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ARMY WILL REJECT 35% OF STUDENTS

Weak Eyes, Strong Bodies Mark College Selectees

"Thirty-five per cent of all men now registering for the draft will be rejected because of physical disabilities," Dr. Arlie V. Bock '15, Oliver Professor of Hygiene, predicted yesterday. Dr. Bock asserted that the stringent draft physical restrictions now in effect will probably be relaxed to meet the President's recent call for a vastly enlarged army.

"College men will face the same rate of rejection as non-university men," the Doctor stated. General body defects such as teeth and feet ailments are less common in the college group, but the eye-sight of the average university man is weaker than of a non-college man.

Restrictions Now Average

Dr. Bock claimed that requirements for effective participation in this war are much stricter than those in the last due to the greater complexity of today's wartime service. Psychological fitness of the selectee must be considered, as well as a better all-round physical condition, in order to be sure that the draftee can successfully meet the physical and mental rigors of military routine, he said.

In predicting the easing of physical restrictions, Dr. Bock maintained that men would be taken suffering from minor eye or body defects and certain curable diseases.

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Harvard is co-operating in the national compulsory physical exercise, Dr. Bock said, and by its organization of a medical unit now in active service.

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