STENOGRAPHERS,  TYPISTS,  AND  COMPTOMETRISTS  97

mdustry,  with  its  enormous  payrolls  and  extensive  cost
systems,  is  well  aware  of  the  importance  of  this  particular
'tern.  For  this  reason  it  is  very  important  that  comptometrists ­
  have,  in  addition  to  their  mechanical  knowledge,
a  knowledge  of  fundamental  arithmetic,  as  determined  by
the  arithmetical  test  described.
The  test  in  comptometry  itself  must  necessarily  be  based
largely  on  the  kind  of  comptometry  to  be  done  or  the
kind  of  practice  which  the  individual  has  had.  The  work
ln  connection  with  which  these  experiments  were  conducted ­
  involved  very  little  division,  and  consequently,
m °st  emphasis  was  placed  upon  addition  and  multiplication. ­
  Care  must  be  taken  in  all  cases  to  establish  tests
^hich  will  not  lay  too  much  value  upon  the  specific  abillt
 Y  of  an  individual  at  a  specific  moment.  For  instance,
some  schools,  knowing  the  little  use  to  which  division
ls  put,  spend  very  little  time  teaching  division  to  their
pupils.  It  does  not  follow  that  these  pupils  would  not
Quickly  learn  division  if  properly  instructed,  but  unless
te sts  discriminate  carefully,  it  is  quite  possible  to  reject
an  operator,  fair  in  other  respects,  but  poor  for  the  time
^ e >ug,  in  division.  This  is  a  matter  which  must  be  determined ­
  from  a  practical  rather  than  an  experimental
standpoint.  If  the  industry  wants  thoroughgoing  experts
f  once,  a  complete  test  should  be  given.  If  the  industry
' s  satisfied  to  take  operators  who  are  not  entirely  expert
cut  who  promise  well,  less  emphasis  should  be  placed
° n  a  complete  and  perfect  comptometry  test  and  more
° n  the  tests  which  indicate  an  individual’s  aptitude  or
P°tentiality.  The  arithmetical  test  discussed  is  one
test  which  serves  this  purpose.  Another  is  the  numerical
substitution  test.  This  test  bears  virtually  the  same  relation ­
  to  the  work  of  comptometrists  which  the  mixed