STENOGRAPHERS, TYPISTS, AND COMPTOMETRISTS 95 
n ame most generally applied to these operators is comp- 
tometrist, and the number of comptometrists is already be 
ginning to rival the number of typists and stenographers. 
^ is therefore extremely and increasingly important to 
establish means for the selection of operators who are 
already proficient and others who promise to become so. 
In order to develop tests for this purpose, various stud 
ies were made and experiments conducted. At one time 
a series of four tests were given group-wise to a group of 
fort 
ty-one comptometrists. 
eter tests were given to 
At another time, comptom- 
given to separate groups comprising 
Ninety-three operators. As soon as tentative tests and 
standards were established, they were given in the em- 
ployment office where, at the time of this writing, over one 
hundred and twenty applicants have been tested and the 
results followed up. In addition, tests were given to over 
f’ghty pupils who entered evening classes conducted to 
instruct girls in comptometry, and comparisons made 
between the performances of the pupils in the tests and 
’-heir subsequent progress on the computing machine. 
a result of these experiments the tests given in the 
appendix under the head of Tests for Computing-Ma 
rine Operators were finally established. It must be 
stated that these tests were developed in connection with 
the use of comptometers (really a trade name) and the 
burroughs adding machine, probably the two most widely 
Use d machines. 
The tests found most significant for this purpose were, 
rst j a mental-arithmetical test. This test was the same 
as that chosen for clerks who use arithmetic in their work. 
h e method of performing arithmetical operations me- 
c uanically does not necessarily presuppose a very thor- 
° u gh knowledge of arithmetic. Adding, multiplying,