PART II 



RECENT UNITED STATES ARMY 



MEDICAL AND REJECTION 



EXPERIENCE DATA 



In its theoretical as well as practical aspects the whole problem of 

 army anthropology has undergone important and far-reaching changes 

 in consequence of the war. A method of selection for military service 

 during a prolonged period of peace must necessarily vary considerably 

 from the method of selection of men for active service in the field, but 

 much more so when the exhausting effects of a great war upon the man- 

 power of a nation demand a lesser degree of rigid conformity to theoret- 

 ical principles of physical fitness for military duty. The experience which 

 has now been had in the United States with the First Draft under the 

 Selective Service Act of 1917 is obviously, for our own purposes, at 

 least, of over-shadowing importance. An extended and admirable 

 report has been made public by the Provost-Marshal General, which, 

 however, still leaves many important questions undecided. The vast 

 extent of our draft experience at this time practically precludes a 

 qualified statistical analysis of the data, however important the results 

 would be for the needs of anthropological and medical science. Unfort- 

 unately, many erroneous conclusions have been advanced upon the basis 

 of the experience which has thus far been had, with the result that 

 many far-reaching misleading arguments are being advanced and left 

 uncontradicted by an appeal to a statement of the facts. It, for illus- 

 tration, has been alleged that "War tests show that the nation is in 

 feeble health," and that "Ninety-nine per cent, are below par." No 

 evidence of a sufficiently trustworthy nature has, however, been forth- 

 coming from the Provost-Marshal General's office to substantiate these 

 conclusions, nor in support of the further exaggeration that "The exact 

 status of Americans' physical condition is disclosed by countrywide 

 examinations of applicants for service, and the verdict is all but alarm- 

 ing." As a matter of fact, the only analysis of the causes of physical 

 rejection which has thus far been made by the Provost-Marshal Gen- 

 eral's office concerns 10,258 recruits out of a total of 3,082,949 men 

 called for examination and hearing, of which 730,756 were examined 

 and rejected on physical grounds, or 23.7 per cent. Eliminating those 

 who were merely given a hearing, it appears that 2,510,706 men were 



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