davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27

Iured I'm nfths OF second The results
were tabulated and averaged, and they
tailed very well with practical results In
the telephone company after three months
had passed.
THE skeptlcal telephone company
saws Professor Munsterberg, had mixed
with the class a number OF women who
had been I'm their service for a long while
and had even been selected as teachers III
the telephone school | did not know In
figuring out the results. which OF the par
Elephants I'm the experiments these par
ticularly gifted outsiders were. II the
psychological experiments had brought
out the result that these individuals WHO
stood so high in the estimation OF the
telephone company ranked low In the
laboratory experiment, II would nave re-
Elected strongly on the reliability or the
laboratory method. The results showed
on the contrary, that these women VINO
had proved most able in practical service
stood at the top of our list. Correspond
inelv those who stood the lowest in our
PSYCHOLOGICAL rank list had, in the mean
time, been found unfit in pracucal ser
vice and had either left the company OF
their own accord or else had been ellmln-
ated."
Professor Munsterberg sees danger
in the very care with which these eH-
periments may be conducted. Those un-
accustomed to laboratory research may
fancy that such experiments may be car
ried out in a mere mechanical way
without careful study Of all the condl-
tons and accompanying circumstances
while the psychologists have 10 per-
form the actual labor" says professor
Miinsterberg, 1.-The representatives oil
practical life are much better able TO IN
dictate the points at which the psycho-
logical levers ought TO be applied. In the
last wear / have sought contact with
several hundred large concerns IN Amer
lea which belong to many different indus
trial realms. They had, OF course
noticed whether their men were indus''l-
Gus or lazy. honest or dishonest. skiiiui
or clumsy, peaceful or quarrelsome peo-
nile but [ had emphasized from the start
i'm all my letters that such points OF view
were not before my mind. The men'ai
qualities for which asked were the psy-
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27

at moment when their lives would be
in danger. The reds. Of course. are the
only ones in danger. for the blacks do
not cross the tracks.
In experimenting with a large number
of motormen Professor Mdnsterberg
found that the test OF the method lay In
the fact that the motormen agreed that
they passed through the experiment with
the feeling that they have on their cars
ION the other hand" he says. the re-
suits show a farreaching correspondence
between efficiency in the experiment and
efficiency in the actual service
Equally prolific If results are Professor
Munsterbergs experiments In the in
terest Of the telephone companies. our
plan" he says, was TO illustrate the
possibility of applying psychological ex-
periments to the selection OF fit appli-
cants i'm cases i'm which not one char
acteristic mental function stands out, but
in which large number of relatively in
dependent mental activities are I'm play
/ choose as an illustration OF such cases
the work OF the employees at the tele-
phone switchboard"
For the telephone girl fourteen sepa-
rate psychological processes are neces-
sary, says the learned professor, from
the moment when the speaker takes off
the receiver to the cutting off of the con-
nection-and this presupposes that the
girl understood the exchange and number
correctly. In view Of the large annual
losses to telephone companies because Of
their failure 10 pick girls who developed
into efficient operators, II is not TO be
wondered at that p large city telephone
company asked Professor Munsterberg
to examine how far the mental fitness OF
applicants for positions could be deter
mined beforehand. Professor Minister
berg says
After carefully observing the service
in the central Office for n while. came
TO the conviction that IL would not be APP
propriate to reproduce the activity al tire
switchboard in the experiment, but that
it would be more desirable to resolve that
whole function into its elements and to
undertake the experimental test OF a
whole series of elementary mental dis
positions
So Professor Munsterberg selected thir-
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27
A SPRINGTIME STORY.

Governor Sulzer was talking in Albany
about political move.
1T is a shrewd piece of retaliation" he
said. 1T reminds me of a lawyer who
wanted to borrow "A neighbor lawyers
Blackstone. But the neighbor lawyer
said
You are free to read the Blackstone
i'm my library. old man, but you can't take
it away. I've stopped lending books.
They fail so to come back.
well, few days later the lawyer who
wouldn't lend his books thought he'd Ike
TO water his lawn. Accordingly he asked
the other lawyer If he wouldn't lend him
his new hose. The other lawyer replied:
Sure. old fellow, sure But it's my
rule never to let this very valuable hose
be taken off my premises. You're per-
fectly welcome, though, to use 1t on my
own lawn here just as often as you like.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27
"BOSS" OF THE SENATE

but he Is where he wants to be. on Edu-
cation and Labor, of which he Is chair-
man: Finance, Agriculture and Forestry,
Library and Post Office and Post Roads.
He is not open to the accusation as a
member of the Committee on Committees
of having grabbed for himself large part
Of the good jobs. For his own part Senator
Smith wants to have hand In shaping
financial legislation and booming agrcult-
ural and vocational education. Otherwise
he is quite willing that his colleagues
should have the credit Of guiding the big
bills through the Senate. Ii Is not only
possible but probable that If they find
themselves I'm a hole they will go to him
for aid, which is precisely what he wants
them To do.
The new Senate is too new to afford a
basis for accurate prediction and the
times are uncertain. but majorities breed
leadership and sooner or later there VIII
he one man more or less conspicuous in
the group OF men around whom the activ-
tiles OF the Senate centre. This one man
is not made by rules nor Is he elected by
ballot. Like ministers and Uncle Joe"
Cannon, he leads until the majority re-
fuses to follow. and then his leadership
Is at an end.
The idea of Mr.. Bryan that the perfect
Senate is one with ninety-six leaders,
each equal in authority, each registering
automatically the sentiments of his con-
stituents, is highly fanciful. So long as
men are men there will be leaders and
followers which is the case at the pres
ent time.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27
kkT T is psychology, not soil or climate
that enables a man to raise n 1re

kIT is psychology, not soil or climate
that enables a man to raise five
II times as many potatoes as the
average in his own state.
This is a quotation from II. EhieIsoH
in Professor Hugo Munsterberg ne"
hook Psychology and Industrial Eth
cheney" published by the Houghton NIL
fir Company.
What applies to farming apples u
every form of labor II is mind that Is
the cause of success, for mind is man
And the man with the best nina wlns'
And This does not mean that man must
no "educated" in the academic sense 10
be successful.
Continuing in his quotation OF MI I'm
arson Professor Munsterberg says III
selecting human assistants such super
fciaIities as education, physical strens'" ILL.,
ever, antecedent morality are no' as I'M
portant as the inner attitudes, procilVi-
,ies character. which. after ALL deter
mine the man or woman.
Have you. Mr.. Toiler. "the inner az.
tributes. the proclivities. the charac'ei
that make you raise five times as many
potatoes. sell five times as many mouse
trans. or in any other way do hve ti"es
&C we'll or even twice as well, or as wei,
az your neighbor? II not, why not? head
professor Miinsterberg. He says
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27

Geological functions OF attention, men,
DRY. ideas imagination, feeling, volition,
suggestibility. ability to learn. ability to
discriminate. Judgment, space sense, Time
sense, and so on"
Some of the best experiments that have
come to Professor Munsterberg atten-
ton were performed by 5. f.. Thompson
i'm a bicycle ball factory, where ~ girls
were inspecting the balls Professor Mum
sterberg says: They had TO place row
of small. polished steel balls on the back
of the hand. and while they were rolled
over and over in the crease between TWO
Of the fingers placed together, they were
minutely examined i'm a strong light and
the defective balls were picked out with
the aid of a magnet held in the right
hand. The work required the closest at
tention and concentration. The girls
were working ten and half hours day.
Mr.. Thompson soon recognized that the
quality most needed. besides endurance
and industry. was a quick power OF per-
ception accompanied by quick responsive
action
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27
MISPLACED RELIANCE.

"socie+v relies instinctvely on the
hone that the natural wishes ana ih'oi
este will pusb every one to the place TOT
which his dispositlons. talents and pny-
chcphysical gifts prepare him. III rec"
ity this confidence is entirely uhiouhoeu
TO choose a crude lliustia'ioi' :"
boy NAV think with passion or the Voca-
ton OF a sailor, and yet may be entireiy
unft for q. because his mind lacks inc
ab,lt,v IN d,scriminate between red ana
green. He himself may never nave ui9
covered that he is color olind' pu' "n'"
he is ready TO turn to the sailor caiii"h
tnc examination of his color sensitive
ness which is demanded, may haNc
shown the disturbing mental dencieh0y'
Similar defects may exist In boy d
tention or memory. judgment or ieei,iie'
thought or imagination, sugges'ipii'S
or emotion, and they may remain 'u''
a. undiscovered as the defect OF coioi
blindness. which is characteristic OF
per cent of the male population.
"A further reason for the lac~ OIL
adaptation. and surely most impoi."i.
one. lies in the fact that the lho'Viou",
usually knows only the most external
conditions Of the vocations from whicn
he chooses. The most essential requ's''e
for truly perfect adaptation. namely d
real analysis Of the vocational dema''os
with reference to the desirable perso"''
qualities, is so far not in existence
What is 10 be done to guide the poy -,
girl into the right activity? In ans"eiihs
this question Professor Munsterpei o
speaks Of the growth OF the movement "
furnish to pupils leaving school sonne
guidance in their choice of VOCATION. :
was started in Boston by the late MI
Parsons. Professor Munsterberg says
when Mr. Parsons called together the boy
Of his neghborhood who were iea',"e
the elementary school at the emo VI ''s
year
HE wanted TO consider with then''
says Professor Munsterberg, whethe'
they had any reasonable plans for their
future. At the well-attended meeting u
became clear that the boys knew niue
concerning what they had to expect III
PRACTICAL life, and Parsons was able "
eve them, especially IN individual discus
s'nns. mrcn helpful Information fnes
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27

~ young women who. a short time pc
fore. had entered the telephone training
school. to which they are admitted be-
tween the ages Of seventeen and twenty
three years. Professor Mdnsterbere first
made some physical tests. such as tie
length Of fingers. the rapidity Of breath
ing. the rapidity OF pulse. the sharpness
OF vision and hearing and dlstinctness
Of pronunciation Then he made IN"
purely mental tests Ia memory. attention,
intelligence. eXactitude and rapidity. inc
memory examination consisted or "ritlhS
down at given signal certain numbers
up To twelve digits that had been verbally
given them. The experiments In at,en-
ton consisted OF crossing out the "a
i'm the page Of a newspaper.
The experiment In intelligence consisted
I'm the experlmenter reading twenty-forr
pairs OF words within the experience OF
the girls. that logically belong together.
Later the girls were obliged 20 set down
the missing term when the word that
belonged with il was given CIhis was
not a mere test in memory as II wouId
have been IL the words had no necessary
logical conrectionD Professor Minister
berg also conducted experiments I'm space
perception by requiring the division of the
long and the short edges of folio sheets
into halves by pencil mark. To meas
ure the rapidity OF movement 1t was de-
manded that every one make with PEN
ell on a sheet of paper zigzag movements
Of a particular size during the ten sec
onds from one signal TO another
In addition TO the aforementioned tests
all of which were class tests-Professor
Munsterberg mad every individual sort
forty-eight cards into four piles as quick
~ as possible. To test fltIless for reach
Ing the holes in the telephone switchboard
IL was required that the young women
try TO reach with the point of a pencil
three different points marked by light
cross on "A large sheet of paper lying on
a table. the arm moving in the rhythm
OF metronome.
The last individual test was an "asso-
citation test" In which Professor Nun
sterberg called six words. like book. ="
"house." rain" and asked the girls 10
say the first word that these words called
I'D I'm their mind. The time was meas
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27
IMPRESSION AND RESPONSE.

"He knew that the psychological lab
oratory has developed methods for
very exact measurement Of the time
needed to react an impression with the
quickest possible movement; IL is called
the reaction time. and is usually meas
ured i'm thousands OF "A second lie
therefore considered IL advisable TO
measure the reaction time of the girls
and To eliminate from service all those
that showed a relatively long time be-
tween the stimulus and the reaction.
This involved laying off many of the
most intelligent. hardest working and
most trustworthy girls Yet the effect
was the possibility of shortening the
hours and of reducing more and more
the number of workers. with the final
outcome that thirty-fve girls did the
work formerly done by 800, and that the
accuracy of the work at the higher speed
was two-thirds greater than at the for
mer slow speed. This allowed almost
doubling of the wages OF the girls, IN
spite of their shorter working day, and
at the same time a considerable reduc-
ton IN the cost of the work for the fac
tory"
In speaking further of the achievements
Of scientific management, Professor
Munsterberg says that ii is by no means
only the complicated procedures on high
level that are in question. The successes
are often the most surprising when the
technique is old and where it might have
been imagined that the experience OF
centuries would have secured through
mere common sense the most effective
performance He say:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27
WHERE ONLY LOOKS COUNT.

conversational brilliancy will make
man a general social favorite. OF woman.
however, this Is not true"
The speaker, Miss Ethel Barrymore. re-
sumed:
ITO the favor of women. who are more
spiritual than men, male Intelligence Is an
open sesame But intelligence. conversa-
tional excellence. will never admit wom-
an to mems favor.
I'm a word. men will never deem .
woman belle because Of the wasging oe
her tongue"
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27
EFFICIENCY AND THE MAsoNs.

THE best known case is perhaps that
of the masons, which one Of the leaders OF
the scientific management movement has
studied in all its details. The movements
of the builders and the tools which they
use were examined with scientific exacti-
tude and slowly reshaped under the point
of view of psychology and physiology.
The total result was that after the new
method thirty rnasons completed without
greater fatigue what. after the old meth
DDS il would have taken one hundred
masons to do, and that the total expense
for the building was reduced to less than
half. in spite Of the steady increase of
the wages OF the laborers."
THE students Of scientific management
stepped still lower I'm the scale OF eco
nomic activity" says Professor Munster
berg There is no more ordinary pro-
ductive function than shovelling. Yet in
great establishments the shoveling of
coal or of dirt may represent an econom-
ically very important factor 1t seems up
to the days Of scientific management no
one really looked carefully into the tech
nical conditions under which the greatest
possble economic effect might be reached.
Now the act of shovelling was approached
with the carefulness with which scholar
turns to any subtle process in the labora-
tory. The brilliant originator of the scien-
tifc management movement, who carried
out these Investigations In the great Beth
lehem Steel Works. where hundreds Of
laborers had to shovel heavy iron ore or
light ashes. found that the usual chance
methods involve an absurd economic
waste. The burden was sometimes so
heavy that rapid fatigue developed and
the movements became too slow. or the
lifted mass was so light that the larger
mart of the laborer's energies remained
unused.
IN either case the final result OF the
DAYS work must be anti-economic He
therefore tested with carefully graded ex-
perments what weight insured the most
favorable achievement by strong,
healthy workman. The aim was to find
the weight which would secure, with well
arranged pauses. the maximum product
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27
TO CUT DOWN TYPHOID

Wholly to nd O.L O, ,yo,o,s
fever 10 out q, ,hs svs.,,o, D.,
Nfs<thv..i. rf,s bofrs Q, h,s,h
proves ~. Gsrs.s',.n,s. IN ,.lg,,,
4 p-sv.sil,. efm0sn .r,n "A
eh.ck IN. .srejs sf,s. si.H. a.,
yiioo. IN 'ers. ~ ''T' '''''
The ssns Of rervrr.ne. q, ,vpho,s
- eo'nmon IN tn. ,prias frs a'.,,ne,
.nosss =, ~ ssr e.'oS.rf,.on ),
Z, Toa,,,zSsis. aE$ssS""'"
<, asn,p.r = ssj,s. rlon N , %. sl..
5sE1s. ,..s - ,S' from . - T no,
90 In N. stiy s.,.ru.. to . tn.
~ Fps n I'0, fna '..u,n ini.
~. lace nus, n. m 10. for N,
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27

Ws-uu
imposs'sss to get Isasrins ss1fs;
service usdg ths&a uonditSHN oxa,
ou, rorsns 4 a. ..ssI IA u.
invs6snsst. Or to Aops fer epsssp,cs
i've devsscpn.pt 10 tn. ufAsportf
So r. %< S'"'' .% re- XIV y
periods .slf thos. Of stree
bu, ne 4,u,. Q, is. feuon 10 tn,
G0 ehfhse inSutues Of the Les
ftre evidenced In its secs>a 10
r.sfrd The development Of ths sk,.
md pound ooadiyOss is p. t3ss-
S:''.s 2, ' =. 1870, ,.arts, 3.
thy r. pu,uos ,A,s d.c.lop ra,o
'f'Uiory form
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27
A@~z

nsfe - 0ovsrp1 IN oss y.&
hs for consrsss IN hc<e.,
lt.oush " ystrs ella 4, he out.
orse effbe S(r. he insisted on solnr
% On. frOns o th. ehtpfn II 4
SsAfehosetu regiment But In
uee'osy he would no, ~. <srs.s
.i'h Nc esiiasuIshsd ssihason- Sci.
don J IL the doctrine Of tn. blood
ftous.ssnt" been ',sr,ee With nor.
.nphta' ,hfn D. the f. vii lno
,s,yn..n' Of 0n~i}' U,fsn
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27
Professor Hugo Munsterberg Tells Of Labora-
tory Analyses Of Mental and Physical
Characteristics Designed to Aid the
Subjects in Choice of Employment.

knew too little of the characteristic feat
ures of the vocations to which they
wanted to devote themselves, and they
had given hardly any attention 10 the
question whether they had the necessary
qualifications for the special work. From
this germ grew a little office which was
opened i'm 1905, in which all Boston boys
and girls at the time they left school
were to receive individual suggestions
with reference to the most reasonable
and best adjusted selection OF calling.
1T is well known how this Boston
bureau has stimulated a number OF Amer
beginnings. The pedagogical circles have
been especially aroused by the movement.
Municipal and philanthropic boards have
at least approached this group of prob
lens, two important conferences for voca-
tional guidance have met in New YORK,
and at various places the question has
been discussed whether or not voca-
tional counsellor might be attached to the
schools in a position similar to that Of
the school physician. The chief progress
has been made in the direction OF col
lecting reliable data with reference to the
economic and hygienic conditions OF the
various vocations, the demand and sup
ply and the scale Of wages.
The problem, accordingly, has been
handed over from the vocational coun-
sellers to the experimental psychologists.
and IT Is certainly in the spirit OF the
modern tendency toward applied psy-
chology that the psychological labora-
tories undertake the investigation ana
withdraw it from the dilettantic discus
sion OF amateur psychologists or the mere
impressionism Of the school teachers
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27
STREET RAILWAY EXPERIMENT.

AS an instance OF how Professor
Munsterberg proceeds in his work In the
psychological laboratory in Harvard Uni
versity, let us cite his experiments in the
interest of street railways He says the
problem of securing fit motormen was
brought TO his attention from without.
He informs us that the indemniues I'M
posed by courts on some companies
amount to as much as Is per cent OF the
gross earnings and that some companies
have as many as fifty thousand accidents
I'm the course of year. SO the problem
of securing fit motormen, he thought was
worthy Of his attention. He saw at once
that the reason for the accidents was
not due to any one defect in vision, rapid
ity of action fatigue, etc, but to "a par
ticular complicated act OF attention by
which the manifoldness of objects. the
pedestrians. the carriages and the auto
mobiles are continuously observed with
reference to their rapidly and direction
in the rapidly changing panorama OF
events"
In order 10 test the men from this view
noint he decided in favor OF piece OF
apparatus which he designed himself, ana
which may be described as follows: the
street is represented by card, through
the middle of which extend two parallel
lines. representing car tracks, and be-
tween which are squares lettered A TO II.
Along either side Of the tracks are
squares of similar size extending -FOUR
units TO right and left. In the various
squares are red and black numbers. l, 2 3
representing, respectively, pedestrians.
horses and automobiles. The reds move
crosswise and the blacks parallel TO the
tracks The Is move one step that is,
from one unit to another). the 2s two
,,,,,s and the 81 three units. In rotary
apparatus the squares between lhe .raens
pass before the eyes OF the no'orihan'
and he is supposed to call out the num-
hers OF those that would reach the track
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-27
INFESTED hcurEcruRr

w. ciui'erlnF t-s.r Rae lines,
.uJ'kins ,1.r. e-e,Gion. oi,s,fr.
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sg.n's f,sr cceup/tioa' som. a
700. ~, .'l lcH: 40
n, ~indo~ 'ch.fnss fos their di.p/y.
r., ~ 10, n/s'as s't1v ia'S,
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we som, h1'ifints osssrte " ~
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