The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-04-20
Vocational Analysis

"Analysls" of some sort or other seems to be the slogan of civilization today. Character Analysis" "voea- tional analysis ''psycho analysis" and all sorts of other analysis" be- Ing tremendously to the fore at the present time.
 MT. and Mrs. A. W. Douglas of | Washington, who are notable visitors to Birmingham at present, are among the most interesting opponents Of vocational analysis" who have visit ed this community, MT. Douglas spe- cializing for the past few years in l Character Analysis and devoting his time to the research work along this line.
 There is hardly a large corpora ton today which does not go in for Vocational Analysis. having found that splendid results accrue from its l introduction into the personnel of their organizations" said Mir. Doug las yesterday in talking about his work, telling me at the same time of | his connection with vocational re- search at Washington; associated with Ethel Spalding Slater Dr. Arthur Frederick Shelton, and in addition, conducting a department in The | Business Philosopher" the well known magazine.
 "Only recently many of the larger and more successful corporations and institutions have begun to give care 1 ful consideration to that which ac- curate statistics show represents over so per cent of invested capital in in dustry. That 80 per cent is the labor or man-power element" said MT. l Douglas.
 Until recently corporations spent thousands and millions of dollars in l finding new processes and construct ing finer machinery and did not spend anything in developing the men they employed. Now the more progress sive organizations have come into the realization of the basic importance of human element. These institutions, | although affected to some extent by prevalent conditions, are today mak- | ing rapid progress and are also mak- ing money.
 'It Is time for all business and pro- l fessional men to awaken to the fact that there are some individuals who can do a certain kind of work better than anything else. They cannot only do the thing better but they will also be happy and contented in their work"
 Just what is Character Analysis and when and where did it originator 1 asked curiously, to which MT. Doug las replied:
 Character analysis Is nothing more than classified facts that can be ap- piled to any human being. It has taken many years of research and patient investigation to formulate the science by which the average indi- vidual can learn to analyze character at sight. Many are of the opinion that they can master the art of char acter analysis in series of six or a dozen lessons. It is absurd to even think that this Is possible. The indi- Yidual can begin to classify Indivi- duals and recognize certain types but when the amateur attempts to make complete analysis there are many things that enter into the composite picture that are not easily detected by an untrained eye. Just the shape of the jaw, the width of the head, or the coloring will not reveal the ab- solute trend of the individuals in- clinations. There are many people that do not have the faculties neces- sary to be successful analysts, how ever patient study and an open un- prejudiced mind will enable everyone to have a better understanding of their fellow man through the appli- cation of the science of character analysis.
 Tn the latter part of 1915 be- came lnleTeSIeu Tn the science or character analysis. Dr. Katherine Blackford, of New York city, had formulated the science after an ex- tended tour in every part of the world. The characteristics of various races were carefully studied and classified. Observations of people 1 employed in every occupation were taken. The successful and unsuccess- full individuals in the large corpora tions were carefully analysed. In this way an accurate method of analyzing human nature was formulated by Dr. Blackford, and over 100000 people were included.
 The many facts that were corre- lated proved many things taught by phrenology and physiognomy. Char acter analysis adopted those things that were practical and omitted the impractical unscientific clements that had placed these two studies in disrepute.
 "Dr. Blackford today is considered the highest authority in the work, the | last word. The largest corporations in the world employ her to analyze everyone of their employees. When I had spent several months In the study of this fascinating sci ence I came to the conclusion that could be more successful in serving my fellow man by specializing in the work. In fact I was neglecting all