Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 150, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1917 — Army Ranks Open To Bantams Now. [ARTICLE]

Army Ranks Open To Bantams Now.

- Washington, July 11.—Small men make as good soldiers as big men in the revised opinion of the war department, which has instructed recruiting stations to open the ranks of the regular army to men no more than five feet one inch in height and who weigh only 110 pounds. The order was issued’ on the basis of a recommendation made by Surgeon General Gorgas, who advised that good men were being kept out by the minimum height and weight limit of five feet four inches and 120 pounds. As a matter of fact, however, recruiting officers had been instructed not to enforce rigidly the height and weight minimum limits and there are now a considerable number in the army who are below the five feet four required. The order will have a wide effect in national guard recruiting and probably in selections for the national army. Regular army * standards govern both of these services in a general Way.