Just had to clarify...someone several pages ago mentioned 'CW lost its usefulness by the lated 30's or so
I never said any such thing. CW will always be useful (to some extent or another) as long as there are at least two people who know it. My point was that as a test element, it was outdated by WWII or so. For discussion sake, let's go with your time line, let's say it was still the main comms mode until the early 70s (I disagree with this premise since in any segment, amateur, commercial or military, voice comms and/or other data comms use far out paced Morse comms.) Surely, you are not suggesting, this still pertains today? Go talk to any military recruiter. Asking him how many diddy-bobbers he/she are recruiting. They won't even know what your are talking about. The top 10 most wanted job specialties (MOS) recruiters are looking for today don't include ANY that fall in the Signal or Military Intelligence areas, the two where someone with Morse Code skill would work.
So, it's not about usefulness, it's about whether the Morse Code should be part of the amateur radio test.