Roosevelt High School - Rough Rider Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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MR. FRANK C. DANIEL Prfncfpszl of McKinley High School

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' Dedicated to FRANK C. DANIEL OF MCKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL Enlisted in the Cadet Corps-1893 Captain, Company B, Central-1895-1896 Colonel of the Cadet Corps, Central-1896-1897 A Friend and a Champion of the Cadets Five

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HIGH SCHOOL CADETS A By Sergeanf Howard Ennes O I remember Colonel Ross? I should say I do, and any boy that drilled under his instruction will never forget him. A short, Hery man with the set-up of a major- general, he made the companies drill as they had never drilled before when he appeared on the scene. So Mr. Frank C. Daniel, himself a captain and a colonel of the high school cadets and now principal of McKinley high school, characterizes Colonel Burton R. Ross, first instructor of the high school cadets, when he was approached for an interview for THE ADJ UTANT. Sitting at his principal's desk in the oflice at McKinley, Mr. Daniel let his mind run back over his experiences as a cadet during the years from 1893 to 1897. He joined the cadets, because, he said, I liked to play soldier. I think that is why most boys join. They still like the idea of playing soldiers. They like the uniform, the braid, the marching. That's why I joined. I liked the marching especially, and of course the uniform appealed to me. As I look back over my cadet days, I see that they were a great benefit to me. The physical exercise of marching is, I believe, one of the best forms of exercise and physical training there is. In addition to this purely physical reason, the cadet training develops leadership ability. It teaches a boy to take orders: it disciplines him. You know, a person must take orders before he can give them. Mr. Daniel first enlisted in the cadets at Central high school in 1893. In the year 1895-96 he was captain of Company B. In the year 1896-97 he was the colonel in command of the high school cadet regiment. Four companies at Central, coupled with companies at Western, Eastern, and Business high school, made up this regiment. The competitive drill, Mr. Daniel stated, was practically the same as it is now. Then, however, no open order drill was held. Several years before I joined the cadets, the competitives were held on theater stages and consisted merely of manual of arms contests. Part of our competition then consisted of loading and firing blank cartridges in our Springiields. This practice, how- ever, was dropped because of complaints from Freedman's hospital. When further questioned about the admired Colonel Ross, the principal continued, Colonel Ross was a Hery gentleman, a soldier from the top of his head to the heel of his foot. He would watch the companies with an eagle eye, and if he saw any small mistake, so much as the movement of a finger, he would release his wrath in terms that were sometimes unprintable. He was a real man, however, and made the cadets what they are. No cadet of his time will ever forget him. Colonel Ross's outstanding effect upon the cadets was the iron rules of discipline laid down by him. A cadet officer was a gentleman and as such was accorded high respect from subordinates. No cadet could call his captain Tom, or Harry-it was Captain, or Sir. If a cadet met an officer on the street, he saluted him, and if he failed to do so, he received a public reprimand at the next formation. However, I should say that that type of iron discipline does not have its place in the cadet organization today. Mr. Daniel, after graduating from college, was appointed teacher of mathematics at Eastern high in 1901. I-Ie taught there a year and then was trans- Seven