Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-01
BY ALBERT EDWARD wIGGAM.

Il morning in just the job each could
do and liked best it would be pretty
safe to wager that three things of
immence Importance would happen
almost overnight: First, the Nations
wealth would probably be doubled;
second, at least half of our people
would make twice, or possibly five
times. as much money as they are
making now, and, third, more than
half of our people would be twice and ,
maybe 10 times as happy as they are |
in their present jobs.
If you doubt this consider that |
recent survey by the Y. NJ. C. A., very |
Gated that at least 4 persons out of
10 are extremely unhappy in the jobs
they now have. Furthermore. every
school teacher, school principal and
superintendent and every college dean
is wrestling with the problem of adj
vising anxious, Soul-torn young men
and women what to do with their lives.
Every serious young man and woman is
struggling witn this same heart-search-
ing, mind-weafying question of choos-
ing the right life vocation. I myself
have travelled for 20 years over the
United States lecturing to lyceums and
chautauquaS, to colleges and univer-
stiles, to women's clubs, Rotarians,
Chambers of Commerce, sales conven-
tons, educational conventions and the
like And the one question that have
been asked far more frequently than
any other-no matter what I lectured
about-was: What aid can science give
to parents in helping their children
| choose the most effective careers? Or.
| what aid can it give to boys and girls
and young men and women in solving
the same great problem?
MuSt Know Selves.
So if we're asked from my own life
experience what is the great American
| question, what is the one greatest
heart problem in the lives of our people
| and the one greatest problem in our
business and industries I would say 1t
| is just this First, how to give to our
young people knowledge Of them
| selves. their capacities and aptitudes,
and, second, how to give them working
knowledge of the requirements for sue
cess in the occupations open to them.
with view to ultimately placing them
in the life work in which they would
find the greatest happiness and success.
| For if we should translate my opening
statement into the broader and more
| penetrating words of DR.. j. McKeen
Cattell. leading psychologist and presi-
dent of the recent International Con-
| gress of Psychologists at New Haven,
we would say:
"If everybody were trained and Sc
lected for his work, there might result
a revolution in industry as great as
| that brought about through the intro
duction of machinery. 1t is not unrea-
sonable to assume that the production
Of national wealth would be doubled if
every one, from the feeble minded child
to the President of the Nation, were
allowed to do the work he can do best
and we're trained to do it in the best
way. The scientific control of conduct
may become of greater importance than
the uses of electricity and steel"
Sets Up Psychological Corporation.
These we're the words with which Dr.
| Cattell announced the organization of
what is probably the strangest and most
the Psychological Corporation of Amer
lea. It is now composed of some 800
psychologists Of recognized scientific
Standing-Such as DR.. James r. Angell
president of Yale University: DR.. Ed
ward Lee Thorndale of Columbia Uni
versity; DR.. Walter Dill Scott, president
of Northwestern University. and DR.. H.
L. Hollingsworth of Barnard College
mostly located in universities and coll
leges scattered from Maine to Cali
| fornia. who have agreed to provide
mental testing stations" for people
seeking advice in regard to educational
vocational or personal problems, and
they also plan to promote many other
useful applications of psychology
The corporation is unique for at least
two reasons-first, one of its chief pur-
poses Is to appraise and measure by
| the best methods available peoples abil-
tiles and aptitudes for different occu-
pations, their traits of personality and
temperament something wholly new in
the history Of mankind; second, it is, so
| far as known. the first corporation ever
organized under the law whose object
is the advancement of its own science,
and whose earnings above necessary
overhead must be devoted to research
in its own scientific field.
Plan Wide Researches.
If a business corporation down in
Wall street should organize with the
object Of seeing how well it could con-
duct its own business and all the earn
| ingS were to be devoted to further study
| to see how much better it might con-
duct its business in the future we
should hardly expect large financial
support But" this is very much what
these psychologists propose to do. They
propose, first, to see how well they can
do their own work, a large part of which
nowadays is measuring peoples minds
and studying their behavior They then
| propose to use all the money they make
outside of the small fees necessary to
, pay expenses of the business for tech
nical researches to find out how much
better they can do the job of measur-
ing peoples minds, estimating their
probable behavior and helping to At
| them into the right iob-indeed, help
ing to fit them into life itself.
Employers everywhere are crying for
this very kind of service, and many de-
partment stores and industries have
already employed psychologists to aid
| them in selecting employees On the
other hand, there are now listed in the
! census reports more than 1000 human
occupations. No wonder boys and girls
are bewildered as to which one to fit
themselves for. In grandfather's time
there were probably not so distinct oc-
equations. and even in fathers time the
list was nothing like so bewildering and
imposing
| When We think, too. that several mil
lion boys and girls are pouring out of
| our schools every year, all the way from
the eighth grade to college graduation.
| majority OF them knowing very little
about themselves or what they could do
! or even what they would like to do. the
problem seems staggering. One psy-
cholog1st relates that while he was try
Ing TO ind out what certain young
man would like to do the lad said, with
entire sincerity, I'D like to be a retired
business man." have often applied
for that job myself but have always
found it already filled by applicants who
had proved themselves qualified for its
duties and responsibilities.
Some Have Found Selves,
OF course, a good many young peoule
have already found themselves and
know what they want to do. Just as / |
write this paragraph my tailor,s son. q