382 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



that were about to be sent to France really had the skilled 

 personnel necessary to get the supplies up to the front under 

 battle conditions. By the time that mobilization ceased in 

 November, standardized tests in about eighty of the more im- 

 portant trades were in use. 



'* The cost of production and standardization of the tests was 

 on the average roughly a thousand dollars a trade. But as it 

 worked out, this was an extremely economical investment for 

 the War Department. A conservative estimate was made last 

 October of the saving in the cost of pay and subsistence of 

 recruits, which was at that time being effected as a direct result 

 of the use of these trade tests. Data gleaned from the twenty 

 cantonments in which the trade test stations were operating, 

 indicated that in each station the tests were saving the Depot 

 Brigade personnel officers from making about ten erroneous 

 assignments a day. Since it takes at least two weeks on the 

 average to discover that a soldier, who has been sent to a 

 technical unit is not fully competent and to effect the necessary 

 replacement, each avoidance of such a mistake meant a saving 

 of $42. The trade tests were then saving the army about 

 $210,000 a month on this item alone. But of course the real 

 economies were not of money but of time. Correct initial 

 placement meant speedier organization and more rapid progress 

 of training. Trade tests had their share in the rapid shaping 

 of army units which were ready ahead of schedule to meet the 

 demands of Foch and Pershing on the western front. 



'*' In devising a standardized trade test it is first necessary to 

 study the trade to find out through analysis of typical jobs, what 

 are the elements of skill and information and judgment which 

 combine to constitute real proficiency. The Army Trade Test 

 Division began by assembling information from such sources 

 as the archives of the U. S. Department of Labor, state and city 

 civil service commissions, and the like. Suggestive typical 

 tasks and numerous trade questions and answers were accumu- 

 lated through conference with officials of trade unions that 

 maintain standards of proficiency among their membership, 



