University of Maryland College Park - Terrapin / Reveille Yearbook (College Park, MD)

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Zbc Cadet Corps of )VI, H, C. ns a part of tbe IHatlonal ©uarO of iTRarglanO. ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 1 REVIEW of the Spanish-American war demon- strates, among many other facts, the incom- I petency of our present system of national defence on land. Now that the danger is past, we can consider calmlj ' the remedy to be applied to the defects therein. It is not my intention to suggest a general sj-stem for the establishment of the National Guard upon a peace footing, so constituted as to be immedi- ately and effectively available upon the beginning of hostilities. Such a proposition is bej ond the scope of this paper. I merel} ' wish to call attention to one agent which, under proper conditions, might do much to increase the efficiency of the National Guard of Maryland, but which, unfortunately, has not, up to this time, been considered in this relation. I refer to the Military Department of the Maryland Agricultural College. The founders of this College, being gentlemen of wide experience and exhibiting a livel}- appreciation of the benefits to be derived from the military training of young men, early established the Military Depart- ment of the College, and endeavored to make its working effective. The department has existed since 1865, and is to-day in a flourishing condition. As at present constituted, it is a most valuable factor in the education of young men, though, owing to circum- stances which have limited the area of its influence, it has never been permitted to measure up to the full standard of its usefulness. In this department the student is instructed in all of those branches of military science, a knowledge of which is necessary to produce the good soldier Beginning with the school of the soldier, the student receives theoretical instruction in company and bat- talion formations and guard duty. The principles learned in the lecture room are put into actual prac- tice in daily drills upon the field. Additional instruction is given the higher classes in the art of war as set forth by the leading authorities upon the 17

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life rather than submit to unjust taxation. Pestalozzi and Froebel were regarded as quixotic when the} ' breasted the torrent of mediaeval notions and an- nounced the doctrine that children should grow men- tally, as they do physically, in a natural and pleasant wa}-. Assigned tasks beyond their years, long and tedious hours of confinement were, according to their ideas, monstrous impositions, productive of no good. They outlived the odium heaped upon them as the result of the announcement of their views, and to-day what was quixotic and notional in them, is the accepted psychological method of procedure in all early education. In conclusion, pioneers in new fields are the ones to whom the world will ever be in debt. Its present and future progress, if such it is to be, is to be bora of just such adventurous spirits. R. W. Silvester. i6

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tiubject, as well as by a study of some of the cam- paigns of famous military leaders. When practicable two weeks are devoted to camping away from the College, when instruction is received in all those branches pertaining to service in the field. This latter, however, is dependent upon the courtesy of the commander of the State National Guard— for the College having no camp equipment, the camp can only be made when the authorities consent to loan a part of the State equipment. The whole system of discipline is military. Cadets march to and from meals, chapel exercises and class rooms, while the preservation of order in the building is almost wholly in the hands of the cadet officers. Having his entire conduct and mode of life governed by military regulation and discipline, the student ' s mind becomes slowly but surely impregnated with the ideas of obedience to constituted authority, and subservience of personal sympathies and pleasure to the re iuirements of law and order, which are essential characteristics of the perfect soldier. Four years spent amid such influences cannot fail to make a lasting beneficial impress upon the youthful mind. The tendency of this training is to develop not only well-drilled men, but good citizens. To be able to command one must first learn to obey: and when after a season spent in the subordinate station of the private, as a reward for soldierly deportment, the student is promoted to be an officer, the responsibili- ties incident to his station develop and broaden his mind better than any other training to which he might be subjected. The Federal Government long since recognized the beneficial results which must inevitably flow from such a system of education; and in order to direct such instruction and insure its uniformity, an Act of Congress was passed and approved July 2, 1862, under the provisions of which the College is provided with small arms and two field pieces, with a limited sup- ply of ammunition for both rifles and cannon. In addition to this equipment an officer of the United States Army is regularly detailed as instructor in military science and tactics to the College. The idea of the founders of this system was to produce each year, from each State, a number of young men well trained in military affairs who should be a complement to the regularly organized National Guard, and a nucleus around which could be formed the volunteer armies of the several States, and who should be capable in times of necessity of drilling and fitting for duty, in the shortest time possible, these armies, upon which under our present system we must depend for the defence of the nation on land. The spirit of dislike for large standing armies, inherent in the people and prevadingour constitutions, renders us dependent to a large degree upon the militia of the States in times of actual war. The idea of increasing the efficiencs ' of the militia, therefore, is 18