

and of this number 13,884, or 15 per cent., were finally rejected and 

 78,783, or 85 per cent., were finally accepted. At depot posts 9,110 

 applicants were medically examined, and of this number 800, or 8.8 

 per cent., were rejected, while 8,310, or 91.2 per cent., were finally 

 accepted. In addition thereto, at other military posts or in the field, 

 26,422 applicants were examined, and of this number 669, or 2.5 per 

 cent, were rejected, and 25,753, or 97.5 per cent., were finally accepted. 

 The initial rejection of 75.9 per cent, of the applicants for military 

 service in the United States Army by non-medical officers of the line can 

 therefore not be construed as evidence of deficiency in physical stamina 

 or lack of resistance to disease or fatigue. Many applicants were 

 declined, in all probability, for defects or deficiencies, physical, men- 

 tal or moral, each without a very decided bearing upon the question 

 of physical strength and power of endurance. All army experience 

 under a voluntary system proves conclusively that a large number of 

 young men apply who obviously are not required as long as the 

 authorized military strength can be easily maintained by means of the 

 most careful medical selection, as a guarantee that only the best fitted 

 will be secured. The applicants for voluntary military service in the 

 recruiting districts are generally without any previous military expe- 

 rience or training whatever, the applicants examined at depot posts and 

 other military posts are chiefly, if not exclusively, those who have had 

 previous military training; those, in other words, who represent a 

 class eligible for re-enlistment. When the latter two groups are 

 combined, it appears that of 35,532 such applicants examined only 1,469, 

 or 4.1 per cent., were rejected, while 34,063, or 95.9 per cent., were 

 accepted. 



INCONCLUSIVE STATISTICS OF PHYSICAL 

 DETERIORATION 



The foregoing observations emphasize the urgency of extreme care 

 in the use of army recruiting data for other than military purposes. 

 The misuse of such data is of common occurrence, regardless of the 

 intimations in practically all the text books or discussions on recruiting 

 that the experience is governed by military considerations and has no 

 very definite, if any, relation to possible changes in the physique or 

 bodily proportions of the population considered. Among other conspic- 

 uous illustrations of the misuse of the comparative method, appropriate 

 reference may here be made to the statement of a well-known actuary 

 before the House Committee on Labor with regard to the effects of 

 social insurance in Germany on the physique of the German adult popu- 

 lation. The argument was advanced that, according to military sta- 

 tistics, in consequence of compulsory social insurance there had been a 

 very substantial improvement in the height and weight of those 

 conscripted for military service. The foremost German authority on 



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