be made up of efficient individuals. Why is it that so many men and women reach maturity unfit physically, and therefore to a certain degree mentally and morally, to discharge the active duties of citizenship? An inquiry into the extent of this unfitness will show the extent of national inefficiency.

Perhaps there is no better basis for this comparison than the experience in military enlistment. I by no means claim that a citizen is unfit because he is not capable of bearing arms. I call attention, however, to the fact that such a citizen does not measure up to the standard of efficiency which nations in time of peace require of their soldiers. It takes a good animal, in the Ruskin sense, to be a soldier, in the same way as it requires a good animal to be an efficient citizen in any line of duty which he may choose to follow. The records of enlistments in times of peace show a remarkable percentage of inefficient male citizens. We may reasonably suppose that inefficient female citizens exist in an equal number.

PERCENTAGE OF CANDIDATES FOR THE ARMY AND NAVY REJECTED BY REASON OF PHYSICAL IMPERFECTIONS.

Through the courtesy of the Navy and War Departments, I have obtained the following data relating to the physical inefficiency of volunteers for the respective services. In the Navy Department the data are as follows:

For the War Department the data are as follows:

While, of course, in time of peace examinations of a physical character are far more rigorous than in time of war, we cannot refrain from expressing a grave doubt as to the efficiency of our male citizens of ages suitable for military service, when such enormous numbers of them are rejected as unfit to serve either in the Army or Navy.

I do not have access at the present moment to the data of European countries relating to this matter. We only know that in time of peace very large numbers of their citizens are found unfit to serve under the colors. The number now is doubtless very much less when every one who is capable even of partial effort is gladly welcomed to the trenches.

RELATION OF INEFFICIENCY TO FOOD.

What relation may we be able to trace between this remarkable exhibit of inefficiency and the character of the food? On this point there are no definite data. In rejecting recruits on account of physical defect no general cause of this defectiveness is usually stated. We have, therefore, to trace it from our general knowledge of the environment in which our people are brought up. First of all, we know that in the human infant any imperfection in the food makes itself felt in a most marked way. The fearful mortality among

infants under the age of one year, when traced to the causes as stated in the death reports from areas where vital statistics are registered, indicates that a very large majority of all deaths is caused directly or indirectly by improper food. It is reasonable to infer that of the infants who do not die a very large proportion enter childhood with the handicap of infirmity caused by improper food.

During childhood the errors of diet continue their work of destruction. Children are not fed in a manner to develop all the tissues of the body. The teeth and bones, especially, are apt to be inferior because of the character of food which is offered to our children. Modern refinement, so-called, has seen fit to rob many of our national foods of the vitalizing principles most necessary to health and proper growth. Decorticated cereals, peeled apples and potatoes, and refined foods of all descriptions, especially sugars, candies, cakes, ice creams and so on, not to forget chewing gum, are the common diet of most of the children in the country. The failure to develop good, sound teeth on such a diet and the bad influence of sugar and candy on teeth when they are developed have produced that terrible condition in our children of defective mouths which has been revealed in every case where dental inspection of school children has been established. In the city of Cincinnati, where a rigid inspection of the teeth of the school children has recently been inaugurated, the enormous. percentage of ninety-five has been recorded of defective teeth. What can we expect from the efficiency of the grownup individual who in childhood completes his growth with such a handicap?

Inasmuch as good teeth are necessary to health and efficiency, and since it is certain that poor teeth are largely the result of an improper diet, the importance.

of proper nutrition of infants and children cannot be overestimated. Results which have come from improving the teeth in our public schools are strongly corroborative of my theory that individual and national inefficiency is largely the result of improper diet in infancy and childhood. The number of documents which could be cited on this particular is very great and they will be found in the library connected with the Bureau of Education. A few of these articles may be cited particularly in this connection. In the proceedings of the Board of Education of Cleveland, for February 27. 1911, there is a most valuable report on the oral-hygiene educational campaign in that city. The records of this document take up particularly individual cases and trace the benefits derived from improving the condition of the teeth. A single citation from this document is typical:

Carrie Mangino, age thirteen years, exhibited on examination by the dental clinic a very imperfect mouth. The teacher reported the case as almost hopeless; nevertheless, an attempt was made to remedy the difficulties. It was necessary to administer an anæsthetic in order to perform the operations necessary to put the mouth in good order. As a result of this treatment the eye strain was relieved, and the good results in scholarship and deportment are contrasted with the poor scholarship and deportment previous to the operation in the following table:

The Journal of Educational Psychology contains an interesting article for the December number, 1913, on the effect of dental treatment upon the physical and mental efficiency of school children. The conclusion found on page 578 of the Journal cited shows that a decided lead was taken by the children whose dental troubles had been remedied by the dental clinic. The improvement in appearance and deportment was marked and in the educational test a similar improvement was secured. The National Mouth Hygiene Association has issued a report on the Scientific Experiments Conducted in the Cleveland Public Schools for the Purpose of Ascertaining the Value of Healthy Conditions of the Mouth. This publication contains extensive data showing how the betterment of dental conditions improved the scholarship, health and deportment of the children who were treated. In summing up the results of these experiments Dr. W. G. Ebersole states:

"The question of mouth hygiene, as presented in connection with the Educational Campaign of the National Mouth Hygiene Association, is an economic or educational one, and the installation of dental inspection and instruction in the schools means a tremendous saving to the states, or to the municipalities, as is shown in the report made to the Board of Education, and the writer believes that the Boards of Education throughout the country should install dental inspection and instruction, and then spend part of their savings in increasing the salaries and bettering the environments of the public-school teaching profession.

If this condition is due chiefly to the character of the food, and of this there is no doubt, the general effect upon the other organs of the body is easily predicated. Our children are coming to maturity not only with improper diet, but also with inefficient grinding apparatus to prepare their food for digestion. The efficiency of