How's Our Health?

In 1917 less than one-third of the Army recruits were turned down for physical defects; in 1941 the number of rejects had averaged 43%.

These startling figures are not so bad as they look, for physical standards for the two armies are not comparable. Army officials of 1941 are more particular than those of 1917: thousands of recruits who were accepted in 1917 would be turned down pronto in 1941. Today doctors have more precise methods of detecting diseases; for example, tests for venereal disease have been greatly improved.

No clear picture of the nation's health can be made by comparing the figures for separate diseases. Some are higher than in 1917, some are lower. Outstanding samples:

> Three times as many men were turned down for bad teeth in 1941 as in 1917.

> Almost twice as many draftees were rejected for ear troubles this year as in 1917.

> The number of venereal disease rejects has declined from over 4% in 1917 to 1.62% in 1941. Most doctors believe that this decline is due to the powerful campaign of the U.S. Public Health Service against syphilis and gonorrhea.

> Heart-disease rejects have declined from 13.7% to 6.5%; tuberculosis rejects from 10.9% to 3.8%.

? Army doctors are completely in the dark about the mental health of recruits. A large amount of mental disease cropped up in the A.E.F., prompted General Pershing to wire home: Stop sending over the mentally unfit. Even with thoroughgoing psychiatric examinations, 10% of the volunteers inducted in 1940, according to the Army's chief psychiatric adviser, Dr. Leonard Rowntree, showed signs of insanity after reaching camp.

Brigadier General Lewis Blaine Hershey, No. 2 man in the draft setup, thought he knew the answer to the question: "How's the nation's health?" Said he: "The fact remains that while we may be no worse now than 24 years ago we seem certainly to be no better. . . . We are physically in a condition of which we nationally should be thoroughly ashamed."

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