PRINCETON OPPOSES COLLEGE MILITARY DRILL IN WINTER

Princeton is strongly in favor of military training for college men, but opposed to drill as part of the university curriculum, according to a statement by Professor R. M. M. McElroy of Princeton. The intellectual side of military training, lectures, and other instruction, he believes to be a proper part of college work, but the drill should be reserved for summer military camps. Princeton tried to establish a training corps at the time of the Spanish War, and it was found to be a failure.

Professor McElroy says: "In Princeton we have not instituted military drill, and there is little indication on the part either of the Faculty or of the student body of a desire to establish it. Modern military training involves two rather distinct elements, the one intellectual, the other largely physical. The first we believe to be part of a university curriculum; the second can be most economically and effectively managed by the National Military Training Camps.

"With the opening of the war came the suggestion that, instead of entrusting the training of our students to the summer camps, as had hitherto been thought wise, colleges and universities should introduce physical drill into the academic year. The movement was not encouraged by the military" authorities upon whose advice Princeton most confidentially relied. Their opinion confirmed our own, that such a movement could only be temporary; that as soon as the excitement had passed, the military training corps in the colleges and universities would cease to hold their student volunteers. We had ourselves tried the experiment at the opening of the war against Spain and had seen it fail as soon as the first flush of excitement was over. We knew that many other colleges and universities had had similar experiences.

"It, therefore, seemed wise to continue our policy of encouraging students to look to the summer training camps for their physical drill and for their practical field training; but, in order to fit them for that experience, and to keep their interest active, we organized a course of military lectures, to be given by officers of the regular army, and prepared rifle ranges where students could have target practice. We are convinced that more can be done by leaving the military drill to the summer camp, and by emphasizing, within the university itself, the intellectual elements of a military education."