or private employment. A preliminary process of selection seems to 

 prevail, the results of which are not included in the final sta- 

 tistics of recruiting as issued by the authority of the Surgeon 

 General of the Army. Seriously erroneous conclusions are un- 

 avoidable unless the terminology in use is more precisely de- 

 fined. According to the Army and Navy Journal, of January 

 .10, 1914, for illustration, the total number of applicants for enlistment 

 in the Army during 1913 in the Eastern, Middle, Southern and Western 

 sections of the United States was as follows : In Chicago, 11,920 appli- 

 cants for enlistment, with 9,342 rejections, or 78.4 per cent. ; in New 

 York, 17,055 applicants for enlistment, with 13,758 rejections, or 80.6 

 per cent. ; in Savannah, New Orleans and Little Rock, 3,855 applicants 

 for enlistment, with 3,011 rejections, or 78.1 per cent. ; in San Francisco, 

 5,504 applicants for enlistment, with 4,443 rejections, or 80.7 per cent. 

 The Journal of the American Medical Association, under date of Jan- 

 uary 31, 1914, in commenting upon these data, remarks that "It will be 

 seen from these figures that the percentage of rejections was about the 

 same in New York and San Francisco, and that the percentage for the 

 Southern section and the Middle West as represented by Chicago was 

 lower than either the Hast or the West, with a small fraction in favor 

 of the more northerly section. The better showing of the Middle West 

 was rather to be expected, though the margin is quite small; but the 

 surprising thing about all these figures is the large percentage of rejec- 

 tions in all sections of the country. It does not argue well for the 

 physique and the stamina of our young men, or perhaps may be 

 accounted for by the supposition that the best do not offer themselves 

 for enlistment. It is said, in England, that the physique of the average 

 recruit is deteriorating, but in a comparatively new country, like the 

 United States, the descendants of hardy pioneer stock, reared amid 

 abundance and under favorable health and climatic conditions, should 

 make a much better showing." The question therefore arises as to 

 whether the preceding rejection data have the significance attached to 

 them or whether they may not be, as they probably are, seriously mis- 

 leading. The rejection ratio in all probability merely represented the 

 results of a preliminary process of selection without specific or qualified 

 reference to the supreme question of physical stamina and disease as 

 well as fatigue resistance. 



RECRUITING EXPERIENCE UNDER VOLUNTARY 



ENLISTMENTS 



During the period 1913-15 in the recruiting districts of the United 

 States Army there were thus examined 461,033 applicants for military 

 service, of whom 349,975, or 75.9 per cent., were declined, while 111,058, 

 or 24.1 per cent., were provisionally accepted. Of the 111,058 it appears 

 only 92,667 were subsequently medically examined at recruiting depots, 



22 



