ference in the medical and physical examination of recruits are not 

 even, as yet, as clearly recognized as is necessary to prevent a further 

 deplorable waste of man-power, both in the unnecessary rejection of 

 those fit for military service in the field and in the wrongful acceptance 

 of men physically or otherwise disqualified for the extraordinary stress 

 and strain of service on the battle field. The problem, it is true, con- 

 cerns at most but a fraction of the entire army, for there can be no 

 question of doubt that the large majority of our young men are not 

 only as physically fit but in all probability physically superior to any 

 army that has ever gone out for active service on the battle field. As 

 properly said in the London letter to the Journal of the American 

 Medical Association, 



The victorious manner in which our national armies * have come through 

 conditions more severe and more trying than any to which armies of former 

 times were ever subjected seems to allay any fear that we are not equal 

 to our forefathers in either vigor of body or strength of will. But every 

 country in Europe has its contingent of men unfit to bear arms and unfit for 

 the physical brunt of civil life. Before the war Germany had to reject 16 per 

 cent, of her young men, because weakness or deformity rendered them useless 

 as soldiers. We also have our share of the unfit; the size of that share is the 

 index of our physical deterioration as a nation. Under the present conditions 

 the need for a physical survey of the people, instead of being merely a matter 

 of theoretical importance, as it was at a former time, has become a matter of 

 urgent, practical importance. The total number of our population is not the 

 most important matter for us at present; it is the number of our fit men and 

 women, boys and girls, that matters. The medical examinations instituted by 

 the Ministry of National Service really constitute a physical census of our 

 man-power. 



URGENCY OF A NATIONAL ANTHROPOMETRIC SURVEY 

 AND NEW PHYSICAL STANDARDS 

 These conclusions apply with even greater force to the men of our 

 new National Army, which in the cantonments as well as on the western 

 front has given an excellent account of itself as regards physical endur- 

 ance, of which the country has every reason to feel proud. If only, 

 however, one-tenth of the entire Army represents a group below the 

 ideal standard of physique and capacity for physical endurance in active 

 military service, the question of their proper physical care and service 

 classification is one of considerable practical importance. If even as 

 low a proportion as 15 per cent, of all the registrants are properly 

 rejected on physical grounds, the question of their rehabilitation is of 

 equal if not greater concern to the Government and the people at large. 

 It requires no sensational or alarmist assertions to emphasize an obvious 

 duty in this respect, however lamentably that duty has been ignored in 

 the past. All questions of physical growth and development, physical 

 training, military and industrial service proportionate to physical 



* The reference, of course, is to the national armies of Great Britain and the British 

 Colonies and self-governing Dominions. % 



98 



