Could You Pass This Examination? 



It is the one given by a street railway company to applicants for the positions 

 of motormen and conductors. It is harder than it seems at a casual glance 



APPLICANTS for posi- 

 tions on the Dallas 

 ' street railways are sci- 

 entifically selected. The pur- 

 pose is to secure the quick- 

 est thinkers and those most 

 capable of obeying orders. 

 According to P. W. Ger- 

 hardt, superintendent of 

 transportation, the question 

 of accident prevention rests 

 with the man on the car. 

 Fool-proof equipment, safety 

 first campaigns, lectures, con- 

 tests and prizes all do their 

 part toward the reduction of 

 accidents, but, according to 

 Mr. Gerhardt, it is the man 

 behind the controller that 

 really counts. 



Prospective employees are 

 given three tests, respective- 

 ly, attention test, obser\-a- 

 tion test and judgment test. 

 In the accompanying illus- 

 tration the printed question 

 blank used in the attention 

 test is shown. Qliestions one 

 and two are in the way of 

 catch questions and require 

 the closest attention of the 

 applicant. Questions three, 

 four, five and six are arith- 

 metical questions. The ap- 

 plicant is timed with a stop 

 watch to determine how long he takes to 

 answer the questions, and the number of 

 omissions and errors are counted. The 

 test is given but once, as its effectiveness 

 depends wholly upon its novelty. The 

 object is to determine the applicant's 

 ability to receive instructions, and to do 

 as he is told to do. ' 



But long before the applicant comes to 

 the attention test he is put through other 

 tests he does not know about. Says Mr. 

 Gerhardt: 



"All applicants are eliminated who are 

 in any wise crippled, or deformed, or who 

 are repulsive in appearance, dirty or sloven- 

 ly in their dress, or who show signs of ex- 

 cessive use of tobacco or liquor. We cannot 

 afford to place on our cars any man whose 



ATTENTION TEST 



GE>ER.\L DmECTIONS: 



Do what the printeii instmctions teD yon to do. 



Do not ask the examiner any questions about the exanination. 



Do not ask any other person who is taking the examinatioa any qaestjor or watch any one to see what 

 he does. 



Work as rapidly as yon can WITHOUT MAKING ANY MISTAKES. 



1, Write your name and permanent address here. 



2. Do what it says to do as quickly as yoo can. but be careful to notice just what it does say. 

 With your pencil make a dot over any one of these letters. F G H I J. and a cross after the longest of 



these three words: BOY, MOTHER, GIRL, Then, if Christmas comes in March, make a cross right here 

 but if not. pass along to the next qaestion and tell where the sun rises If you believe Edison dis- 

 covered America, cross out what you just wrote, but if it was some one els«, put in a number to complete 



this sentence: ".\ Horse has feet," Write YES, no matter whether China is in .\frica or not and 



then give a wrong answer to this question: "How many days are there in a week? Write any letter ex- 

 cept C in this space and then write NO if 2 times 5 are 10. . . Now, if Tuesday comes after Monday, 



make two crosses here ; but if not, make a circle here or else a square here Be sure to make 



three crosses between these two names of boys: George Henry. Notice these two onBben.8.S. 



if iron is heavier than water, write the larger number here But if iron is lighter, write the smaller 



here Show by a cross when the nights are k>nger: In summer? in winter? Give the correct 



answer to this question: "Does water run uphill? and repeat your answer here Do nothing 



here (5 plus 7 equals. unless you skipped the last question; but write the first letter of your first 



name and last letter of your last name at the ends of this line 



3. Add the following as indicated: 



Set down and add the following: 



Five hundred and fifty. three dollars and five cents. 



One hundred and ninety-nine dollars and four cents. 



Two thousand and three dollars. 



Two thousand seven hundred and forty dollars and ninety-one cents. 



Teat blank used in determining the eligibility of an applicant, 

 and his ability to do exactly as he is told without hesitancy 



personal appearance may be repulsive to 

 our passengers, nor can we afford to risk 

 hiring a man who is a slave of the cigarette, 

 or who needs the stimulus of alcohol to 

 carry him through the ordeal of making 

 application for employment. 



"We further eliminate all applicants 

 under twenty-one years of age or over 

 forty years. The work on the street car 

 is a man's job, and cannot be intrusted 

 to a boy, nor can we hope to secure the best 

 results from a man who has lost his spring 

 of youth and is passing into the summer of 

 middle age." 



Many scientific appraisers of employees 

 lay great stress on the applicant's walk. 

 Much can be inferred from it, they say, as 

 to habits of thought and conduct. 



277 



