376 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



that $25,000,000 would be expended on this next to useless 

 human material if it were not either rejected or promptly dis- 

 charged on the discovery of the mental condition. 



By contrast with this possible saving it is interesting to know 

 that it cost the government less than 5oc. per man to conduct 

 psychological examinations. Thus it would appear that on the 

 basis of rejection or discharge alone, leaving out of account 

 possible increases of rapidity of training and in military 

 efficiency by reason of better placement of men and more satis- 

 factory selection of commissioned officers and non-commis- 

 sioned officers, the service of psychological examining might 

 have saved the United States Government, had it been used to 

 the utmost throughout the war, many millions of dollars. 



Of the many unexpected and startling results of psychological 

 examining in the army only a few can be mentioned. First in 

 importance is the frequency of illiteracy in this country. It 

 was originally assumed by psychological examiners that at least 

 nine in ten of the young men who had been drafted could read 

 and write English well enough to take the written group exami- 

 nation. But, as a matter of fact, more than twice this number, 

 that is above 20 per cent., were so inexpert in reading and 

 writing that they could not do themselves justice in an examina- 

 tion which required either. It is undoubtedly safe to say that 

 one-quarter of the drafted men are, or rather were at the time 

 they were mustered into the service, incapable of reading and 

 writing English to a really useful extent. They could merely 

 speak it. There is a lesson in this exhibition of illiteracy which 

 the government and the people of the United States will not 

 be slow to appreciate and to profit by. 



A second fact which was brought into clear relief by the 

 wholesale examining of colored and white men in the draft 

 is the intellectual inferiority of the negro. Quite apart from 

 educational status, which is utterly unsatisfactory, the negro 

 soldier is of relatively low grade intelligence. The accompany- 

 ing table presents the contrast of white with black in respect 

 to the distribution of intelligence. This also is in the nature of 



