Evening star., 1921-07-31

~ view with that greatest of all
living Americans. Thomas A.
Edison. makes this seem a possibility.
He said to me;
"Atrophy Of perception affiicts Amer
ica today. The eye sees. but no mes
sage goes from it to the brain. De-
spite unquestioned vision of the fact.
there Is no sensing of 1t by the in
dividual before whom it is placed. 1t
is seen physically. but not mentally"
These are startling words for proud
from the lips of the most celebrated
and notably observant OF US all. They
, were spoken to m yesterday In the
study of his famous LAT toratory at
o, ange. n. J., as part Of the great
inventors first personal explanation
Of Just what the mucn discussed lists
of questions which he Recently has
been requiring applicants for execu-
tive jobs to answer are and what ne
intends them to accomplish.
! He is trying through this simple
method to find for his gigantic busi-
ness helpers whose perception Is not
atrophied-and such men are scarce
in these days, he says. 1t is very diff
ficult indeed to And the men. Many
fail to pass his tests. But Edison is
getting some. And those who are not
fioored by the very simple quizzes
actually make good In his employ. In
other words, his plan. which has been
thoughtfully criticised by some. jeerd
at by others. praised by very few. is
success-like many plans which
have been created and applied by this
great American.
my question was: rs the plan
A'A really effective?'
"Unqualifiedly. I say" he answered
although much fault has been found
with it by those who do not under
stand it. I always welcome criticism
1t helps me think and often shows me
where 1 have been wrong. In this in
stance it has shown me where 1 have
been absolutely right.
I'VE still hear q good deal about
the missionaries which We request
those applying for executive and other
high-class jobs with us to answer
Some condemn. and a very few applaud.
We know, now, that the plan Is right
1.-The quest:onnaire idea grew o"t of
my desire for a way other than sheer,
bullhead luck. of finding good men
men in our jobs mean success for
ue: incompetent men in them would
mean failure. Before 1 worked out
the plan I had to decide on the one
quality most important to us. Study
ing over this. l was forced to the
decision that the best of qualifica-
tions is a fine memory.
Every Intelligent man reads
much; words intended to convey
information pass before his eyes,
even II he does not study as the col
lege student is supposed to study.
But information which merely, passes
before a mans eyes does not help
pressed upon his memory anu stored
there. where he not only can but
automatically will get it at q
seconds notice when it is required.
'T had known this for many years.
But had had a hard time finding the
men with such memories because there
except by putting them at work Re-
fiection upon this brought the idea Of
the questionnaires and l drew them up,
believing they would select for me from
among the ruck Of applicants the pos
SCISSORS of comprehending and retentfve
minds.
'The sub1ect-matter Of the questions
regarded and regard as unimportant;
they were designed not to test informa-
ton, but the ability to retain it. knew
that every college man-and these ex-
aminations were given to none but coll
lege men-had been required to learn
the answers to every question on the
list. The point was: Had his mind pre-
served and kept available for instant
use the facts which had passed into It?
81 never before was 30 shocked and
surprised a. was by the results. They
proved to me that something 10 radi-
cally wrong In the way We In the