period 1905-09. No statistics are published regarding the causes of re- 

 jection, but some interesting data are available regarding the distribu- 

 tion of troops by stature, which seem to indicate a gradual decline in 

 the proportion of those below 148.5 cm. Comparing the returns for 

 Japan and those for certain other countries, it appears that the propor- 

 tion of those of a stature of 160 cm. and over (63 inches) was 87.0 per 

 cent, for Prussia, 69.9 per cent, for France, 57.0 per cent, for Austro- 

 Hungary, but only 3.1 per cent, for Japan. 



RECRUITING STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES 



The comparative value of the preceding statistics is very limited. 

 It is not only difficult to scientifically define the prevailing standards 

 of military fitness in the different countries for which recruiting 

 statistics are available, but the standards themselves have varied so 

 frequently and have been so strongly influenced by military require- 

 ments that all international conclusions must be arrived at with extreme 

 caution. Schwiening includes, however, certain statistics for the United 

 States which may be referred to, since nearly all of the preceding data 

 are derived from his elaborate work on Recruiting Statistics (Lehrbuch 

 der Militarhygiene, vol. v.) which, unfortunately, has not been trans- 

 lated into English. According to Schwiening, the rejection rate for 

 American recruits, which, of course, represent volunteers, is not 

 strictly comparable with the returns for conscripts, on the one hand, nor 

 exactly with the volunteer statistics of England, on the other, for there 

 are reasons for believing that the English statistics represented previ- 

 ously to the war a class physically distinctly below, in age and physique, 

 the corresponding class of applicants for military service examined 

 and accepted in the United States. 



The general (medical) rejection rate for 1906-10, according to this 

 author, was 13.69 per cent., having been 13.8 per cent, for the white, 

 and 10.5 per cent, for the colored. The principal cause of rejection among 

 the white was diseases of the eyes and errors of refraction, or 1.57 per 

 cent, of those examined, followed by sexual diseases, 1.23 per cent.; 

 diseases of the ears, 1.07 per cent. ; diseases of the heart, 1.03 per cent. ; 

 underweight, 0.79 per cent. ; dental defects, 0.69 per cent. ; alcoholism, 

 0.65 per cent. ; flatfoot, 0.57 per cent., and hernia, 0.54 per cent. 

 It is extremely significant that general debility should be such a 

 rare cause of rejection in the United States Army, only 0.06 per cent, 

 for the white and 0.02 per cent, for the colored, when this cause 

 or group of causes is one of such major importance in the examination 

 of conscripts on the Continent. The statistics make it clear that they 

 cannot be used for comparative purposes without extreme caution ; in 

 fact, it may be seriously questioned whether any comparison can at 

 the present time be made which does not involve the serious risk of 

 error in whatever conclusions may be arrived at. The analysis, there- 



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