New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-03-25
GIRLS MORTALITY
STANDARDSOUGHT
DR.. WeidenSaIl and Com
missioner Davis Examine
100 Women Workers.
REPORT TO BE MADE
IN SIX WEEKS
Examiners Expect Practical Re-
suits from Tests I'm Inter.
cSt Of Science"


ITO get the standard or normality
among respectable working girls" 100
employees o. Childs's restaurants. one
large New York store. one hotel and
two factories have undergone extern
siye psychological examinations in the
ms. few weeks
~ Jean Wcidensall. Of the Bureau
90 Socia. Hygiene. Rockefeller Foun-
da.ion Institution. and Or. Katharine
3. Davis, chairman Of the Board of
Parole. have been conducting the tests
in the interests OF science and OF
humanity" es the latter put IL last
night The results will probably be
given out in six weeks, when Dr.
Weidensall has completed her reports.
Learning o. the tests. Investigators
Of the International Ladies Garment
Workers Union and the Women's
Trade Union League jumped to the
conclusion that they were being taken
10 determine the connection between
mental development and social evils
and Indignantly declared that the girls
had been tricked. This is an ontiraly
mistaken conception Of the examina-
tions, DR.. Davis said last night at her
home, i4b East Thirty-Afth Street
No Medium Between Extremes.
1--WE choose girls whom we know TO
be entirely respectable, those who are
making good in the working world
through thsir own efforts" she contin-
ued. "The tests were a compliment TO
them, not the reverse. In fact. similar
examinations are given college stu
dents in their psychology work. But
the difficulty in tho past has been that
there wac no medium between the tests
given 10 university men and women
and The Binet tests for feeble-minded
children"
Neither Of these were OF great valus
when used with the girls and women
OF Bedford Reformstory. One was far
TOO hard and the other much too easy
for the average girl. As there was
nothing TO meet the exigencies OF the
case Dir. Weidensall and DR.. Davis set
out 20 make tests that would.
I'VE chose the girls who work in
restaurants, stores, hotels and fscto-
ries, because they are OF about the
same social stratum and have had
about the same education as the aver
/ age girl in Bedford ReformGtory," e1-
planned the parole commissioner. re
is totally unfair 20 compare those
whose environment and opportunities
| have been entirely different
Girls working in stores stood highest
in the psychological examinations given
and chamberma.ds lowest. Childs's
restaurant employees made an excellent
showing, DR.. Davis said. Some Of the
tests lasted for three hours and were
given twice daily, IN the morning and
afternoon. The examinations were
meant 20 try native ability. power OF
concentration. memory, application,
observation and quickness Of those
taking them.
"They were not easy tes's, and no one
Of them b. itself proved the subjects
feeb.e-i indedness or mental deficiency.
| viii demonstrate that 20 YOU she
added. her eyes twinkl.ng. you sea
what | have written here-l23s6SI."
Then she covered the numbers with her
hand. Now what was III" she de-
msnded
why, l2369s7." replied the reporter.
hunking the test
Some Of them were much more
difficult than that" Dr.. Davis said.
"ln some instances as many as twelve
numerals were written IN a row, and
repeated instantly By the girls. In
another test the empioye was gwen
copy Of numbers, each with different
kind of diagram around IT, After
copying these for two pages, she was
told that after the third page she
would be compelled 20 trust 70 mem
DRY. That page was. always done
great deal more slowly than the other
two. With stop watches We put down
the time taken in doing the third page
and the fourth, whore the girl trusted
70 memory. The first two pages tested
her caretulness and neatne5s, the third
her application on the other two, and
the fourth her memory and native
ability. Naturally the tests reveal
higher average among the working
girls than among tho inmates OF BED
ford Reformatory."
az have just completed the wor e.
sad DR.. Weidonsall last night az her
home. in the National Arts Club. y
am row preparing ny report. which
expect 20 have completed IN six
weeks Before II Is completed I have
nothing 90 say
The tests were made with no girl
who was rot entirely willing for them.
In the case OF the Mattresses in the
Childs' restaurants. the girls were paid
not only for their tine, but for tips
tia. they might logically have eH-
pected % receive, had they been at
their Usual task