Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-05-12
CAN You ANSWER THEMi

Park" several days ago submitted loV
questions to n group of college grad
uates who sought employment in his
plants. According TO Mr.. Edison. the
majority of them proved themselves
To be inefficient by their answers. The
wizard" then made some testy re-
marks about tho incfIiciency of the sv-
erage college man In general.
MIR. Edison did not divuige his list
Of questions to the public. but it was
presumed that IL was somewhat similar
10 the efficiency tests which have been
much in vogue in the past two years.
According TO the Binet-Smon test. and
similar quizzcs. an examiner may de-
termine after little inquiry whether
n man has matuted mentality or that
OF a child. whether he sleeps in pa
| iamas or the old night shirt. and why
nc should he a corn doctor instead Of
n doctor OF medicine.
The New York World found one Of
the inefficient college graduates" who
had failed TO pass Mr.. Edisons test,
and persuaded the yXlng man to Ill
vulec some Of tho Nuestlons which he
was asked. Here are 20 out Of the I6o
( How many can You answer
Where DO we get shcllac from?
What n monsoon
Where do we get prunes?
Where do wc get domestic sar-
dimes?
Where do we import cork from?
or what kind of wood are axe
handles made?
who wrote Home Sweet Home"
Where arc Coudors to he found2
WHO was Cleopatra?
WI pat voltage is used in street
carst
| What Is felt?
What States produce phosphate?
why is cast iron called pig iron"
Where is Spitzbergen2
Who was III, nCis Marion?
who invented logarithms7
What ingredients are in the best
white paint2
where do We get bcnzol from?
How is window glass made?
Bound tho state Of West Virginia.
I;Ns safe to presume that the remain
ing 14o questions were ot a sImila'
charactsr.
NoyF it is interesting to know whcr'
cork comes from. the voltage used il
zttcct CARS. how window glass is made
aria Whit states bound West Virginia
But we believe that the average EN-
ploycr would have more respect for tn
man who could 20 into West Virgins
tackle street car company president
persuade him 10 buy more windoy
glass for his cars. and possibly induc
him to put cork fioorings in them thai
he would for a man who just knew tn
answers. and nothing more. There
: where the real educated man--from tn
business standpoint--would shine.
Far lie it from Us y criticize Nj
Edison's manner OF work. II is evi
dcutly the correct one for him. bccaus
he has made a success OF his own jol
But the point we wish to make is, tina
a method which is successful for on
employer may he very unsuccessful 70
another. We have come TO the poir
where we doubt the efficacy Of man
OF these so-called efficiency system
which promise to revolutonize III
world over night.
Wen venture that Charley Schval
Warren G.. Harding. Booth Tarkingto
and General Pershing combined coul
not answer correctly those 20 question
listed above, much less the other IA
Yet one is a big leader of big busines
another the President of the Unite
states, the third one a novelist
note. and the fourth one the late con
nander OF the A. f. +. Each one h
reached the pinnacle in his chosen fel
But according TO Mr.. Edison. they al
woefully inefficient unless they kno
where we get benzol. where the domest
sardines are caught. the home
prunes, and can name the States whiC
produce phosphate.