a somewhat lesser degree to flatfoot and hernia. The rejection ratio 

 on account of insufficient chest development, which is numerically of 

 the first importance in the British experience, is relatively unimportant 

 in the American experience, or only 0.4 per cent, of the examined, 

 against 5.3 per cent, for the British army previously to the war. * 



For the colored the rejection ratios are quite different, the most pro- 

 nounced variation being in the lesser degree of frequency of diseases 

 of the eye and errors of refraction, and the much higher degree of 

 frequency of venereal diseases. There is also, however, a very marked 

 difference in the lower rejection ratio for the colored on account of 

 diseases of the ear and defects of hearing, as well as defective denti- 

 tion, underweight, alcoholism and insufficient chest development. The 

 difference in the rejection on account of flatfoot is not as marked as 

 generally assumed to be the case, the respective ratios being 0.6 per 

 cent, for the white recruits and 0.7 per cent, for the colored. 



These results are somewhat modified by more recent statistics for 

 the period 1910-15, inclusive of the entire United States Army and 

 native recruits in the Philippines and Porto Rico. A rather serious 

 practical difficulty is the relatively large proportion of rejections on 

 account of causes not physical or medical, chiefly rejections based on 

 army rules and regulations not bearing directly upon the physical fit- 

 ness of the examined recruit for military service. For the white and 

 the colored recruits combined the six principal causes of rejection dur- 

 ing the period under review were as follows : 



UNITED STATES ARMY REJECTION EXPERIENCE, 1910-1915 

 WHITE AND COLORED Percent. 



Examined 



1. Causes not Physical 2.19 



2. Venereal Diseases 1.23 



3. Heart Diseases 1.03 



4. Ear Diseases and Defective Hearing 0.94 



5. Eye Diseases and Defects of Vision 0.80 



6. Flatfoot 0.59 



CAUSES OF REJECTION— WHITE RECRUITS ONLY 



Considering separately white recruits only, the results were as 

 follows : 



UNITED STATES ARMY REJECTION EXPERIENCE, 1910-1915 

 WHITE RECRUITS ONLY Percent. 



Examined 



1. Causes not Physical 2.20 



2. Venereal Diseases 1.11 



3. Heart Diseases 1.04 



4. Ear Diseases and Defective Hearing 0.97 



5. Eye Diseases and Defects of Vision 0.82 



6. Flatfoot 0.60 



* From this table, derived as stated from German sources, the rejections in the United 

 States Army for "causes not physical" are omitted. This group of causes, however, has been 

 included in the tables following, so as to facilitate a more accurate comparison with the 

 corresponding statistics for foreign armies. 



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