VMI Cadet. September 24, 1917

              
THE CADET ISSUED BY
THE CORPS OF VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE
LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1917 NO. 1
THE INSTITUTE BEGINS ITS 78TH YEAR
Institute Hour Held Saturday, Sept. 8th
The first day of September marked
the beginning of the seventy eighth
year of the existence of the Virginia
Military Institute. During these sev-enty
eight years, it has enjoyed var-iying
degrees of progress—certainly
no college ever opened more auspi-ciously
than has V. M. I. in 19l7.
True, it haB been advancing rapidly
during recent years, but never has a
single year seen so many changes for
the better.
The present war has caused an un-ceasing
demand for efficient army
officers,—this, in turn, has caused
MEN IN SERVICE
Nearly all of Class of '17 Now Willi the Colors
Once again have the the men of the
Virginia Militarv Institute nobly res-ponded
to the call to arms. Fostered
by the memory of Lee and Jackson,
who now sleep within sight of bar-racks,
the graduates and cleveB of
the Institute have rallied to the colors.
The shade of Stonewall Jackson, who
was one time a professor at the V.
M. I., has again said " T h e Virginia
Jlilitsry Institute will be heard from
tfoday.''
Many of the "older cadets" have
been in service for sometime or have
gone in recently, but perhaps the most
FRENCH OEFICER ADDRESSES CORPS
Lieutenant Champenois Speaks of Conditions in
France
the Institute to be in the limelight^notable to us is the great number of
more than at any time Bince the Civiltylast year's first and second classmen
war. It will be recalled that V.M.I.^who have been recently commissioned,
graduates comprised the larger portion I Those of the class of 1917 who were
of Confederate officers. President! of age were graduated during the first
Lincoln attributed the strength of the week in May 191'/, six weeks early.
Confederates to " a little school down Some were ordered to Ft. Myer, Vir-in
Virginia that turned out officers ginia, pending tbe issuance of com-as
fast as they could be killed cr cap-1 missions, some were commissioned
tured." True to her reputation, V.
M. I. rushes to the aid of her coon*
try in this hour of need. Many of
her recent graduates are now in the
trenches in France and many more
in the Marine Corps, and some were
commissioned in the Pay Corps of the
Navy.
Some four weeks later those mem
bers of the Reserve Officers' Training
are awaiting the time they shall be! Corps in the second class, who were
called upon to serve in tbe capacity of j of age were ordered to Ft. Myer as
army officers. In order that Institute1 candidates for commissions, the 0. R.
. nagp may enfcirejy farpiJUar with
modern trench warfare, a Canadian
officer has been engaged to instruct
the cadets in this.
The seriousness of tbe present sit-uation
has caused thousands of young
men to seek to enter V. M. I. i.i
order that they may be able to render
their country more efficient service.
The greater number of these were
turned down on account of the Insti-tute's
limited accommodations, hut
the year startBwith an increase of al-most
50 per cent over the enrollment
of a year ago. There are now Ap-proximately
550 men in barracks
about 300 of whom are new ca<Mts.
This large number of new ca
sets forth a problem which can c^
be solved by the entire cadet corps
The rules for the government
new cadets for this y£ar were driwn
up by the present first clasB at the
close of last session. These rules were
formulated only after very caijeful
consideration and in the interest or the
corps, they muBt be observed by
every cadet, old and new.
During past years there has been
« e t a very high standard and a na-tion
wide reputation earned by the
everlasting etforts of tbe cadetu and
officers. We, therefore, have the iprob-lem
of maintaining this standard be-fore
us. k'
The officers of the Institu
given their lives to the cause 4f
cation and it is their sincerept
that the corps of 1917-'18
only maintain the standard
former years, but also even
the efficiency it has hereto
onstrated.
The class of 1918 ha
shown itself capable of any ( emergen-cy
and it is the sincere belief of all
concerned that the year tuutyr its lead-always
Coatinaad on page 51
C. carap jtmying begn„, lr progress
something like a month.
These men made a splendid record
for V. M. I. and have maintained her
ever brilliant record. Some are nota
in France, some are reported to have
already given their lives for the cause
there. The greater part of them are
as yet in this country but will see
service shortly.
I t haB been impossible to get a
complete and accurate record of their
present rank HI O whereabouts, and
any information iegaricng them and
Hry others who have worn the gray
will be greatly appreciated by the
authorities and The Cadet staff. Be-low
iB given a partial list of the men
who were in school last year who are
at present serving in the several arms
of the service.
Clans of 1917. •
D. L. Ruffner, Capt. U. S. R
C. A. Martin, Capt. U. S. A.
F. H. Etheridge, 1st Lt. U. S. A.
Benjamin H White, 1st Lt.U.S. A
G. White, 1st Lt. U. S. A.
M. W. Whittle, 1st Lt. U. S. A.
E. C. Porter, 1st Lt. U. S. A.
G. Tinaley, 1st. Lt. U. S. A.
E. C. Brown, 2nd Lt. U. S. A.
O. B. Bucher, 2nd Lt. U. S. A.
M. W.Steele, 2nd Lt. U. S. A.
H. A. Campbell, 2nd Lt. U. S. A.
J. E. Cole, 2nd Lt. U. S. A.
J. W. Squire, 2nd Lt. U. S. A.
F. R. Lafferty, 1st Lt. Cav.
L. Neale, Ensign Skeeter Fleet.
A. R. Horn, Candidate F. Sheri-dan,
111.
H. M. Mason, Enbign Navy Pay
Corps.
C. D. Saunders, Ensign Navy Pay
Corps.
M. W. Boykin, Ensign Navy Pay
Corps.
E.A. Bulkley, enlisted U. S.M. C.
Contiaaed oa page S
NEW RULES FOR RATS
Class Distinction System Superceded by Regulations
Drawn Up By First Class
On Monday evening, Sept. 10, the
corps was honored by the presence o?
the distinuished officer and soldier,
Lieutenant Champenois of the French
army. To Colonel Claudop, head of
the French mission in America, this
treat was due. The address of Lieu-tenant
Champenois was well worth
hearing and was enjoyed by every
member of the corps and quite a num-ber
of Lexington persons.
The atmosphere surrounding the
speaker was one of severity, patriot-ism
and bravery. He gave us a
vivid picture of tbe situation in
France as it now is and was three
years ago. That France waB unpre-pared
for thiB war be made evident
by several examples. The typical
Frenchman was portrayed by his
characteristics and sincere evidences
of patriotism. His broad minded viewB
of justice and righteousness made
clear his country's innocence in this
struggle.
The apparel of Lieutenant Cham-penois
presented inspiring evidences
of his personal patriotic services.
On his right arm were insignia show-ing
almost continuous service through-out
the war. On bis left arm there
were stripeB indicative of wounds re-ceived
in honorable battle.
The scope of the speaker's text was
very broad. He save us a clear pic*
ture of the average Frenchman, his
ideals and thoughts. Many references
were made to actual experiences in
the trenches. Lieutenant Champen-ois
concluded his address praising tbe
American soldier and rejoicing in the
revival of a French-American alliance.
Onjbehalf of the corps, General Nichols
thanked th speaker and the depart-ment
for the educational and interest-ing
experiences related by Lieutenant
ChampenoiB. He left on Wednesday
for Fort Sill, where he will instruct
American sodiers in modern trench
warfare.
Lieutenant Champenois also gave a
mosst interesting lecture to the first
claBB military science Elections Wed-nesday,
Sept.jl2tb, on the uses of
maps in the trenches. The following
letter will serve to show h >w the
services of Lieutenant Champenois
were secured:
"Washington, D.C., Sept. 7, 1917,
Colonel Claudon begs General E. W.
Nichols to accept his best compliments
and tells him how he is glad to have
the opportunity to send to Lexington
the S. Lieutenant Champenois, a very
gallant officer, to salute the six hun-dred
splendid cadets, as fine a body of
yjung men as one ever saw, who are
unier his command.
Soon " T h e Star Spangled Banner"
will wave victoriously by the side of
our beloved " T r i c o l o r " and the
American soldier stirring nobly for
liberty and civilization will reveal
himself as " G o d ' s own soldier," the
first soldier in the world.
Signed COL. CLAUDON.
Chief of the French Military Mis-sion
of Information to United States
( t America."
The problem of handling recruits
has ever been a great one in all
military establishments, and many
have been the methods tried in the
attempt to solve the problem. It
cannot be said that any of the meth-ods
tried have been idieial, nor on the
other band can it be taid that any
system can be ideal in this respect,
although several have been signally
efficient. In this latter class can be
named that which has been popularly
known under the name " h a z i n g ."
This was in vogue at the Inbtitnte
for a number of years, and was par-ticularly
successful in two ways. The
corps was noted for the splendid
training of the rats, and the school
was noted for the 4' hazing.''
The realization came to the think-ers
of the corps that there was some-thing
wrong, and in this they were in
harmony with public opinion, for
within tbe past few years there has
been a decided aversion in the pub-lic
mind to anything that could even
be remotely connected |with tbe word
' ' hazing.''
For several years there were var-ious
means suggested whereby the
corps could depart from the methods
used under the old wtfy of handling
new cbdets, but none were thought
sufficiently promising and so year by
year more things that came under
the beading " h a z i n g " were decided
to be improper and were discontinued
until absolutely nothing remained of
the socallea hazing system but the
name. Weaklings who would not
see tbe good in V. M. 1. would re-sign
and use the magic word HAZING
as his excuse to tbe people back
home.
The class 1916 departed from cus-tom
when early in the spring of 1916
they submitted a set of rules for the
government of new cadets. Their
plan was based upon the ostracism
of the new cadets, and under it a rat
was not to be noticed in any manner
whatsoever. Their plan also pro-vided
for class distinction, and has
been by some denominated by the lat-ter
term. This order of things was
in nominal force for the remainder of
tbe session and for tbe session of
1916-1917, 'but its success was
doubtful, certainly not pronounced.
In an endeavor to solve the situa-tion,
which threatened to seriously
impair tbe efficiency of the corps, the
class of 1918 through a representative
committee, drew up and adopted a Bet
of rules for the guidance of all class-es.
ThU was rapidly adopted by the
whole corps.
These rules take no recognition of
hazing in any form because that is
handled by the Honor System, and is
forbidden by the cadet pledge and reg-ulations
V . M . I . It does take care of
slacknesses and tbe like which are not
provided for by tbe regulations and
which are entirely dependent upon the
cadets for disposition. Other things
which are prohibited by the Blue Book
Continued on pact 5
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