cers of ships.

[Sidenote: _Tests for Railroad Employees_]

Employees of railroads, and in some cases those of street
railroads, also, are subjected to tests for vision, hearing and
color-discrimination. In the case of trainmen the color-discrimination
tests result in the rejection of about four per cent of the applicants.
The tests are repeated every two years for all the men and at intervals
of six months for those suspected of defects in color discrimination.
In all of these cases the tests have for their object the detection
and rejection of unfit applicants.

[Sidenote: _What One Factory Saved_]

One of the earliest instances of work of this kind was the
introduction a few years ago of reaction-time tests in selecting
girls for the work of inspecting for flaws the steel balls used in
ball bearings. This work requires a concentrated type of attention,
good visual acuity and quick and keen perception, accompanied by quick
responsive action. The scientific investigator went into a bicycle
ball factory and with a stop-watch measured the reaction-time of all
the girls then at work. All those who showed a long time between
stimulus and reaction-time were then eliminated. The final outcome was
that thirty-five girls did the work formerly done by one hundred and
twenty; the accuracy of the work was increased by sixty-six per cent;
the wages of the girls were doubled; the working day was shortened
from ten and one-half hours to eight and one-half hours; and the
profit of the factory was substantially increased.

[Sidenote: _Professor Muensterberg's Experiments_]

To illustrate the methods employed and the importance of work of this
kind, we quote the following from the recent ground-breaking book,
"Psychology and Industrial Efficiency," by Professor Hugo Muensterberg,
of Harvard University. This extract is an account of Professor
Muensterberg's experimental method for determining in advance the
mental fitness of persons applying for positions as telephone
operators. Such information would be of immense value to telephone
companies, as each candidate who satisfies formal entrance requirements
receives several months' training in a telephone school and is paid a
salary while she is being trained.

[Sidenote: _Tests for Hiring Telephone Girls_]

One company alone employs twenty-three thousand operators, and more
than one-third of those employed and trained at the company's expense
prove unfitted and leave within six