Show AJO NO more delicate or difficult task has ever been presented to any Board of Regents than that which ours assume in III this month of March 18 1894 With the University already in debt and with an appropriation of for its maintenance for the next two years these are the conditions which they must face to support the Un University for two years How can it be done There is no way sunder lunder the sun by which it can be done if all the departments departments departments depart depart- ments now in existence are to be main main- Great sacrifices and wholesale reductions of expenses must be made The managers of the University will pardon us if at this critical period we suggest again that the military department department department depart depart- ment is one which can be dispensed with without the University experiencing experienc experienc- ing the least inconvenience or impair impair- I ing in the sli slightest degree its efficiency From the humble standpoint of students students students stu stu- dents we have advocated this measure on more than one occasion but a deaf w. w ear has always been given us We have stated the reasons again and again why the department should be abolished without the pretence of contradiction Truth bears repeating and it will not therefore be amiss if for a moment we I. I call attention to the physical and the moral aspects of drill First as a means of physical culture As a method of physical training mi military military mili mili- i- i tary drill is both inadequate and ious II It It does not says a writer on this question II as as the community at large r have believed believe make a youth erect or give him a graceful and manly bear bearing ng On the contrary it tends to make him stiff and angular in his movements as aswell aswell aswell well as to droop and round his should shoulders ers Dr Dudley A. A Sargeant the well known instructor in gymnastics at Harvard has this to say II After taking i the most favorable view possible of military drill as a physical exercise we are led to conclude that its constrained constrained constrained con con- strained positions and closely localized movements do not afford the essential requisites requisites' for developing the muscles and improving the respiration and circulation and thereby improving the general health and condition of the system We must further conclude that in case of any malformation local weakness weakness weakness weak weak- the drill ness or constitutional debility tends by its strain upon the nerves and prolonged tension on the muscles to increase the defects rather than to J. J relieve them As a means of physical exercise then drill is not salutary al tary N Next ext as to the moral aspect The primary object of drill is to give instruction instruction instruction tion in military tactics to young men in order that they may be of service to the country county in case of war in order that they might kill kill their fellow men fellow men more effectively Military drill therefore therefore therefore there there- fore of necessity favors and fosters ideas r and practices which belong to the brute y tt and barbaric side of human nature t r rather than to the cultured and nd civilI civilized ed ff the development of which is IS the object r sought in the very existence of the ther r i school It It takes for granted a series 1 of terrible fallacies that war cannot be beI I dispensed dispense with that that th the natural state stat of man is IS hostility to his fellow Let et us abandon n the te system of pre preparation preparation arat ara- ara t tion on for war in time of of peace a as irrational irrational irra irra- ura- ura unchristian vainly y prodigal of ofT T expense and having a direct tendency to excite the very evil against which it i Ii Iii professes to guard b It matters It-matters matters little little in actual time of f war wa whet whether er the soldier steps off with his IS ISI TI 4 l left ft or with his right foot It matters little whether on the field battle-field he I 1 executes the facings with taking pains-taking k accuracy handles his gun in this way and in this way only goes through the various various in unison and in ATM ATM- cut clean-cut angles All the instruction r C R gained in our military course really essential for warfare could be gained in a comparatively short time and the q people of this Territory therefore have havea a right to demand that their money shall be put to better use Four imperative reasons call caH for the abolishment of this department Firstly the University cannot afford to maintain fir it se secondly as a means of physical exercise drill is of trifling or no value thirdly from a moral standpoint its influences are bad fourthly it is wholly unnecessary Farewell then to military drill Farewell to the drudgery of oft ter r t pa packing king a heavy gun on the shoulder g for a given time l I Fa Farewell ewell to all these t F l w hard feelings and disputes Farewell i to priced high-priced military instructors skilled in the barbarous art of war |