It required war to bring appreciation of the school as a necessary part of military instruction. The Navy had started schools for sailors in 1914, but it was not until 1919 that the Army and Marine Corps felt the necessity of such schools, which they then established, though in 1913 General Butler, in command of the Marines at Panama, was teaching them Spanish. "It opened my eyes to what might be done," said Judge Garrison, then Secretary of War, upon his return from an inspection trip, "and I am going to advise Army officers to go down to Panama and learn from General Butler how to teach men in the Army." Upon their return from France General Lejeune and General Butler established schools for the teaching of Marines at Quantico, a plan which is being extended to all Marine bases and attracting a superior type of recruits. In 1866 General Lew Wallace outlined a plan of education for soldiers, approved by Charles Sumner, declaring that the "military system as respects the rank and file is founded on egregious errors." The chief error was that no system of giving the rank and file the same character of instruction as imparted at West Point was at that time offered in order that they might win commissions. He urged that the hours of service of a private soldier be "so divided as to give him time for study and meditation without interference with his routine of duty." The "proverbial idleness of military life" which then prevailed was due to lack of schools and proper instruction. By the addition of the education and promotion policy suggested, General Wallace said, we would "not only get better military service, but as an act of wisest statesmanship you offer in a constitutional way the coveted opportunity for education to every youth in the land." The Navy, having given trial to the policy, found that all that General Wallace claimed for it was true, and now that the Army and Marine Corps have established like schools, educational advantages as a part of military duty have become the accepted American policy. The war emphasized the worth of education for military efficiency. While excellent officers were obtained from every source possible, the main dependence for all-around naval officers was upon the Naval Academy graduates. In the test of war they more than justified what was expected of them. In order to secure more officers with Annapolis training, the course for midshipmen was reduced, during the war, to three years and made more intensive, upon the recommendation of Rear Admiral Edward W. Eberle, the able and resourceful superintendent of the Naval Academy. He and his associates, anxious to get into the active fighting, were doing more by the instruction of the increasing number of midshipmen and the zeal with which they inspired all who came under their influence.