218 FAMOUS LIVING AMERICANS great political leader in New York state. Cox had been dis- appointed with several of the boys he had sent to West Point and he was anxious to appoint a cadet who would '^ really go through." So he gave the boy a chance, and on April 21, 1876, at the age of eighteen, Goethals entered the military academy. It is to be observed here that Goethals 's whole education was obtained in public schools and colleges, and schools of a severe type where sound mental discipline was made the cen- tral purpose. Two things Goethals says he got at West Point: sound physique, for the training there soon restored him physically, and intellectual discipline. Since I have seen something of the fine work being done by army engineers at Panama, done without fuss or feathers, and without the incentive of private profit, I have wondered what there was in the training at West Point to cultivate this type of man. So I visited West Point, and Colonel Fiebeger, the chief of the engineering department, outlined some of the vital points of the education there given. Discipline is the central motive of the training, discipline for the service of the nation. The course is rigidly prescribed and no man's work can be postponed or shirked : it must be done day by day. If a man can't keep up he is dropped. This tends to induce sound habits of work. No distinctions are drawn between boys on account of family or political connections, or be- tween rich and poor. Merit is made the sole test. Training in accepting responsibility is constant and insistent, and at the point where responsibility counts most in the conunand of other men. Strict truth-telling is a vital part of the tradi- tion at West Point. In military service a false report can- not be tolerated : a liar is not only no gentleman but he can- not be a good soldier. If the training at West Point is in some respects narrow, it is thorough. There are three principal honors within the reach of the cadet at West Point. The first relates to his scholarship, his ability as a student, the second to his qualification as a leader and officer, and the third expresses the regard in which he is !%■
