Show NGlAl ns MlliTARYSCnOOl I Lieutenant R JScailan of the English Royal Artillery Contrasts Con-trasts West Point With Yoolwich and Sandhurst BY LIEUTENANT R SCALLAN The essential difference that exists between the respective methods of Uncle Un-cle Sam and John Bull for the education educa-tion of their embryo officers is one of money England demands that her cadets pay and pay heavily too for their training whereas the United States is content to pay her military pupils as well as educate them There is but little similarity in the two systems sys-tems though the result achieved is the same As everybody knows nomina tion by ones state senator and a plain school education is sufficient to admit the young American thirsting for glory within the portals of West I Point But admission to the Royal 1IL1 jL i ctTh I 4 lr ii LOOb WtT r1jw r GRANT e r r ID HPtLL r r tI I a i II I IIB I 1ti rlJ I i 1rj > p r I l I II dtwtii I i m t f rJJttt l 1 I f 11Gi fi LODt Tt WOOLWC UCDCR ki lf T 1 I t JI h ti I Q1 JJ I I 1 1 Ui I 1 I r I1 II fiJlJIii11I r 1 l tJ J lr lIliiru ftm r = i iti l OL nLIT5Y ADfMY WOUIoWCH tIiiis11 L The English and American Mil itary Academies Compared Military academy at Woolwich where I England trains her wouldbe sappers mat and gunners is a very different ter There are two military colleges in Englandthe Royal Military college at Sandhurst and the Royal Military academy above mentioned At Sand hurst the cadets are trained for the cavalry and infantry branches of the service while at Woolwich known popularly as the Shop commissions are given only for the artillery and I cmniripprs < = the latter being those most successful in the competitive examinations examina-tions MUST PAY FOR TUITION Entrance to these establishments is obtained only through a very severe competitive examination held under civil service rules and the usual medical I med-ical inspection But when the struggling I strug-gling student has at length overcome all difficulties his father must face a I yearly bill of 100 unless he himself holds or held a commission in the army The size of this sum even though it be only for two years the full course is sufficient to debar all but scions of welltodo families This qualification of means is very necessary neces-sary as the young officer cannot expect ex-pect to live on his pay which is only 600 a year for some considerable timer I time-r nn tri + Vltr fllo frnfOG tVll KtllMlPS = anvddrn bf ili those I and drills are very familiar to of our institution but the social and recreative systems differ considerably At Woolwich and Sandhurst the men of different teims have no common intercourse and of late years it has become intensely bad form for one term to interfere with another at all But not many years ago the persecution persecu-tion of the snookers or plebes as they are called in America was so great that it finally led to a revolution The story is rather amusing as the unfortunate snookers to show their disapproval of their treatment went to unprecedented lengths Marching in a body out of the academy I am speaking of the Woolwich cadets to Blackheath where a fair was being held three miles away they utterly ignored the orders of their officers and on being threatened with police interference inter-ference declared that they would immediately i im-mediately set free an entire menagerie of wild animals which was one of the I features of the fair if a policeman dared to show his helmet near them Needless to say these young daredevils effectually cowed the local Dogberrys When the fair was over the cadets returned and were all placed in arrest on bread and water of which ordinance the only notice they took was to seize all the bread they could lay hands on load the old Waterloo cannons with the loaves and deliberately turn them on the governors house the windows of which suffered considerable damage Thus was the backbone of a most pernicious per-nicious system of persecution broken and now all is quiet in the shop save for the occasional tosching or ragging rag-ging of an objectionable man by his fellow termers Tosching is a form of amusement which consists of forcibly forci-bly immersing the victim in a cold water bath and is generally confined to winter while ragging a man is to continually irritate annoy and inconvenience incon-venience him by petty insults such as making hay of his room or concealing conceal-ing his accountrements WOOLWICH AND SANDHURST The distinctive feature of both IvVool I wich and Sandhurst is the great attention at-tention devoted to sports and athletics Intercollegiate contests occur annually at football cricket and athletics and in the respective seasons of the two I great national games matches are made with a large number of other clubs and the teams always get leave from studies and drills for the day of the match if necessary If they play away from home the institution pays their traveling expenses and if they play at home a good luncheon is always al-ways forthcoming for the occasion In I fact a cadet who is never seen joining in the games is always in disfavor with the authorities while an athlete is proportionately liked Liberty of action off parade and the amount of leave given is another I point wherein the military schools of I the two countries differ greatly In 1 England the cadet off parade is free to dress himself in cricket flannels and amuse himself as he sees fit being in no way bound by any strict rules of decorum such as prevail at West Point The Young Englishman is supposed and with good cause to have had all the nonsense knocked out of him at his public school and to be therefore fit to associate with his fellow cadets according to the schoolboys code of honor Leave of al whose parents ment every Saturday from 12 noon till Sunday night at 11 p m Most of the young fellows having friends or relatives rela-tives in London it is a nice relaxation after the weeks work to assume plainclothes plain-clothes again and forget that there are such things as parade or punishment punish-ment drills Three months vacation are given in the year one at Christmas Christ-mas and two in midsummer so that considering everything the cadets life is a fairly happy one as he is willing I to acknowledge when he has left the shop some years behind him In conclusion it may be safely said that the American and English systems sys-tems are both equally good in their way but neither is suited to the other i country The ancient proverb of one mans meat being another mans poison I explains the situation fully for while Woolwich and Sandhurst are essential I 7 lJ 1 I JI1Iflz 1 P 1WLLiiiIY ly aristocratic institutions West Point is truly democratic |