may be responsible for a proportion of the failures of cadets to meet the requirements of the academic course. The illumination has been improved during the past year by placing droplights and Welsbach burners in the rooms of the cadets, but with the increase in the number of quarters and the other buildings at the post, in course of erection or provided for, the gas supply, now taxed to its utmost, will be inadequate, and trouble will again occur. complete electric-lighting plant should be established at West Point, thus providing at once proper illumination for all buildings, and recommendation to this effect is hereby made. A The second matter that should be considered in relation to lighting has reference to the effect of the continued use of gas upon the supply of oxygen. The barracks are overcrowded-192 rooms are expected to accommodate a population which is now 429 and which may shortly be 511. It is obvious that in the near future 95 to 100 of the rooms will each be occupied by three cadets. They are barely largely enough for one at present. Certainly two persons studying and sleeping in such a room will themselves, without the aid of gas combustion, make more demand upon the supply of oxygen than is likely to be met. An electric-light plant would in this respect be of great advantage. The plans for either adding to or reconstructing the barracks should provide for the transfer of sinks and baths from the isolated building which they occupy at present to some part of the building containing the sleeping quarters. 3. ATHLETICS. The athletics of the Academy are on a sane and healthy basis. The stimulus of competition and the advantage of outdoor exercise combine to render the various games indulged in beneficial to both the minds and the bodies of the hundreds of cadets who participate during their scanty recreation hours in football, baseball, tennis, etc. The indoor work during the winter is under the intelligent and competent supervision (as it has been for years past) of Lieutenant Koehler, whose recent commissioning by act of Congress must be a source of gratification to the many Boards of Visitors which have year after year recommended it. The good effect upon the physique of the fourth-year cadets, produced by the systematized course of developmental exercises instituted and directed by him, are so apparent that it would seem reasonable to extend them at least a year further and apply them to the cadets of the third class, and such extension is hereby recommended. The appropriation for repairs, machines and fixtures for gymnasium and for gymnastic and athletic apparatus, is altogether insufficient and should be increased from $300 to $1,500. The academic records continue to show that the athlete compares favorably with his classmates in the more serious work of the institution. Moreover, a cadet who stands low academically is not allowed to participate in any of the games exciting the greatest interest. It is gratifying, too, to be able to call attention to the increased cordiality and friendly feeling which has followed the resumption of the football contests (and as a secondary result, of the baseball games) between the Military and Naval academies. In his interview with the Board of Visitors the Superintendent, Colonel Mills, said in this relation: There is no question about the game bringing the two institutions together, and it is a very important thing now for our country, because army officers and navy officers are going to be brought together more than they ever have before. Of course, when the game is being played there is a good deal of excitement and partisanship in connection with each academy, but when it is over that disappears at once and the friendly relations that spring up are many and beneficial. The testimony from other sources is also convincing that this is the case, and that the cordiality and friendliness extend to the services generally far beyond the limits of the two schools-a pleasant and not unimportant result of competitive sport conducted in the proper spirit and with proper restrictions. It is obvious that in the latter years of their course of study the exercises of the cadets should have, as far as possible, a direct relation to the demands that will be made upon them in the exercise of their profession. In this connection the committee believe that it is desirable to put the flat plot of ground north of the post and inside the West Shore Railroad in condition for use for mounted exercises. This plot is triangular in shape, and is about 350 yards on the long side, north and south, by about 250 yards at the widest point. It is proposed to use this ground for an outdoor or summer riding school, where obstacles, such as fences, ditches, etc., can be made for instruction in practical cross-country riding and similar exercises. At present this ground is level, but the material used for filling when the railroad was built is stony and loose ground, on which a good sod can not be grown. A filling or covering of 8 to 12 inches of good loam or fertile earth would make this plain a splendid drill ground for exercises already mentioned, as well as for sports for cadets and enlisted men, target practice, and innumerable similar purposes. The present cavalry drill ground is as firm and hard as the usual macadam road. It is hard on animals and dangerous in case of accidents or falls. The plain above described, if covered with a good, firm grass sod, would be of inestimable value to the Academy for drill purposes, and it is hereby recommended that it be so employed, at least temporarily. Respectfully submitted. J. WILLIAM WHITE. ROBERT C. HEATON. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ARMAMENT AND EQUIPMENT. WEST POINT, June 7, 1901. SIR: The committee finds that the Academy's equipment for the practical training of cadets is in excellent condition and well suited for its purpose, with the exception of seacoast artillery and a mountaingun battery. The modern seacoast guns and carriages on hand are so mounted that instruction must be given under conditions different from those which obtain in the service. We invite particular attention to the needs of the Academy in this respect, and to the necessity of making immediate provision for the construction of a model seacoast battery for the modern guns on hand and for others which can be procured. In this connection the remarks of the Inspector-General of the Army, made in a report of his inspection of the Academy on May 15, 1900, are pertinent, as follows: The battery used in the instruction of cadets is, in many respects, just such a battery as might have been expected a decade or two ago. It has not kept abreast of the progress of seacoast artillery in the past five years, and no depression range finder has been installed, though the high site available lends itself with peculiar fitness to its use. A modern battery complete in all its details, and furnished with all modern appliances, should be provided. Modern coast artillery is a comparatively new and progressive branch of our defenses, and, as many of our artillery officers have not as yet had the opportunity of thorough instruction, it should seem advisable that cadets should be fully instructed. In the opinion of the Superintendent this model battery should provide emplacement for one 8-inch gun on a disappearing carriage, one 8-inch gun on a nondisappearing or barbette carriage, one 12-inch mortar on spring return carriage, one 6-inch rapid-fire gun and mount, one 15-pounder rapid-fire gun and mount, and should be complete in every particular, with typical magazines, ammunition service, power plant, search light, facilities for vertical and horizontal range finding, etc., and be equipped with a complete system of communications for a "fire command. The present mountain-gun battery should be supplemented by a 4-gun battery of Maxim-Nordenfelt 75 mm. quick-firing mountain guns, with nonrecoil carriage complete, including forge and pack outfit, since many of these guns are in our service and they represent the latest and best development of their class. Our recent campaigns have fully demonstrated the importance of mountain artillery, and, with the battery suggested, this instruction at the Military Academy can be placed on the plane its great value merits. We desire to express our thanks to the officers in charge for cheerfully affording all information in regard to these subjects. Respectfully submitted. ROBERT C. HEATON. The SECRETARY OF THE BOARD OF VISITORS. REPORT OF the Committee on eXAMINATIONS, INSTRUCTION, AND DISCIPLINE. GENTLEMEN: The committee on examinations, instruction, and discipline, in meeting the task imposed upon it, has given its attention first of all to the present condition of order and discipline at the Academy, and particularly with reference to the regulations forbidding the practice of hazing. In informing itself the committee has utilized every source of information available. It finds that the traditional practices of hazing which during the years prior to 1898 gradually developed in scope and virulence to an extent imperfectly appreciatea either by the authorities or by the greater mass of the cadets themselves, met with a first decided check in the definite attitude taken by the present Superintendent, Col. A. L. Mills, on assuming command September, 1898. Owing to the action taken by the cadets themselves, on representations made to them by the Superintendent concerning the bearings and extent of those practices, no severe case of hazing occurred during the encampment of the summer of 1900. The public attention drawn to the subject through the emergence of Booz casea case, it should be remembered, which antedated the incumbency of the present Superintendent-provided the means for an annihilation of the practices in every form, root, and branch. The following is an epitome of the measures adopted (December, 1900) to this end, and we find they have each and all been faithfully applied: 1. Exacting constant vigilance on the part of officers on duty in department of tactics, under whose immediate supervision cadets live, to detect and report violations of the regulations covering hazing. 2. Strong and persistent personal efforts to create a moral sentiment among cadets against the practice. 3. Severe summary punishment awarded in every case established, and in any having a bearing on bazing, including summary dismissal of two cadets who indulged in severe forms of hazing, and the separating from the Academy of three others known to be active in severe practices. 4. Continued effort to break up the practice at preparatory schools at Highland Falls, near West Point. The students of these schools had an association with the express object of preparing candidates in the forms of hazing practiced at the Military Academy. In consequence, these students, before becoming cadets, were familiar with and in sympathy with the practice, and, as fourth classmen, encouraged rather than rebelled against it, and rendered futile efforts to have fourth class take a stand against. 5. Representations (continued until successful) made to War Department to have amended an Academy regulation, the practical working of which operated to nullify investigations made for the purpose of establishing identity of cadets taking part in known cases of hazing. 6. Securing the assent of the War Department to a regulation authorizing the Superintendent to summarily send to their homes cadets implicated in hazing, to there await the action of the War Department. 7. Revokement of all orders making the hazed a party to the hazing. 8. Increasing the responsibilities and privileges of the members of first class, partly with a view of causing that class, which is intrusted with much authority, to view the practice of hazing in its proper light. 9. Establishing conduct grades and increasing the privileges of all cadets for good conduct. 10. Encouragement of athletics. Football especially excites the interests of cadets, and all four classes participate in it. The sentiment would be strong against subjecting a new cadet, a likely player, to any hazing that might physically harm him. The game also brings cadets in contact with college men and enlarges their horizon. The modification of the rules of testimony, which under the current interpretation of the cadets making them judges of what questions they would or would not answer had resulted only in blocking all inquiry, gave the means of effecting that full and complete investigation of the recent outbreak which we believe has finally sealed the doom of hazing at the Academy and established in the definite and absolute form in which military law required it should be established the authority of order at the institution. The regulations against hazing are established and will be enforced according to all that the fullest meaning of their words imply. The notion that men under military discipline should assume to be judges WAR 1901-VOL 1, PT I- -27 of which regulations or which parts thereof they would or would not obey or of the sense or of the degree in which they should be obeyed is perversive of all military order. or to quote the Superintendent's own words spoken to the board: It is preposterous to think that the Superintendent would enter into an agreement with cadets to do their duty. No such agreement has been made at any time. The conception that any such thing could have occurred is in direct. conflict with existing written evidence on the records of the Academy and arose as a plain and evident perversion of a statement made to certain cadets regarding the practice of "bracing:". They wanted to know, if that was done away with, how the military bearing of new cadets could be maintained, and I assured them it could be accomplished in a much better way and they need have no fear about new cadets being required to be young soldiers and maintain their fine appearance; that the authorities would attend to that. [Colonel Mills]. It is worthy of most cordial approval that the authorities of the Academy have abolished the class organizations which as an imperium in imperio tended to pervert that unity of organization and that directness of responsibility which are essential to the very idea of military government. We are aware that we share the views and the feelings of every member of the Board of Visitors when we express our most cordial and thankful appreciation of the resolute, upright, and successful efforts of Colonel Mills to stamp out of existence a body of practices inconsonant with modern ideas and with the character of soldier and gentleman. We can not forbear, furthermore, expressing our clear conviction that the sturdy support afforded the Superintendent by the action of the Secretary of War has done more than anything else could have done or than any one thing in recent years has done to establish upon a sound and secure basis the discipline and good order of the Academy. The questions relative to changes in the course of study we find to be connected closely with those affecting the requirements for admission, in regard to which we are in essential accord with the views expressed by the committee of the Board of Visitors of the year 1900. The situation is in substance this: The average age of admission to the Academy is 19, about the same as the average of admission to American colleges; but the requirements for admission to the Academy have heretofore been, at least in outward appearance, no higher than for admission to our high schools. There is therefore a gap of four years between the age and the requirement. The effect of this seems to have been that many who have received appointments, even men in college, have been compelled to go back and review especially for examination subjects long since passed, upon which the memory is no longer fresh, and inasmuch as the elementary character of the subjects has compelled an abnormally severe body of questions as the test of the subjects, these candidates have found it desirable to attend one of the coaching schools which make a specialty of preparing for the West Point examinations. These schools, it should be noted, involve a plain evasion of the intent of those who framed the requirements. They oblige candidates to leave their homes, subject them to extraordinary expense, introduce a false barrier between the public-school system and the Academy, and, worse than all, have proved in experience to exercise an evil influence upon the morale of the entering class. The remedy lies in placing the requirements in immediate relation |