New-York tribune., 1918-01-21
Gorgas Reports 2 Per Cent
of Drafted Men Lack
Brains
Intelligence to Guide
All Army Ratings
Psychological Examination
to Govern Selection Of
Officers
Staff Corresp pondcncc |

WASHINGTON. Jan. G0.-Every ofii-
Ger, all candidates in officers training
camps and all enlisted and drafted men
of the American army are to undergo
psychological examination to determine
their fitness for service. Surgeon Cen
eral Gorgas Of tic army medical corps
announced to-day.
The decision to inquire into the
mental and nervous characteristics of
all officers and men of the American
armies grew out of the results of
psychological examinations held in four
divisional camps where the method was
tried These tests developed
(a) That approximately per cent Of
the drafted men, as they appear in
camp, arc so seriously defective in
mental development that they are
either menaccs or nuisanccs in military
organizations.
(b) That the intelligence ratings of
their men supplied to company com
manders greatly assist the latter in
properly placing and effectively using
men.
(c) That the examining of officers
will assist greatly in selection for as
signment. promotion or retirement
Major Robert NJ. Ycrkes, in charge of
the section Of psychology of the sur
Geon generals office, whose recommcn-
dation resulted in the War Departments
decision TO inspect the mental capaci-
ties Of all men in National Guard and
National Army camps and in the regu-
lar army, outlines the value Of the tests
IN the following statement:
"The value Of psychological cxamin
lrg, as an aid in the selection of ma
terial for officers, is clearly indicated:
"a BY the correlation of psyche
logical measurements with officers rat
ings. (This is approximately 10 per
cent?
"(b) BY the ranking of officers in
different arms of the service.
"(c) BY the substantial agreement
between psychological ratings of sol
diers and the opinions of their com
pany commanders concerning them.
decision concerning the future of
this work should doubtless depend
upon the military Importance Of deal
irg promptly and properly with the
mentally inferior, on the one hand, and
the mentally superior on the other. 1t
is believed, and, therefore, the recon-
mendation that the general use of
sound, scientific procedure Of psyche
logical examining will greatly lessen
military costs through the prompt
elimination of men who are not worth
the labor of training, and tho i'm
mediate reference to service organiza-
tions Of those who respond very ur-
satisfactorily to military training; that
it will substantially increase the ci1ic-
ioncy of military organization and sub
soquently of operation through the Sc
lection and the proper placement or
men of superior intellectual ability
"Thc shortening Of the war by
single day woulL effect a saving great
er than the cost of conducting psyche
logical examination for millions Of men.
those of us who are chiefly responsible
for this new work have wholly con-
WINGED ourselves that psychology has
achieved a position which viii enable
it to substantially help to win the war
and to shorten the necessary period Of
conflict"
The work outlined will require four
commits ssioned officers and twenty en-
listed men per division IN order to
examine 400 men a day. The total es-
timatod personnel for conducting the
examinations ir the thirty-onc divi-
sional training camps and for special
staff III the surgeon generals office Is
twenty seven ma ors, fftyon captains
and fifty-four first licutcnants of the
sanitary corps, National Army, and
siXtytwo sergeants, siXty-two cor
porals and go enlisted men. Special
buildings and equipment to cost $lo.-
GOO to S12 600 per camp have been au-
thorized for 'hc work.
A school nf n, ,iiit arr OS,ch oInufy ,,.ill
he established al the medical officers
training camp at Fort oglethorpo, Ga.
where about fifty psychologists will
be entered monthly for u minimum OF
two months training in the subjects
which they should know for the prac-
tice of their speciality under military
conditions. On the staff of the com
mandant Of the Medical Officers train
irg camp viii be "A senior instructor
in psychology. detailed to the work by
the surgeon gene raj on recommended
ton of Major Ncrkes, head OF the sec
tiou Of psychology.
General military and physical in
struction will be given and in addition
such instruction. IN military psychology
as the organization and administration
OF psychological examining, the practice
OF group and individual cXamjning.
types OF mental incompctents. mallnT-
crlng and its detection ana other suh-
Jects.