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Defects Found in Drafted Men

Improvement Era, vol. 23, no. 5, March 1920, pp. 446 to 450

Beeley, Arthur L.

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"Defects Found in Drafted Men" An Epitome, by Arthur L. Beeley, Executive Secretary of the Social Advisory Committee

The following is a summary of an article entitled "Defects Found in Drafted Men" which appeared in the January, 1920, number of the Scientific Monthly, by C. B. Davenport, formerly Major S. C. y U. S. A., and Albert G. Love, Lt. Col. M. C, U. S. A. The article is an introduction to a more comprehensive treatment of the same subject, shortly to appear as a Congressional document. Through the courtesy of the Scientific Monthly, all excerpts and reproduction of diagrams are made.

/. Purpose The purpose of the article, the writer gathers, is to point out the other-than-military significance of the comprehensive data collected by the War Department during the Great War, regarding the physical and mental fitness of the nation's young manhood. II.—Method The bases for the study are the records of the Provost Marshal General, and the Surgeon General of the army of 2,500,- 000 men, principally between the ages of 18 and 30 years. Of these 500,000 were rejected by the local draft boards. The remainder 2,000,000 were examined at mobilization camps from September, 1917, to October, 1918. "This number constitutes practically all of those rejected by local boards and about twothirds of those examined by mobilization camps, but it is representative of all." Obviously the exact number of men examined to furnish these data is not known precisely. A hypothetical number of 2,753,922 is determined by valid statistical methods, and is used, therefore, as the "strength" or total population upon which ratios are calculated. "The unit of discussion is the rate of incidence of a particular defect in 1,000 men. The rate 1, therefore, when given as the rate for a defect, means that 1 man out of 1,000 was found with that defect. Since the total of the men is about 2,754,000, 1 means that there were 2,754 men found with the given defect. The rate 2 means that there were twice that number, i. e., about 5,500, etc. In the present paper, rates will usually be given as integral numbers, except in the case of small ratios."

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DEFECTS FOUND IN DRAFTED MEN 44?

///. Results (a) Relative Frequency of Various Defects

In all there were 269 defects and groups of defects found; 468 men out of every 1,000 examined were defective. In some men 2 or more defects were found so that, really, there were 557 defects per 1,000 men examined. Notwithstanding the fact that certain defects did not wholly unfit a man for some sort of military service, it is noteworthy that about 12 per cent of all men examined were rejected as unfit for any type of military service. The following table will indicate at a glance the relative frequency of the defects: TABLE NO. 1 Showing frequency of defects per 1,000 men and percentage of all defects:

Fr y f DEFECTS perTnnn 1,000 ifn° all De- listed in the order of relative frequency.) Men. fects.

  1. Mechanical: (Involving bones, joints, appendages, hands, feet, etc.) 218 39.0 Principally. 1. Weak feet 124 2. Deformed and injured appendages 50 3. Hernia (rupture) 40
  2. Sense Organs: 67 12.0 Principally. 1. Refractive errors of the eye 2. Defects and diseases of the ear, including deafness.
  3. Developmental and Metabolic: 56 10.0 Principally. 1. Below military standard of weight.
  4. Nervous and Mental: 34 60 Principally. 1. Mental deficiency. Diseases: 32 5.8
  5. Venereal 30 5.4
  6. Tuberculosis: 28 5 -°
  7. Nose and Throat: Principally. 1. Enlargement of tonsils. 16 iM
  8. Skin and Teeth: Principally. 1. Teeth. *•"
  9. Respiratory:
  10. "Others": (Other than tubtrculosis) ..— : » "> ™ Defects (b) Geographical Distribution of diagrams,-one for each defect, sim- The article contains seventeen below.

ilar to the one fc. veneral di-easr s reproduced

VENEREAL DISEASES

m 1303 - 21.00 ^w"?.'.V/-r Ml 21.01 - 31.00 ^»
B 31.01 - 5300 5301 -16332 ^ Ratio per 1,000 men. Total, second million men at camp. (Courtesy Scientific Monthly.) Fig. I

The study does not give, however, the actual ratios for each state separately; merely the group into which the ratios fall. These ratios for any given defect are then divided into four groups, as in Fig. 1. The states having the smallest ratios in a given defect constitute group 1, and are designated on the diagram by a thin horizontal line. The next largest group, group 2, is designated by small squares; the third group by heavy horizontal bars, and group four by solid black. Table 2 is a condensation of the data presented in the diagrams and aims to show the relative position of Utah in the various defects discussed. From the social point of view, by far the most significant defects are the venereal diseases. Apropos of the keen interest of social workers in Utah and elsewhere in the field of social hygiene, the following full quotation is made of the authors' comments on this group of defects: — "Venereal Diseases. These diseases have a social interest which far exceeds the military one. Their numbers give a rough index to the success that the different states have met with in their efforts to inculcate the sex mores and the capacity that the population of the different sections have in inhibiting the sex instincts. The details of distribution in different parts of the country shown in Fig I will repay careful study. This group includes syphilis, chancroid and gonococcus infections, which together give a rate of 32. This rate, or at most the rate of 56 per mille obtained from the second 1,000,000 men alone, must be taken as the most precise information we have concerning the proportion of men in the United States of the ages of eighteen to thirty, who show symptoms of venereal disease at a given time. There is *»o adequate statistical justi-

TABLE NO. 2 Showing (a)relative position of Utah in various defects; (b) number of other States in same group with Utah, and (c) range of ratios per 1,000 men.

Utah's No. Other Range of Position States in Ratios DFFFCTS Group. Same Group Per 1,,000 With Utah. Men. Malformation 3 No Cases Venereal Diseases 1 5 13.03-21.00 Deformed, Atrophied or Lost Arms 1 7 .59- 1.50 Tuberculosis 1 14 10.22-18.00 Underweight 2 8 20.01-25.00 Hammer Toe and Bent Great Toe 2 9 4.76- 5.75 Imperfect Sex Development 2 10 3.01- 3.85 Deficient Chest Measurement 3 9 1.01- 1.25 Hernia (rupture) 3 9 41.00-50.00 Goitre (Exopthalmic) 3 13 2.26- 4.50 Developmental Defects 3 13 30.5146.00 Underheight 3 14 2.01- 3.75 Defective Physical Development 4 4 4.01- 7.01

Deformed, Atrophied or Lost Legs 4 5 4.01- 5.58

Fiat-Foot 4 7 1.454 2.31

Goitre (Simple) 4 7 9.01-26.91

Curvature of Spine 4 13 6.01- 9.03

fication for the statement made by propagandists that 10 per cent., or more, of the men of the United States are affected with venereal disease. No of the "conservative estimate" can replace, or add anything to, the results exhaustive individual examination of over 2,500,000 (probably 2,754,000) men which have led to the figures just quoted. It is to be lemembered, the moreover, that this rate of 3, or at the maximum 5.6 per cent., includes statistical evidence colored population as well as white, and there is good infected as white men. As that colored men are several times as apt to be largest proportion oi colored the figure shows, just those states with the highest ratio of venereal diseases. Adjacent regions population have the proportion of colored population showed an interwith an intermediate in the New England mediate amount. Relatively small rates were found states including New York, and in the northern states west of the Missis- inhabited largely by immigrants sippi River. Wisconsin and the Dakotas, show the lowest rate for from northern Europe, especially Scandinavia urban rate it diseases. If the rural rate is a shade higher than the these negroes of the south unduly swell the proportion of infected s because the Massachusetts, New Jersey and ates In the northern states, like Maine, Ohio; the rural rate is less than the urban. On the other hand, the ven- manufacturing states and especially for ereal disease rate for the eastern northern agn- is less than that of the the connnuter sections (rate 1.9) the rate in those agnculctdturTdLricts; but they are not lower than of recent immigrants, estu^ar^egrons which contain a large proportion pecially from northwestern Europe."

In view of the widely divergent opinions which are re- in different places repeatedly expressed by different persons standing in the matter of venereal diseases, it warding Utah's learn for the first time from such is peculiarly refreshing to "precise information" that Utah enjoys authentic sources, the states in the Union, the disin company with only five other tinction indicated in the preceding diagram.

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Oscar A. Kirkham, Executive Director, Y. M. M. I. A. As mentioned in the official appointment, on page 366, in the February number of the Era, Elder Oscar A. Kirkham has been chosen Executive Director of the Y. M. M. I. A. jIMp His distinctive sphere under this new appointment is im- plied by the title. Elder Kirkham will have supervision both in the general offices of the organization and in the field, representing the General Superintendency and the General Board in both departments. The experience Elder Kirkham has had in Mutual Improvement work, and in the scout movement as a leader among boys, will make him a great help in the work of the Y. M. M. I. A. The General Superintendency, the General Board, as well as the officers of the organization have complete confidence in his ability to fill the responsible position to which he has been called. We are confident his labors in this calling will prove of great advantage to our organizations and result in added blessings to the young people of Zion.

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