(4)
The Act which brought it into being stipulated that three
things should be taught. 1st, Agriculture; 2d, Mechanics;
3d, Military Tactics. At first thought instruction in
military tactics appears inconsistent with the leading pur
pose of the instruction which the law declares to be, u to
teach such branches of learning as are related to the
science of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts,” but a care
ful study of system of government will show that it is not.
The spirit of our Constitution is opposed to a large
standing army, and the people generally have ever regard
ed it as a menance to the perpetuity of our free institu-
tions* Recognizing the need, however, for some knowledge
of military tactics among the people in cases of emergency
the militia was organized in the several States, and, up to
the outbreak of the civil war, constituted the only means
of disseminating a general knowledge of military science.
But the civil war demonstrated the need of men better
trained in the arts of war in the several states and de
veloped the weakness of our military system. The idea
of combining with instruction in the science of Agricul
ture and the Mechanic Arts military training was a hap
py one. It involved no increase in the standing army, and
held in respect the public sentiment of the country against
militaryism while providing, in the most thorough and
effective manner, trained military men in every state in
the Union capable of organizing and equipping an army
for the national defense in time of war.
That the Congress made no mistake in this respect, in
the establishment of such institutions, is fully shown by the
part taken by the students in the recent Spanish-American