THE VOCATIONAL VALUE OF TESTS 185 
wage of which he is capable. In this manner, tests fulfill 
a distinct vocational function; for they make it possible 
for the applicant to realize most quickly the happiness 
which constitutes his real vocation. To be sure, tests 
will discover many workers whose exceptional ability, 
either natural or acquired, will warrant their selection 
for a course of training which will ultimately give them 
genuine vocations. However, in the present stage of in 
dustrial development, there must constantly be a large 
body of men and women to do routine and monotonous 
Work, and it is in this large field that tests will have an 
extensive quasi-vocational value; for their use will enable 
the worker to achieve most fully those enjoyments in 
which his genuine vocational interests may be said to 
feside. 
A closely allied vocational problem is the assignment 
°f defectives to industrial work. During the course of 
these experiments, a small number of high-grade morons 
and workers of a low mental age were discovered. Fre 
quently these workers were doing work of which they were 
entirely incapable. The work of shell inspection, at which 
some of these defectives were engaged, requires a memory 
for about twenty-five different kinds of possible defects 
and a constant and alert attention in order to catch these 
defects as the shells pass by. Manifestly, even a high-grade 
moron would fail to possess the qualities necessary for 
carrying on this work. However, it must not be thought 
that the purpose of giving tests is to eliminate such in 
dividuals entirely. There are many automatic machines 
which require an operator with only the most elementary 
kind of intelligence and attention; and there is a large 
a mount of manual work which involves only the learn- 
ln g of a few simple movements which are continuously