Should there be a close correlation between the number of US graduates and the number of first-year positions available in graduate medical education programs? The statistics in this issue of JAMA indicate a steadily increasing number of positions in most specialties, and also a steadily increasing number of graduates of foreign and US schools filling such positions, along with a substantial number of vacant positions. One thoughtful critic has urged that, with the phasing out of the free-standing internship by 1975, efforts should be made to bring about a concomitant reduction in the total number of house-staff positions, to provide for little more than the number of positions needed by the growing number of US graduates. Those who share this opinion believe that the vacancies in residencies attract foreign graduates, and that, by cutting the number of positions to the number of US and Canadian graduates available, the flow of