The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1917-03-22


you, but with two fingers gone Uncle
Sam does not want you. Lacking
great toe, or any two toes on the
same foot, you will be rejected.
In these days nobody wants to en-
ploy a man who drink. AS drinking
man lacks endurance, has small re-
sistance to disease and is unreliable
in emergencies. He does not make
a good soldier and is not wanted by
Uncle Sam. Special pains are TAX
en-, through rigid examinations, to
exclude recruits with a weakness for
alcohol.
For one test, the man is made to
stand with his feet close together, his
arms extended horizontally, his fin
gers apart and his eyes shut. Then
he is asked to stick out his tongue.
If his tongue and outstretched fingers
show a tremor 1t suggests an alco-
holic habit. True, the tremor may
be due to some nervous disorder at
tribuable to another cause; but, If so,
the applicant is excluded any way,
because sufferers from nervous COM
plants are not desirable soldiers.
Can you breathe freely through
your nose with your mouth tight shut?
If not, you will not be accepted as a
recruit. Mouth breathers" (as doc
tors call them) are usually weak
lings; at best. it is bad sign. The
recruiting officer is sure incidentally
to ask you to pucker your mouth in
whistling. Doubtless you can do
so without any trouble; but il you
couldn't there would be suspicion OF
facial paralysis.
| He will examine your neck for signs
of goiter-a trouble much more com
mon than most people imagine. A
/ small lump there does not usually ex-
cite persons very serious attention
| though it may grow bigger. Bun
ions or corns, fiat feet or hammer
toes" will shut you out of the army,
| If bad They interfere with march
ing, and, above all things, soldier
must be q good walker. Corns on
the soles of the feet are particularly
Objectionable. So likewise are in
growing toe nails.
In the ideal recruit, the various
parts of the body are we'll proportion
ed. the head symmetrical. the chest
full and we'll formed, the abdomen
lank, and the limbs shapeiy, with well
developed muscles. The carriage
should be erect and sprightly. the
manner cheerful and alert, and the
expression of the face indicative OF
mental and physical health and vigor
Good Character Is Essential.
! One happy result of the elaborate
system of examination pursued under
our army regulations is the practical
| ly total exclusion of the types rep
resented by the vagabond and the
criminal. Every intending recruit is
required to present evidence Of good
character and clean record. He
must be all right morally, as well as
physically.
/ Furthermore, he must be at least
fairly bright mentally. No mental
defective or even stupid young mar
will be accepted as a volunteer. In
cidentally to the physical eXamina-
ton, the recruiting officer takes pains
to Judge the mental capacity of the
applicant, by his answers to ques-
tons, his facial expression and his
general alertness.
! AS for the physical examination
lit extends much farther than the
above rather sketchy description
would indicate. The man who hat
charge of the recruiting business is O
line officer and cannot go beyond q
mere surface inspection. If he finds
no serious fault with the recruit the
latter is handed over to an army sur
geon. who subjects him to more in
innate inquiry.
His heart, lungs and abdominal or
to a dark room, where his nasal pass
ages, the back part of his mouth ant
his ear drums are inspected with
electric bulbs, mirrors and various in
genious apparatus. X-ray pictures
may be made to show up one part Oh
another of his inside works, to make
sure that there is no defect. His
tonsils are given the once over" and
brief hunt is undertaken for posi-
BILE adenoids. He is required to an
swer a number of notwithstanding
others, whether he has ever. had
fits"
| Married Men Not Wanted.
II you are married man, you viii
not easily find acceptance as a re-
cruit. Bachelors, for more than one
obvious reason, are preferred; and in
asmuch as there are plenty of them
why take the benedict away from his
wife and his job? The higher the
social class of the volunteer the bet
ter, other things being equal. Snob-
berry has nothing to do with the pref
erence. The offspring of well to dc
parents, as a rule, is better educated
and more intelligent than the youth
brought up in poverty. Furthermore
having been better fed. he is bigger
and stronger and healthier. He