Mr. NORTON. This chart presents briefly some facts relating to one or the other provisions in the bill. [Producing another chart.] PHYSICAL DISABILITIES CASUALTIES WORLD WAR No % MEN EXAMINED 5,991,123 100 MEN ACCEPTED 4650,500 77.6 MEN REJECTED 1340,625 KILLED WOUNDED 248.170 -and. 224 4.1 These figures concern soldiers of the United States, and were officially issued by the Government. "Men rejected " refers to those rejected for military service because of physical disabilities. Five times as many men were rejected for physical disability as were killed or wounded. It relates to physical inefficiency or the improvement of the physical welfare of our people. In the draft there were practically 5,991,000 men examined. Of the number examined, 4,650,000 were accepted for some type of service. A good many of these were accepted only for limited service and could not go overseas, but that many were actually accepted for the Army and Navy. PHYSICAL INEFFICIENCY The two following tables give some of the outstanding facts resulting from the physical examinations of the draft: TABLE I-Rejections for physical disabilities and casualties. These figures, furnished by The Adjutant General, September, 1922, are described as "the most reliable yet compiled." TABLE II.-Physical rejections, by States,1 December 15, 1917, to September 11, 1918 1 Second Report of the Provost Marshal General to the Secretary of War, p. 417. The majority of these, 16.25 per cent of those examined, "possessed physical defects of such degree as to prevent them from rendering military service of any kind." There were of that number 1,340,000, or 22 per cent, who were rejected as being liabilities to the Army in any capacity: that is, they were sent back home as of no value to a fighting army. Some of these 4,650,000 were only of limited value [indicating on chart], but these 1,340,000 were of no value according to the physicians. Mr. ROBSION. Where are the exemptions? A great many were accepted? Mr. NORTON. They are outside of this group, they were not examined at all. They were on the list to be examined if the war continued, but they were never actually examined; 6,000,000 were. These figures show the relationship between rejections for physical inefficiency and the killed and wounded. In other words, physical inefficiency was a much more effective fighter against the United States than all the German shells and mustard gas. Mr. DOUGHTON. There were 240,170 killed and wounded? Mr. NORTON. Yes, sir. Mr. DOUGHTON. How many were killed? Mr. NORTON. I have not the figures in my head. I think forty or fifty thousand. Mr. DOUGHTON. I understood about 50,000 were killed. Mr. NORTON. The point is that many of our men are not fitted for peace as well as war; these figures show that in a striking manner. Mr. DOUGHTON. Now, we are discussing an educational side. You say the men were rejected. They were rejected for what? Mr. NORTON. For physical inefficiency, physical disability. Did I answer your question? Mr. HASTINGS. You see this bill provides for physical education. Mr. DOUGHTON. I am asking whether or not this has anything to do with literacy or illiteracy. Mr. NORTON. No; it has nothing to do with illiteracy. It concerns physical fitness. One of the sections of the bill would deal with physical efficiency-their proper physical education. Is education submerged?—Some appropriations for the Department of the Interior, 1923 Bureau of Pensions. Reclamation Service. Construction and maintenance of Alaska railroad. Investigating mine accidents. Support of Indians in Arizona Bureau of Education.. $254, 246, 362. 67 14, 800, 021. 01 4, 510, 210. 00 1, 175, 000. 00 378, 000. 00 185, 000. 00 161, 990. 00 It These figures are from the Treasury Department's Digest of Appropriations, 1923. The figures given for the Bureau of Education do not include appropriations made for "education of natives in Alaska," nor similar outside work. also does not include a sum of approximately $50,000 for printing and supplies, which is available, but not specifically appropriated for bureau use. Now, this chart has to do with the position of the Bureau of Education, at the present time submerged in one of our very important departments. The contention of school people throughout the country is that as long as you have these tremendous interests, represented by hundreds of millions of dollars: The Bureau of Pensions, with a budget of $250,000,000 annually; the Reclamation Service, with a budget of $14,000,000; the construction and maintenance of Alaska road, $4,000,000, and these other appropriations under the Interior De partment; these enormous amounts are bound to receive the attention of the Secretary of the Interior. The Bureau of Education with $161,000, a relatively insignificant amount, is unlikely to receive very much attention from the Secretary of the Department of the Interior. Look at the report of any Secretary of the Interior and you will find he devotes five or six lines to education in his report. The Bureau of Education is submerged and has been throughout its history in the Department of the Interior. Our belief is that not until you take education out of its submerged position and make it a department will it receive the recognition that it deserves. Those are some of the facts that stand out. This last table or chart summarizes some of the outstanding facts pertinent to the educational situation in this country. They might be called national educational liabilities; I speak of some of the outstanding facts. We had 1,340,000 men rejected as unfit for military service. If they are unfit for military service they are probably unfit for the greatest efficiency in peace-time service. A committee appointed by Herbert Hoover, after a very careful investigation by some of the greatest authorities in the country, estimated recently $1,800,000,000 as the yearly economic loss in the working population alone from preventable disease and death. These first two facts go together [indicating]. At the same time they stated that if we went at this problem thoroughly we could take care of it and have a billion dollars surplus. One of the provisions of the bill is a forward-looking step in the direction of bringing up the physical condition of the people of the United States. We have 5,000,000 confessed illiterates, with no schooling whatever. I showed the figures on that a little while ago. One of the provisions of the bill would encourage an attack of that problem directly wherever it exists. That [indicating] is admittedly a conservative estimate, nearly a billion dollars is lost each year; we are that much poorer each year, due to the fact that people can not read and write. That was an estimate made by former Secretary Lane. Mr. ROBSION. How do you get that now? Mr. NORTON. I believe he used some such method as this: He inquired among concerns as to the value of a man's labor, and with particular reference to his literacy, and then he arrived at a certain figure. I do not remember all the details. I believe it is given in one of his reports, though. Then he multiplied that by the number of illiterates, as given by the census, and he arrived at some such figure as this that we would be $825,000,000 better off economically each year if we had no illiteracy. Mr. ROBSION. But what about having a supply of labor anyway, and would not that create more fellows for jobs, should not that be taken into consideration too? Mr. NORTON. Well, I believe you will always get more work done, more products and more commodities produced from an intelligent individual, one who is able to read and write. Mr. ROBSION. But the trouble is you can not count it all being a loss because Congress is now very much concerned with the question of overproduction along certain lines, trying to find a market for goods. NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL LIABILITIES 1340,625 MEN REJECTED AS UNFIT FOR MILITARY SERVICE 1,800,000,000 YEARLY ECONOMIC LOSS FROM PREVENTABLE DISEASES AND DEATH 5,000,000 CONFESSED ILLITERATES 825,000,000 YEARLY ECONOMIC LOSS DUE TO ILLITERACY 1,060,858 CHILD WORKERS BETWEEN THE AGE OF 10AND15 1,437,000 CHILDREN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 7 AND 13 NOT ATTENDING ANY KIND OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION" |