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We must count on the return from the front of thousands of crippled soldiers. We must plan to give them on their return the best possible chance for the future.

Dependence cannot be placed on monetary compensation in the form of a pension, for in the past the pension system has proved a distinct failure in so far as constructive ends are involved. The pension has never been enough to support in decency the average disabled soldier, but it has been just large enough to act as an incentive to idleness and semi-dependence on relatives or friends.

The only compensation of real value for physical disability is rehabilitation for self-support. Make a man again capable of earning his own living and the chief burden of his handicap drops away. Occupation is, further, the only means for making him happy and contented.

With the humanitarian aim of restoring crippled men to the greatest possible degree and the economic aim of sparing the community the burden of unproductivity on the part of thousands of its best citizens, the European countries began soon after the outbreak of hostilities the establishment of vocational training schools for the rehabilitation of disabled soldiers. The movement had its inception with Mayor Edouard Herriot of the city of Lyons, France, who found it difficult to reconcile the number of men who had lost an arm or legs, but were otherwise strong and well, sunning themselves in the public squares, with the desperate need for labor in the factories and munition works of the city, so he induced the municipal council to open an industrial school for war cripples, christened Ecole Joffre. This institution opened to receive its first pupils in December, 1914. It has proved the example and inspiration for hundreds of similar schools since founded throughout France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, and Canada.

The disability of some crippled soldiers is no bar to returning to their former trade, but the injuries of many disqualify them from pursuing again their past occupation. The schools of re-education prepare these men for some work in which their disability will not materially prejudice their production.

The education of the adult is made up largely of his working experience. The groundwork of training in his past occupation must under no circumstances be abandoned. The new trade must be related to the former one or be, perhaps, an extension or specialization of it. For example, a man who had done manual work in the building trades may by instruction in architectural drafting and the interpretation of plans be fitted for a foreman's job, in which the lack of an arm would not prove of serious handicap. A trainman who had lost a leg might wisely be prepared as a telegrapher, so that he could go back to railroad work, with the practice of which he is already familiar.

Whatever training is given must be thorough, for an adult cannot be sent out to employment on the same basis as a boy apprentice. He must be adequately prepared for the work he is to undertake.

One of the great modern advantages to the one-armed soldier are the working appliances which are supplanting the artificial limb designed largely for appearances. The new appliances are designed with a practical aim only in view; they vary according to the trade in which the individual is to engage. For example, the appliance for a farmer would be quite different from that which a glassblower would be provided. Some appliances have attached to the stump a chuck in which various tools or hooks can interchangeably be held. The wearer uses these devices only while at work; for evenings and holidays he is provided with a "dress arm," which is made in imitation of the lost natural member.

An important factor in the success of re-educational work is an early start, so that the disabled man shall have no chance to go out unemployed into the community. In even a short period of exposure to the sentimental sympathy of family and friends, his "will to work" is so broken down that it becomes difficult again to restore him to a stand of independence and ambition. For this reason, therefore, the plan for his future is made at as early a date as physical condition admits, and training is actually under way before the patient is out of the hospital.

In the readjustment of the crippled soldier to civilian life, his placement in employment is a matter of the greatest moment. In this field the employer has a very definite responsibility.

But the employer's duty is not entirely obvious. It is, on the contrary, almost diametrically opposite to what one might superficially infer it to be. The duty is not to "take care of," from patriotic motives, a given number of disabled men, finding for them any odd jobs which are available, and putting the ex-soldiers in them without much regard to whether they can earn the wages paid or not.

Yet this method is all to common. A local committee of employers will deliberate about as follows: "Here are a dozen crippled soldiers for whom we must find jobs. Jones, you have a large factory; you should be able to take care of six of them. Brown, can you not find places for four of them in your warehouse? And Smith, you ought to place at least a couple in your store."

Such a procedure cannot have other than pernicious results. In the first years of war the spirit of patriotism runs high, but experience has shown that men placed on this basis alone find themselves out of a job after the war has been over several years, or in fact, after it has been in progress for a considerable period of time.

A second weakness in this method is that a man who is patronized by giving him a charity job, comes to expect as a right such semi-gratuitous support. Such a situation breaks down rather than builds up character, and makes the man progressively a weaker rather than a stronger member of the community. We must not do our returned men such injury.

The third difficulty is that such a system does not take into account the man's future. Casual placement means employment either in a make-shift job as watchman or elevator operator such as we should certainly not offer our disabled men except as a last resort -- or in a job beyond the man, one in which, on the cold-blooded considerations of product and wages, he cannot hold his own. Jobs of the first type have for the worker a future of monotony and discouragement. Jobs of the second type are frequently disastrous, for in them a man, instead of becoming steadily more competent and building up confidence in himself, stands still as regards improvement and loses confidence every day. When he is dropped or goes to some other employment, the job will have had for him no permanent benefit.

Twelve men sent to twelve jobs may all be seriously misplaced, while the same twelve placed with thought and wisdom and differently assigned to the same twelve jobs may be ideally located. If normal workers require expert and careful placement, crippled candidates for employment require it even more.

The positive aspect of the employer's duty is to find for the disabled man a constructive job which he can hold on the basis of competence alone. In such a job he can be self-respecting, be happy, and look forward to a future. This is the definite patriotic duty. It is not so easy of execution as telling a superintendent to take care of four men, but there is infinitely more satisfaction to the employer in the results, and infinitely greater advantage to the employee. And it is entirely practical, even in dealing with seriously disabled men.

A cripple is only debarred by his disability from performing certain operations. In the operations which he can perform, the disabled man will be just as efficient as his non-handicapped colleague, or more so. In the multiplicity of modern industrial processes it is entirely possible to find jobs not requiring the operations from which any given type of cripples are debarred. For such jobs as they can fill the cripple should be given preference.

Thousands of cripples are now holding important jobs in the industrial world. But they are men of exceptional character and initiative and have, in general, made their way in spite of employers rather than because of them. Too many employers are ready to give the cripple alms, but not willing to expend the thought necessary to place him in a suitable job. This attitude has helped to make many cripples dependent. With our new responsibilities to the men disabled in fighting for us, the point of view must certainly be changed. What some cripples have done, other cripples can do -- if only given an even chance.

The industrial cripple should be considered as well as the military cripple, for in these days of national demand for the greatest possible output there should not be left idle any men who can be made into productive workers.

With thoughtful placement effort, many men can be employed directly on the basis of their past experience. With the disabled soldiers who profit by the training facilities the government will provide, the task should be even easier.

This, then, constitutes the charge of patriotic duty upon the employer:

To study the jobs under his jurisdiction to determine what ones might be satisfactorily held by cripples. To give the cripples preference for these jobs. To consider thoughtfully the applications of disabled men for employment, bearing in mind the importance of utilizing to as great an extent as possible labor which would otherwise be unproductive. To do the returned soldier the honor of offering him real employment, rather than proffering him the ignominy of a charity job.

Douglas C. McMurtrie, Director