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EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

place  men  of  this  kind  in  positions  where  their  training
and  experience  may  be  utilized  to  the  utmost  and  given
their  fullest  opportunity  for  expansion.  In  the  case  of
workers  without  a  trade  and  unwilling  to  learn  a  trade,
the  desirable  course  is  to  assign  them  to  the  work  which
will  enable  them  most  quickly  to  earn  the  wage  which  they
require  for  the  satisfaction  of  their  outside  interests.  If
applicants  of  this  kind  are  given  work  which  comes  within
their  abilities,  they  are  likely  to  exhibit  industry  and
energy.  If  they  are  given  work  which  does  not,  they  are
very  likely  to  exhibit  indifference,  laziness,  carelessness,
and  other  undesirable  moral  traits;  and,  in  addition,  they
are  likely  to  leave  as  soon  as  they  see  an  opportunity
elsewhere  for  making  a  larger  wage.  At  the  risk  of  repetition, ­
  this  matter  will  be  discussed  from  a  slightly  different ­
  angle  in  the  chapter  on  vestibule  schools.  In  the
meanwhile,  it  can  be  seen  that,  by  making  it  possible  to
assign  workers  to  the  work  for  which,  both  by  nature  and
by  training,  they  are  best  fitted,  psychological  tests  contribute ­
  largely  to  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  selecting
employees  with  the  right  moral  traits.
From  still  another  point  of  view,  the  use  of  tests  is  an
aid  in  developing  the  desired  moral  qualities  and  a  means
of  preventing  their  exhaustion.  The  statement  has  been
made  that  moral  traits  are  relative.  This  is  true  not  only
in  a  qualitative  sense  but  in  a  quantitative  sense  as  well.
For  instance,  an  individual  may  begin  work  with  a  certain ­
  degree  of  natural  enthusiasm  and  industriousness.
If  he  succeeds  at  his  work  within  a  reasonable  length
of  time,  he  is  likely  to  maintain  and  even  augment  these
qualities.  If  he  fails,  he  may  gradually  lose  them.  His
moral  resistance  and  energy  may  be  exhausted  by  the
difficulty  and  unfitness  of  the  work  to  which  he  was