The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-07-07
"PERFECT MAN" is
FOUND BY u. S. ARMY
One Hundred Thousand Measurements
to Secure a Uniform to
Fit.

The army has found the perfect man
Il all came about because of the poor
fitting uniform with which Uncle Sam
had to equip his army. The uniforms
have been made to order on Anticipated
/ patterns, held to by the war depart
mept from time immemorial. Try as
they could, army officers couldn't mt
the recruits. Every now and then, by
accident, uniform would aft like the
paper on the WALL" but in the majority
of cases the soldier found himself
| wrapped in swaddling clothes instead
of wearing snug fitting military garb.
| just before the war the army took
measurements of 1000 men. From the
average, the patterns were made by
which uniforms were ordered. But the
result was the same. The clothes would
not At
From now on they probably will. DR..
G. B. Davenport of the Carnegie lnsti-
tuition of Washington, and major in
the surgeon-g generals department Of the
army, has solved the problem.
! Measurements of 100000 men of mil
/ itary age, tn number being made up
from every state and the District of
Columbia, were taken during the war.
The results have Just been obtained.
The measurements show that while a
man in Washington has an average
chest measurement Of from SO to 80
eentimeters, or 1885 to 34.0l inches, his
brother from the Golden West pos
sesses chest which measures from "a
- saa4a 70 haG
in circumference.
Washington, Alabama. Montana, H.
linois, Maine and Oklahoma men have
chests which measure approximately
| the same. as an average. Arizona Is
a land of giants, for the men there
have larger chests than those of any
other state, measuring as an average
"a to 81 centimeters. California, Colo
RADIO and Texas men show the same
measurements, averaging 30 to 90 cen
timeters. To reduce centimeters to
inches, multiply by 1887
The statistical branch of the general
staff has taken the figures under con
sideration. and within short time will
be able TO announce the complete
measurements for the perfect man"
of military age in the United States
this perfect man being the one whose
measurements coincide with the aver
age.
This is the first time any such tabu-
lation has been undertaken in the
United States, and the medical profes-
sion probably will be interested in the
results, as many new facts sre expect
ed 20 be developed when the final fig
ures are obtained.
The quartermaster.g generals depart
ment already has begun practical APP
plieation of the results. A number of
mannikins are under construction, or
viii be within few weeks, and from
them an entirely new set OF patterns
for the army uniform will be made.
Uncle Sam will, within year, have his
soldiers well equipped with perfect
fitting uniforms, according to the pre-
diction OF officers of the general staff.
Colored men, taken as whole, pos
sess chests which are slightly smaller
than those of white men, according 10
the statistics, and from this the sur
geon generals department has arrived
at which Is supposed to he an expla-
nation of the prevalence Of tuberculosis
among members of the colored race,
compared with the prevalence of the
disease among the whites.
The measurements were taken in the
following manner: From each state
and the District of Columbia a group
of men were selected and measured
these measurements ranging from a
group which had the smallest proper
tions TO group which had the largest.
There were % "subgroups" taken in
each state group. The averages quoted
above were taken from the sub.