Wichita daily eagle., 1885-08-16
PHYSICALLY SOUND
QUALIFICATIONS NECESSARY foA
ADMISSION INTO THE ARMY.
Few Men Who Can Stand the Tests -
quIred by the Regulations Govern
ing Admissions to tie Ranks
Of Cncls Sam.
fCincinnasi EnquiU..1

A couple Of Cigarette smoking dudes wero
feeling each others muscle and discussing
their own good points, in the hearing of
third party, at the rooms last ThurDday
morning, and after enduring it Is long - hs
could, the latter paralyEed them with:
"Bet you the cigars neither Of you can
pass the physical examination which every
man in the United States army has to
undergo before he is enlisted in the ranka"
1Its go. deah boy, it's q GO But no sto-
gie,, please, as thou lowest me-gsnuins
Henry Clays"
"All right We will walk down to the 10
cruiting Office right now and settle the mat.
ter"
Capt Callinan, the recruiting officer at
this post, is a gentleman, and when the mat
ter was explained to him. he was perfectly
ready to put the dudes through their PAGES
Before beginning the examination, how
ever, he wanted it distinctly understood that
he would give his decision precisely as
though the men were genuine applicants,
without bias in either direction, and hoped
that whatever the result might b there
would be no hard feelings entertained
against him.
Certainly not, my dear captain: Ger
tainIy not We are under obligations to
ants, who was standing in the doorway,
where the captain eyed him quizzically for
q minute.
Il am glad to hear you say that" said tho
captain at last, ~because-now remember !
am treating you as would . bona fide ap-
plicant-becauss in your case 1t is useless for
the examination to proceed further. Your
name would be entered on my books fol.
lowed by the words, 'Rejscted Cause. un-
symmetrical legs."
The statement was q crusher, but there
was no appeal from it as the captain showed
by producing the laws OF the United States
governing admissions to the army, that
bow-lsgs are a bar against the enlistment Of
q would-be soldier The laws plainly state
the amount of curve admissible In prt-
Yates lower limbs, and the dudes tight
trousers showed that while he could not
hold barrel comfortably bet ween his knsss
when his feet were together, the space there
was altogether beyond the limit set by law.
After satisfactorily passing an examins-
ton as to the height, weight (which must
be 12U pounds the chest measurement mot
less than thirty-three inches at expiratton),
the second man was required to tell the
number Of spots on a three inch card hold
at a distance Of fifteen feet There were
four black spots on tine card, but hs calmly
stated that it was an ace.
SWELL, tell me how many are on this one.
and be held up a ten-spot This was de-
clared to be an ace also; but whom It was
held directly before his eyes hs plainly saw
what il really was The verdict In his cas-
was, of courss, rejected; defective vision,
"You must not be surprised that you did
| not pass the examination" said the captain
3Four men out of every five are troubled
with some physical ailment, whether they
know it or not Only short time ago
was compelled to reject q man for color
blindness, with which he was afflicted to q
very severe extent, although before he came
to me he had no idea Of his failing. That
man was a railroad engineer, and for all
| know to the contrary he is running an en-
| gine to-day; and yet he could not detect q
| red card from a black one at . distance OF
| ten feet. 1t is a mystery to me how be
| passed the examination required OF en-
| gineers
.Stif joints and defective vision are the
commonest causes Of rejection, and almost
invariably the victim has no idea OF ht,
failing until it is proved here by actual test
| The physical standard for admission to the
army is only high enough to insure the gov
ernment in getting sound men: but it d fal
higher than obtains among tho masses o
of men in Cincinnati to-day. Do not TAKE
my word for it. but look at the books Here
| is a record of all applicants, together will
the reflections and acceptances."
At cursory glance the reflections seemed
| to outnumbcr the Others four to one, soms
Of the causes being given below just As they
were copied from the captains book:
aT- o~s< ~ ttvye
teeth; weak ankles: under weight; unsy m
| metrical legs; color blindness; poor phys
iaue; impaired vision: defective feet; de
fective hearing; stiff joints, and so on fol
| column after column, proving. conclus
iyel,, that unsound mon are the rule
| rather than the exception
aIn community which can be considered
thoroughly healthy" the captain went on
| three-fourths OF the men should be able L
stand the tests required by our laws. Me-
country born ami bred arc generally
| healthy, while city men are SCUM
in about the proportion of one t.
four or five. i sometimes tell my
self that We will presently have NJ
| men in our cities and am especially gloom,
when l have examined a long list Of appli
cants and only found two or three good mel
among them The reason for this dscadenc
is on the surface. 1t Is not necessary t
study the subject very deeply in order Z
know that no man can retain his healtl
without more or less exercise for all hi
muscles le-bodied men who have spen
the day seated at their desks pass to an
from their homes seated il street-cars Il
England and on tho Continent men pla
outdoor games whom their work is done Il
America we pay half a dollar to watch GU
favorite baseball club play for us Com
ment Is unnece ssary."