear
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McLain, R. E. L. The Hastings Herald (Hastings, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 41, Ed. 1 Friday, August 27, 1920, newspaper, August 27, 1920; Hastings, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1782858/m1/3/: accessed July 12, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.