EXAMINATION BEFORE MARRIAGE 229 



having a year's training, acquires about the 

 same chest development as the country boy. 

 The German Army records show that army 

 training lengthens the country boy's life as 

 much, often, as five years, and adds more 

 to the life of the city boy. This is due to 

 the conditions under which the boys of to- 

 day are being born and reared. It shows a 

 steady tendency to physical degeneracy. 

 Where will it all end? 



It appears that rejections for the Navy 

 run as high as 87^%, for they are more 

 rigid in their requirements than the Army. 

 Not all rejections, by any means, are due to 

 hereditary defects, but a large per cent, 

 are due to hereditary causes. A nation, in 

 its defense «nd in its commercial and busi- 

 ness enterprises, can rise no higher than 

 its manhood. It seems to me, the time has 

 come when we must consider a method of 

 securing better mentally and physically fit 

 men ; and, to do this, we must, at once, edu- 

 cate our citizens to realize that to have its 

 men and women free from hereditary phy- 

 sical and mental defects is of greater value 



