The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-12
UNCLE SANS RIGID TESTS.
8IGH PHYsTCIL sTlRDARD IN THB
ARMY AND NATT.

Dlmculttes OF En1lutinG In tho Away nu0
~Navy-TrieEs Rcsorted To by Oid-Ttusru.
WASHINGTON, June 1.-THE man who IL
passed by q United States Army or Navy sur
Geon, whether no Is an officer or an enlisted
man. 10 justified in believing himself to be abb
solutely sound physically. 1t is maintained by
men who ought to know that never before was
there got together. in any country. 80 large .
body OF completely sound men as that formed
~ tho regular and volunteer forces Of the Amori-
can Army and Navy at the present time. Dur
ing the progress OF the civil war, even In its
hrst stages. whom the army was choosing its
men, the soldiers assembled under the flag did
not, as q whole. oven Approximate the physical
perfection exhibited by all the mon now serving
the United States on land and sea. Thcn any
man who had tho requisite number OF inches
could got into either service. The DOCTORS OK
animation was cursory and superficial. Whom
mon began to be called for by tens of thousands
che limitations as to stature were Topped OF and
tho examining surgeons simply sized up tho
men with thoir clothes on to determine II they
possessed q fair apparent degree of hardness.
Later, when men were summoned by scores of
thousands and the drafting process was begun,
the mon wero not examined at all, with the ro-
suit that many Thousands Of queer physical
specimens woro packing musketS toward the
close OF the war, while many thousands moro,
incapable Of enduring tho sufferinRs and hard
ships incident to the service, wero mustered out
by disease and death before the peace.
As 1t was In this country whom the civil war
was raging, 20 It 10 at the present day in tho
countries OF Europe that maintain great stand
ing armies. There are a few crack corps, tho
ohicers and mon of which are perfect from q
physical standpoint, and these corps are re-
cruitod from tho best of tho conscripts. But
the conscript system renders 1t out Of the ques-
tion for the army doctors to employ zeal and
strictness in the exami ration Of mon who arc
required by law to serve their Government in
uniform for a set period, whether they want to
or not. The consequence Is that these great
standing armies arc composed mainly Of troops
that arc only moderately fair, considered physi-
cally. II the examining surgeons were to pay
any attention to tho statements Of the con-
scripts as other physical condition there would
be no big standing armies, for many young
Fronohmen or Germans, as their time for army
service draws niFh, oevlse sonomes toi present.
nhvs,coI cond,t,on and manv ~ rhsm have even
Herein IT"r IH Iies the he great r,H dISeronos b.t Tr~aa a sI stand.
ing army of ono of the European powers and
an emergency army Of the.Unitod States. Tho
AVERAGE European conscript exercises all his
ingenuity to the end of convincing the oxamin.
ing SURGEON that he is not nt for military duty,
while tho American would.be recruit, who
yvanfa f0 aarva hv hn0k nr Nrn0E lnaRa alaRn ~
he fears that Some minor physical imporfeotion
will catch the eye Of tho doctor and bar him out
of the service. In brief the average foreign
age American would.bo recruit is crazy to take
nm 7, IA a no,nt NJ difFarenoa that muat count
hugely in action in the matter of comparative
enthusiasm. What It counts for In the matter
OF tue general physical excellence OF troops was
lnoiceteo oy the remark recenty maoe oy q
nAsr ohioe, '. y oHi"; "o "epaftneh.:
iou~o'S nv ~ ~ t"t VI ~ MOI ~"
rendering enforced ssrv'oo IN inc French, Ger,
examination that everv one Of our volunteers
must pass"
All the soldiers, officers and mon, Of the pres
emit organization Of American volunteers have
Of applicants for enlistment in the regular
army Of the United States. Many Of them were
however. did not have any the better of the OK.
animation. for the volunteer surgeons, as q
ve:y hest men, have been quite as strict AZ, and
in many cases even %stricter than, the surgeons
selection has caused many a temporary heart.
break. The volunteer surgeons have picked the
rules Tor the examination Of applicants for en-
listment prepared by the medical DEPARTMENT
Sl sn0 for neS Granted SF that pbys %aS tn the %mer re
can volunteers are just as good as the troops of
the United States regular y y,.,G Thls liz i saying
LO
Into the regular army is in a position to pat
himself on the back and thank his prosecutors
physical makeup.
'3Tbe army and navy examinations are prac.
tically the same, neither surpassing the other
in point Of severity. neutrality-suspicious. the
of naval recruits, was contemplating q consid.
CRADLE relaxation in tho severity Of tho ex.
animation given to applicants, for 1t was found
thai the surgeons were turning down four out
Of every Ave men who presented themselve s
for enlistment. For fully twenty years. the
nrmy doctors have been rejecting three.out OF
five men applying for enlistment at recruiting
Offices. 1t Would be difficult to exaggerate the
number of Young Americans of apparently OK.
cellent physical b OF them, in.
deed. strapping giants-who have been in
formed for The hrst time by army or navy sur
Reons that there was something the matter with
their hearts. or their lungs, or their eyes, sufn.
Gent to disauRlify them for uniformed service,
The surprise with which most OF these men re-
caive sucb Information from the examining sur
Reons is patnotie.
Organic disease of the hearth a man who IL
raiected for this reason will exclaim. WHY. i
never knew before that / had a heart. / car