Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1912)
THE BATTALION Life At West Point. Uncle Sam takes a great interest in developing the perfect type of the American man. West Point is Uncle Sam’s principal factory, and there men are developed under conditions as rigorous as those that made the warriors of ancient Sparta the great est fighters of thei rtime. It is no hoy’s play to take a course at West Point, but when the fo!^ ^ '>^f hard work is over and the <x, Vbecome officers in the army of me United States the result is worth all the trouble that it cost. Uncle Sam is not experimenting any more, says a writer in the New York Evening World. He knows the best way to turn out men that are perfect physically and mentally. And so a comparison of Uncle Sam’s methods with the free and easy athletic life of our college and club athletes is of some interest. In the first place a boy must be strong and healthy and able to pass strict physical and mental examina tions before he can get into West Point. But on entering he is only good raw material. The four-year grind brings out the best that is in him. The moment a youngster enters the academy every moment of his time is mapped out by his superiors and he is moved about like a pawn on a chess board, wdth no volition of his own. He has certain kinds of work to do. If he does it well he goes on smoothly until his graduation. If he can’t or will not do the work laid out for him .and keep strictly to the regulations he is dropped and that’s the end of it. Uncle Sam has not time to waste put tering around with unsatisfactory ma terial—and there is always plenty of good material at the gates. Stirring Scenes at West Point. On arriving at West Point to make a study of the system by which the United States rears men to command its armies I felt proud that I was an American, born and bred. In all the castled cities of Europe there is no more magnificent scene than West Point presents, perched on a hill, marvelous in the grandeur of its massive architecture, looking down upon the broad sweep of a river be side which the Rhine is a mere mill stream. On the reservation every thing was busy. Everywhere candi dates were doing sentry duty, pacing up and down and paying little atten tion to the storm or the cold sleet that was driven into their faces, as fine looking a lot of youngsters as any one could find anywhere in the Avorld. An officer met wonder any boy can master its intri cacies. Mas No Pocket Money. While in West Point he is not al lowed to have money in his possession. He x>ays his clothing and his .“mess” on a credit system out of his govern ment allowance. On the door of each room in the barracks was a printed diagram showing what must be exact ly the position of each article in the room. Everything is done absolutely by rule. To get a new pair of socks, or to have a torn garment mended, the cadet must apply for permission in writing, and wait until his request is officially approved. On the table in each room was a thick book of regula tions. The breaking of even the slightest of these meant demerit marks —106 demerit marks during six months, immediate expulsion from the academy. A cadet might have 104 de merit marks. Enough dust on the top shelf of his closet to mark an in specting officer’s white gloves—and out he goes. And the daily routine is ironclad. Each cadet is “checked up” nineteen times a day. To absent or even a moment late on one of these nineteen occasions would mean demerit marks. The cadet is called out—reveille—at 5:45 a. m. Roll call is at six, every man newly shaved and fully dressed for the day. They say any cadet can shave—and there aren’t ten safety razors in West Point—and dress in five minutes. After sweeping and making up their rooms they march to the mess rooms with drum corps and martial music at 6:25. Breakfast at 6:30. After that comes the day of recitations and military duties and horseback riding and gymnasium work, ending with a short, “release from qaurters,” during which the cadet is allowed to spend his time playing football, baseball, polo, tennis, hand ball or some other game, or in the gymnasium, fencing, boxing, wrestling or swimming. The cadet can make up his cot and go to bed after nine o’clock. He must be in bed by ten. Except in the two and a half months of the summer season when the cadets are in camp on the reservation “roughing it” like real soldiers, re leased entirely from studies and en gaged in applying their knowledge practically, they have certain pre scribed forms of exercise in the gym nasium, taken in “sections” of some forty or fifty men. These exercises are compulsory. All of the athletic sports and competitions, like football, baseball and track athletics, are vol untary, and may be indulged in only during the short hour or so of liberty each day. The development of West me..a^^m bgjaaii j*-«great football teams under ’ (DallaJ*f,'^T7SVjdsonJ^ - CO nditiofis(yis FIRST STATE BANK & TRUST CQ- A GUARANTY FUND BANK v CAPITAL, $100,000 SURPLUS, $100,000 A SAFE and CONVENIENT PLACE TO DO YOUR BANKING The First National Bank ofBryan Capital $100,000.00 Texas Surplus and Profits $100,000.00 PATRONIZE CAMPUS STORE I We carry everything that you need. If we haven’t got it we can get it. trip into a strang<£ fDanauT^'baki^son con ditTottsMs by the fact that expected things ag military studies and drills all Uncle Sam is a to develop strategy and team 1 ^PJP^mard to get worl of his wards would into mischief. In the first place, the cadet is not allowed a day’s leave. His family might live a mile from the reservation. For two years he could not go to make them a visit. The rule, like all of Uncle Sam’s rules for his cadets, is as inflexible as cast iron. People advocate the “simple life” for those who want health and strength. No one who has never vis ited West Point knows what the sim ple life is. West Point is the only place I’ve ever seen where the simple life is enforced to the last letter—it’s a complx life-—so complex that it’s a W. C. BOYETT & SON. CAMPUS MERCHANTS HONESTY and PURITY MYERS BROS. Up-to-Now Grocers. Delivery after every car. Try “Our Flaig” F lour Strictly Guaranteed. Phones 519 and 489 : : : : : Bryan, Texas work. Of compulsory gymnasium work, the members of entering, or fourth class, have five hours a week—one hour daily—the men of the other three classes having three hours a week each. Of course, there is a great deal of drilling and marching, and these exercise do as much good as the work I on the apparatus. Fencing, boxing, wrestling, athletics and other sports are handled in such a way as to bring out a great number of contestants, the one object being to benefit every cadet, not only a few champions and specialists. The Japanese consul once brought a, jiujitsu expert to West Point to KODAKS ANDiEASTMAN FILMS if you are particular about your Kodak finish ing send us your films, as vve do the best work, use the best materials, and give the best possi ble results from every exposuie. Roach & Barnes Co., 218 W. Commerce Street SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS THE CAMPUS BARBER W Will be open from 7 a. m. to 7 p. m. WILL Accommodate as LATE as POSSIBLE SA i URDAY Night Open for Shines Only Sunday Morning J. F. LAVINDER, Proprietor show how superior the Japenese meth od was. “Show him the American method,” was the whisper between the cadets. Tipton, the big linesman, was put on. He walked right at the Jap, who caught a grip on his jacket and kicked him in the stomach. This didn’t fit in with Tipton’s ideas of fair fighting, jiujitsu or no jiujitsu, and, falling on the Jap in a rage, he smash ed him to the floor, caught a strangle hold and choked him until his eyes hung out. The onlookers tried to drag him off, but he held his grip until the commandant himself ordered him to let go. The Japanese jiujitsu expert was rescued, barely alive, and that ended all talk of introducing the Japanese method of fighting at West Point. —. When You Are Hungry or Hungry And You Want the Very BEST visit the Finest Cafe Candy Kitchen and Ice Cream Parlor Your call will be appreciated JOE KORKEMES PROPRIETOR