358 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



to serve as a private is inexcusably wasteful, and, on the other 

 hand, to commission as an officer a man of meager education, 

 less than average intelligence, and mediocre ability as a leader 

 is a criminal blunder. 



The army needed (and it was quick to recognize the need), 

 these several sorts of information about each man. It needed 

 also the sort of machinery which would make use of this in- 

 formation in assigning and training men. The ideal course 

 of things, toward which events moved rapidly during the prog- 

 ress of the war ran somewhat as follows: There was, first, 

 reliable rating of a man and resulting classification in ac- 

 cordance with physical characteristics, mental ability, and oc- 

 cupation. In the light of this information he was assigned 

 to his place in the military machine. He was then, if things 

 fell out properly, suitably and efficiently trained and instructed 

 in the duties of a soldier. Subsequently he was skilfully con- 

 trolled and directed, inspiringly led and heartened in the day's 

 work, and technically as well as socially supported both in the 

 drudgery of drill and in the demands of action. 



The theory of psychological service was that human factors 

 should be appreciated, measured, and intelligently used, that so 

 far as feasible chance, personal whim or bias, and convention 

 should be replaced by action in the light of reasonably accurate 

 and thorough information. In a word, that the army should 

 utilize what may be called " human engineering," just as it 

 attempts to utilize other forms of engineering which have to do 

 primarily with non-living things. 



Methods of psychological examining suitable for use in the 

 army were not available at the beginning of the war, but they 

 were prepared speedily by a small group of experts in much 

 the same fashion that the Liberty Motor was developed; that 

 is, by intensive, highly coordinated work based upon the best 

 information that could be assembled from all available sources. 

 The group of psychologists charged with the development of 

 methods promptly decided that it would be entirely too slow 



