STANDARDS OF MEASUREMENT OF TEN THOUSAND MALE WORKERS: PRELIMINARY NOTE, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO RACIAL FACTORS

D URING the last ten years numerous industrial surveys have been made by the U. S. Public Health Service. In the course of these surveys, approximately 10,000 general physical examinations were made of male workers and approximately 2,000 of female workers. We fully realize the difficulties of interpreting general physical examinations, especially when they cover a long period and are made by several different physicians. Knowledge of industrial hazards is derived chiefly by study of a specific problem through methods carefully chosen with that definite purpose in mind. None the less, in view of the large numbers involved and the almost complete absence in the literature of data on physical or physiological measurements of industrial workers in this country, it seemed worth while to determine what information could be secured by a statistical analysis of these general examination records. The results of the examinations in the garment and pottery industries have already been published.1