The Bolivar County Democrat., 1922-10-14

Rhode Island had the largest relative number of
men who were below the required military height
the largest percentage Of those below the required
military weight for their height, and also the larg-
est percentage of those who were regarded as
obese In other words the population which was
composed to a considerable extent of South Euro
peans and French Canadians, ran to the extreme
The men from certain of the other states, and
especially from the North Central and Northwest
ern states were much better proportioned.
1T was matter of surprise to many that the
actual gain in weight of the while In military
service was only about three and ne-third pounds
There were premature reports of average gains Of
from - to Is pounds. What actually happened
however, was that the lean men became
bust, while those who overweight were
trained down to their proper proportion
The average height stature of 1000 900 men
was 749. The shortest came from Rhode
Island, 664 inches the tallest from Texas, 1874
inches. Considering the population groups the
tallest men came from the mountain area of North
Carolina. These men of Scotch descent and
averaged 6S67 inches.
"The average weight for the United States was
141.54 pounds. The heaviest men were from South
Dakota, 1896 pounds and the nghtest from Rhode
Island 1864 pounds
I'm each 100 men from the urban districts there
were 81 defects noted and from the rural 53 Chi
cago, 62 and Boston, SO, above the average
for the Cities while Philadelphia, 60, and New
"Of the individual defects, that which was re-
corded most frequently fiat feet, III per cent
of the men examined. Nineteen and six-tenths per
cent of all defects noted were for this one.
"The effect of race upon the relative frequency
Of this defect is shown by the fact that the Sec
tions with 40 per cent of negroes had relatively
much smaller number of cases, rs per cent, than
those Of the Scandinavians 1928 per cent those OF
the Germans and Of Scandinavians, 11.8 per cent
Of those of the Germans and Austrians 124
per cent. Consequently, the states Of the North
Central section and of the Northwest had rela-
lively high percentage of cases of this defect.
Flat foot noted only n per cent as fire.
quently among the men from the rural districts
among those from the urban.
According to the best information available
venereal diseases were noted in 81 per cent OF
the selective service men who were sent to the
military camps. Five and eight-tenths per cent Of
all the diseases noted belonged to this class. The
relative prevalence of this class of disease varied
from 1874 per cent among the men from Florida
to 1.3 among those from Vermont.
1.-THE third most frequent defect noted was
hernia the result Of insufficient muscular abdomin.
al support probably aggravated by excessively
heavy labor OF each 100 men examined four had
actual potential hernia Seven and one-tenth
per cent of all the defects noted were Of this char
acter The relative number of cases was greatest
among the men from Oregon, 118 per cent and
least among those from Kentucky, % per cent
"The refractive errors of the eye stood fourth in
numerical frequency. OF each 100 men, 3.3 had de-
fective vision, due to character of refractive
OF all the defects noted so per cent be-
longed to this class
"Two and one-haf per cent Of all of Glass men
were rejected unfit for military service on ac
count of tuberculosis, of suspected tuberculosis
Expressed in absolute numbers $4,000 men out of
3764,OOO were unfit for military service as the
result Of this disease 1t relatively most fire.
quent among the men from certain of the states
of the West and Southwest to which either they
or their ancestors had migrated on account of It,
The percentage of cases was greatest among those
from Arizona. 81 per cent, and least among those
from Wyoming 1.2 per cent. Arizona was followed
by New Mexico, Colorado, California and then
Rhode Island.
"A greater number of cases were reported among
the men from the cities "a per cent, than among
those from rural districts, 1.S per cent The rea-
tive number Of men rejected for this cause from
the four large cities was greatest among those
from Philadelphia "a per cent, followed by New
York, 2.3 per cent. Chicago, % per cent and Bos-
ton, 81 per cent.
"One and fvetenths per cent of all of the men
examined were rejected on account of mental alb