490
THE IMMIGRATION PROBLEM
Health and the Community,” gives some very inter
esting statistics regarding the tendencies of various
races to particular diseases and physical fitness. These
statistics are extremely significant and indicate that
certain races are possibly not well adapted to American
life. They also support the argument made by many
students of immigration* that more attention should be
given to the problem of selection by race. He
says that “probably the most far-reaching investiga
tion which has compared the physical fitness of the
native and foreign born is that made by the War De
partment in selecting drafted men for the army. The
large numbers involved make the results reliable.” To
understand the statistics which are here cited it is nec
essary to know the definitions which the War Depart
ment gave to Groups A and D among the men
examined.*
Group A was composed of men who are vigorous and
without any physical defect which might interfere with
the full performance of military duties. Group D con
tained those found to have conditions which unfitted them
for military service. This last group was made up in large
part of those unfit also for most civilian occupations.
Later in the reportf it is stated that:
For the purpose of comparing the physical qualifications
of natives and aliens, a comparison was made of the re
jections in local boards composed dominantly of natives
and aliens, respectively. Some 85,000 examinations were
assembled from local boards in dominant alien wards of the
cities of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, Mil
waukee and Cincinnati, representing a registration of 300,-
000. Then some 100,000 examinations were similarly as
sembled from other than city boards in the States of Indiana,
Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio, representing also a regis
tration of 300,000. The results were as follows:
* Second Report of the Provost Marshal General to the Secretary of War
on the Operations of the Selective Service System to December 20, 1918,
pp. 152-153.
t Ibid,, pp. 160-161.
