Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-11-11
Care Taken
To Eliminate
Unfit in Draft
Responsibility Of Board
Goes Beyond Present
By LOGAN cLENpENING. M. ID

THE responsibility Of the medi-
Il cal draft boards In eliminat-
ing the unfit for military service
extends beyond the selection of
physically perfect specimens.
They must also protect the
future taxpayer from unneces-
sary pension burders.
Largely this means eliminate
Ing at the source, candidates
with tuberculosis and mental
personality disorders.
The United States treasury
paid out $400. 900. 176 in compen-
sation TO World War veterans
from 1923 TO 1882, which is
about a third of the total COM
pensation paid on this score.
These men should never have
been accepted.
They had tuberculosis before
they went into the army, in
practically all cases, and most Of
them broke down before they
ever saw active service.
During the present emer-
gency. the selection Is m u C h
better. but still leaves much to
be desired. In an army hospital
recently the largest group OF pa
tents / saw in the contagious
ward had tuberculosis.
MENTAL and personality dis
UA order is even more OF a
problem, because IL Is not so
easy to detect. II is estimated
that every such soldier costs the
government SIS. 900 in hospitali-
ration and pensions.
s o m e mistakes are inexcus-
able. A California board certi-
Ned q man who was in jail as q
homicidal maniac.
He was released. and after en-
tering the army beat up some Of
his mates, was removed to an
army hospital where he beat up
the ward attendants, and finally
required the time of a medical
officer and two enlisted men to
take him to the Letterman Gen.
eral Hospital.
Most OF the psychotic appli-
cants get by because they don't
realize their own condition and
because in civil life there is not
enough stress to bring out their
weaknesses.
The types to be eliminated
are: Nomads. pathological liars.
the emotionally unstable. drift
ers from one job TO another,
inadequates. egocentrics. hypo-
chondriacs, dependents wi I h
"WPA attitude" or ION relief
attitude. those who expect TO be
taken care Of always by a strong
individual or agency.
THEY are not always easy to
Il detect because so many have
The Mask OF Sanity" described
thus by Doctor Checkley:
Superficial attractiveness,
cleverness. facility in talking,
apparent intelligence. THE ia
cade personality
Continual projection of blame
on somebody alse.
Tremendous egotism. with
practically no capacity for OBJ
jective love.
Double-crossing, playing of
one friend against another.
Very frequent prominence Of
excessive drinking. with bizarre
and preposterous conduct while
drinking.
Inability to profit by expert
ence, and bad judgment gen.
orally.
Histrionic personality, always
acting. never genuine.
The army. however. does not
need all bright boys. There are
many army tasks best done by
morons and { here Is as large
place for those OF low intelli-
gence without viciousness) in
the army as elsewhere.
QUESTIONS, ANSWERS
A. J. B.: II there are four
types Of blood. and a person has
type ABB 1-Moss. does he always
have that type or does il change
with age! Can diet change it?
Answer: The types OF blood
you describe have TO do with
characteristics that are import
ant only for blood TRANSMISSION.
All such types of blood are
equally good for physiological
purposes. Neither age nor diet
changes a persons grouping.