UTILIZATION OF BRAIN POWER IN ARMY 201 



mendations for assignment to labor battalions because of 

 low grade intelligence, number 9,871 (0.6 -f- per cent.). 

 For assignment to development battalions, in order that 

 they might be more carefully observed and given prelimi- 

 nary training to discover, if possible, ways of using them 

 in the army, 9,432 (0.6 -f- P er cent.) men were recom- 

 mended. 



During this same interval there were reported 4,744 

 men with mental age below seven years ; 7,762, between 

 seven and eight years ; 14,566, between eight and nine 

 years; 18,581, between nine and ten years. This gives a 

 total of 45,653 men under ten years mental age. It is 

 extremely improbable that many of these individuals were 

 worth what it cost the government to maintain, equip and 

 train them for military service. 



The psychological rating of a man was reported 

 promptly to the personnel adjutant and to the company 

 commander. In addition, all low grade cases and men 

 exhibiting peculiarities of behavior were reported also to 

 the medical officer. The mental rating was thus made 

 available for use in connection with rejection or discharge, 

 the assignment of men to organizations and their selection 

 for special tasks. The mental ratings were used in va- 

 rious ways by commanding officers to increase the effi- 

 ciency of training and to strengthen organizations by im- 

 proved placement. 



It was recently stated and emphasized by psychological 

 examiners that a man's value to the service should not be 

 judged by his intelligence alone, but that instead tem- 

 peramental characteristics, reliability, ability to lead and 

 to "carry on" under varied conditions should be taken 

 into account. Even after the feasibility of securing a 

 fairly reliable measure of every soldier's intelligence or 

 mental alertness had been demonstrated, it remained un- 

 certain whether these measurements would correlate posi- 

 tively with military value to a sufficient degree to render 

 them useful. Data which have become available during 



