hard life that is known to accompany the duties of a soldier. They will be with the first to say aye when I say that the informing spirit, the high standard of the regular army, are derived from the graduates, the teachings and the traditions of the Military Academy. Happy augury of the future that here where for a hundred years honor has ever ruled, honor made up of courage, truth, compassion, loyalty, is to be found the formative and controlling power of the American army of the future, regular, militia, and volunteer. No army inspired by the spirit of the Military Academy can ever endanger its country's liberty, or can ever desert its country's flag.

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THE ARMY WAR COLLEGE

ADDRESS AT THE LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE,

WASHINGTON, D.C., FEBRUARY 21, 1903

Mr. Root as Secretary of War created the Army War College. On February 21, 1903, its corner stone was laid, and on November 9, 1908, the building itself was dedicated. Mr. Root delivered an address on each of these occasions, the first in his capacity as Secretary of War, the second as Secretary of State and in his capacity of founder of the War College.

The reader will find the aims and purposes of the War College stated and the steps by which it was created set forth in those portions of Mr. Root's reports as Secretary of War included in the present volume, pages 387-388, 390-399.

OT to promote war, but to preserve peace by intelligent

NOT

and adequate preparation to repel aggression, this institution is founded. It is a growth and not a new departure. It is a natural and necessary development of the views with which General Grant established the Artillery School at Fortress Monroe, General Sherman established the Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth, and General Sheridan established the School of Application for Cavalry and Light Artillery at Fort Riley. Following the same policy an Engineers' School of Application, a School of Submarine Defense, and an Army Medical School were afterwards established. All of these institutions were practically suspended during the war with Spain and in the Philippines.

When the time came for the reëstablishment it had become evident that not merely restoration, but an advance and enlargement of military education were demanded by the enlargement of our army, the advance and greater complexity of military science, the increased proportion of officers who had not the benefit of a West Point education, and the wider range of military problems which the possibilities of our national growth force upon our attention. The growth of

separate institutions had reached a point where their efficiency could be increased and the results of their work could be utilized best by bringing them into relation as parts of a general system of military education under the inspection and supervision of a single coördinating and controlling body, and by supplementing their work with a post-graduate course which should carry their best men onward along the lines of research and of thought by which experience and theory combine to the making of skillful commanders of armies. Such a system the army is now putting in force as rapidly as possible.

The controlling and directing body is the War College Board, consisting of five officers of rank specially detailed, and the Chief of Engineers, the Chief of Artillery, the Superintendent of the West Point Military Academy, and the Commandant of the Leavenworth School, all under the presidency of that gallant, experienced, and able soldier, Major-General Samuel B. M. Young. Under their direction the school at Fort Leavenworth has been reëstablished and reorganized as a General Service and Staff College, with the school at Fort Riley as an accessory school of application. The special service schools have been reëstablished. A system of schools has been established at the principal posts and is being extended to all the considerable posts of the country, under which a compulsory course, following a prescribed curriculum, is required from all junior officers.

It is the design of the Board, already provided by General Orders, that the best men from the post schools shall be graded up to the Leavenworth College and the special service schools; that the best men from the Leavenworth College and the special service schools shall be graded up to the postgraduate course of the War College, there to study and confer upon the great problems of national defense, of military science, and of responsible command. The courses of instruc

tion in all the schools at all stages are in the highest degree practical as well as theoretical, and military aptitude tested by the exercise of actual command will hold a leading place in the determination of merit.

To the men thus sifted out from the great mass of officers by the demonstration of superior intelligence and devotion to their profession the Commander-in-Chief will naturally turn for details to important service and promotion to higher rank. Membership in the War College will mean honor and opportunity. In its confidential archives will be garnered the results of the best thought of the army, and in the continuous existence of the institution, always changing in its elements as men come and go but remaining itself unchanged, will be found continuity of knowledge, of thought, and of military policy always available for practical uses under the supervision of the General Staff, of which the War College Board will form a part.

It is a common observation, and a true one, that practical qualities in a soldier are more important than a knowledge of theory, but this truth has often been made the excuse for indolence and indifference, which, except in rare and gifted individuals, destroy practical efficiency. It is also true that, other things being equal, the officer who keeps his mind alert by intellectual exercise, and who systematically studies the reasons of action, and the materials and conditions and difficulties with which he may have to deal, will be the stronger practical man and the better soldier. The same considerations which have led individual enterprise to build up the great universities and technical schools, to which the graduates of our schools and colleges resort to perfect themselves in every profession and in every branch of applied science, apply with equal force to education in the science of war. It is fitting that our government should profit by the lesson which all its citizens have learned, that for success in any

business the evolution from the simple to the complex must be accompanied by a more perfect system, a more careful selection of agents, and a broader training of the men upon whom fall the responsibilities of control.

No better illustration of the necessity for such an institution as this, and for a General Staff to make its work effective, can be found than in the fate which befell the work of a soldier to whose memory I wish to pay honor today - Brevet-MajorGeneral Emory Upton, Colonel of the 4th Artillery. Graduated from West Point in the year 1860, he became while almost a boy one of the most distinguished officers of the Civil War. He commanded successively a battery of artillery, a regiment of infantry, a brigade of infantry, a brigade of artillery, and a division of cavalry. Constantly in the field, he exhibited in camp and march and in scores of battles dauntless and brilliant courage, strict and successful discipline, and the highest qualities of command. General James H. Wilson, in his life of Professor Michie, said of Upton:

No one can read the story of his brilliant career without concluding that he had a real genius for war, together with all the theoretical and practical knowledge which any one could acquire in regard to it. He was the equal, if not the superior, of Hoche, Desaix, or Skobeleff, in all the military accomplishments and virtues, and up to the time when he was disabled by the disease which caused his death he was, all things considered, the most accomplished soldier in our service. His life was pure and upright, his bearing chivalric and commanding, his conduct modest and unassuming, and his character absolutely without blemish. History cannot furnish a brighter example of unselfish patriotism, or of ambition unsullied by an ignoble thought or an unworthy deed.

After the close of the Civil War, he addressed himself to the task of interpreting the lessons of that war to his countrymen for the improvement of our military system. Of his own motion he devised a new system of tactics, which being capable of adoption by a simple military order was adopted and revolutionized the tactics of the army. On the recommenda