Medicine: State of the Nation's Health

To most people, the U.S. looked like a pretty healthy nation—until it got caught in the draft. Of over 14,000,000 men examined, only 2,000,000 were up to standard. Of the rest, 6,500,000 were accepted despite defects, 2,250,000 were remediable 4-Fs (of these 1,500,000 were made fit for duty), 3,500,000 were hopelessly unfit. In addition, 1,000,000 have been discharged for defects discovered or developed after induction.

These depressing data were reported last week by a Senate subcommittee on Wartime Health and Education after a two-year study of the state of the nation's health. The...

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