d make room for
these men in places for which they are peculiarly adapted and where
their earning power would be greater.

If, for example, the applicant responds to the signs of an emergency in
three-fifths of a second or less, and has the mental characteristics that
will enable him at the same time to maintain the speed required by the
schedule, he may be mentally fitted for the "job" of motorman; while if
it takes him one second or more to act in an emergency, he may be a
dangerous man for the company and for the public.

[Sidenote: _The Danger in Two-Fifths of a Second_]

Two-fifths of a second difference in time-reactions may mark the line
between safety and disaster. How absurd it is to trust to luck in
matters of this kind when by means of scientific experimental tests
you can accurately gauge your man before he has a chance to involve
you or your company in a heart-breaking tragedy and serious financial
loss!

You can readily see that very similar tests could be devised to meet
the needs of the employer of chauffeurs, as, for example, the manager
of a taxicab company, or the requirements of a railroad in the hiring
of its engineers.

[Sidenote: _Picking a Private Secretary_]

You should not employ as private secretary a person whose reactions
indicate a natural inability to keep a secret. This quality of mind
can be simply and unerringly detected by psychological tests.

[Sidenote: _Finding Out the Close-Mouthed_]

One quality entering into the ability to keep a secret is the degree
of suggestibility of the individual. That person who most quickly and
automatically obeys and responds to suggested commands possesses the
least degree of conscious self-control. The quality referred to is
illustrated by the child's game of "thumbs up, thumbs down," and
"Simon says thumbs up" and "Simon says thumbs down." Those persons
who are unable to wait for the "Simon says," but mechanically obey
the command "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" would be those least able
to resist a trap artfully laid to compel them to disclose what they
wished to conceal. Like efficiency in observation, attention and
memory, however, suggestibility is specific, not general, in
character--that is to say, persons may be easily influenced by certain
kinds of suggestion while possessing a strong degree of resistance
to other kinds. Consequently actual tests of this quality cannot be
limited to one method.

[Illustration: DETERMINING SUGGESTIBILI