The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-04-29
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director.
Washington, D. C
ANALYzING THE MELTING POT.

uStSIiiiiHS eAdctly now lnuCu -ulSAi-
gence he has. These tests will be
made by the Section of Psychology of
the Army Medical corps, of which
Maj. Robert M. Yerkes is the head.
This is the latest phase of a system
of analyzing the manhood of America
which has grown lp as a sort of by
process of our soldier factory. Amer
lea has been widely described as a
melting pot. 1t has been, moreover, a
melting pot of which the contents were
only vaguely known, and the result of
the melting and mixing process has
been a subject for speculation. Now,
for a time, the flow of material into
the melting pot has been checked by
the stoppage of immigration, ana
American scientists are making use OF
the opportunity to find out just what
the human material of this nation is,
and what it is becoming
The draft law and the call for vol
unteerS have placed at the disposal of
the American government an almost
ideal sample of the male part of the
population. The men who constitute
this sample are drawn from every oc-
cupat1on, from every section of the
country. and are of every race that is
represented in America. All of this
data concerning each individual are
contained in the QUESTIONABLE which
he fills out
All of these men have, of course,
peen put through a physical examin-
alton, the results of which have al
ready been made known to some ex-
tent. 1t shows what percentage of the
men in America of military age are
physically fit, and what diseases and
physical deficiencies affect the unfit
In addition to this physical test, the
committee on anthropology of the ma
tional research council, under the
leadership of DR.. Ales Hrdlicka of the
national museum is making an an
thropolog1Ca1 study of representative
men in the training camps This study
consists of measurements of the men,
notation of the color of their hair and
eyes, and all of their other physical
characteristics. The anthropoIogists
will study typical specimens of the
southerner and the northerner, the
farmer and the city dweller, the
mountaineer and the lowlander in ex-
actly the same way that a zoologist
would study a new kind of wild ami
NAL This study is made primarily
for the scientific value of the data
which will be obtained but will also
have its military value especially as
showing how Americans compare ply
sically with their enemies.
Now comes this third test by which
every man in the army will be given
an Intelligence rating. This test con-
sists in asking the subject certain
questions causing him to do certain
simple things which have been found
by experiment to afford a reliable in
dex to his mental power and devel-
opment, including both his intellectual
power and his mechanical aptitude.
The men are put thru the tests rapidly
and in groups. 1t is not claimed that
these tests are infallible. There may
be some men to whom they will not
do justice But they have already
been applied to 10000 men and 5000
officers, and checks have been applied
which show that the ratings are ac-
curate in large percentage of cases.
Thus the psychological tests of the
men agree strikingly with the opinions
which their officers had formed con-
corning them, and the tests of officers
correlate well with their ranks and
ratings.
The military value of this system
of intelligence tests is adequately H.
Illustrated by the fact that they show
two per cent of the drafted men, as
they appear at the camps, to be so
Nseriously defective that they are either
menaces or nuisances in a military or
ganiZation. The advantages of dis
covering and eliminating these men as
soon as they reach the camps are
obvious.
The commanders in the various
training camps are coming to rely
upon the tests for a great deal be-
L..
With an intelligence rating for every
man in a company, the company Of
ficer is much better able to place and
use his recruits, while the intelligence
rating of officers is of the greatest
value in making assignments and
promotions.
This use of intelligence tests in de-
| termining the fitness and abilities of
soldiers is really just one more ap-
plication of business methods to war.
h.
these same methods for years, and
with excellent results.
In order to provide an adequate
force of trained men to make these
tests, a school of military psychology
has been established at the medical
| thorpe, Georgia. Fifty psychologists
are there to be given a two months
! course of training in the subjects
which they should know in order to
practice their specially under military
conditions They will be given regu-
lar military training, will be taught
military psychology, and trained in
applying the military intelligence
tests.
These psychological tests are APP
piled primarily as military measure,
as are the medical examinations. but
| like the anthropological studies OF the
Research council. they will be of the
greatest scientific value. After this
war it will be for the first time pos
! sible to answer, partly at least, the
question:: What is an American? All
sorts of qualities have been attributed
to Americans-inventi versa til
ity. enterprise. As a result of these
tests, and similar tests which arc be-
ing and have been made in European
countries, it will be possible after the
| war to make an actual comparison of
the average mental and physical de-
velopment and capacity of Americans
and Europeans. Light will be shed
upon many questions of the greatest
Importance. We will know which OF
the numerous races that are repre-
scented in America thrive best here
and which are dying out. We will
know whether New England or the
South or the Pacific Coast produces