The agency's 1919-20 biennial report outlined the problem. Pennsylvania industries, running at full capacity to supply the war effort, suddenly got federal orders to halt production upon Germany's surrender. Some industries had held jobs for those soldiers, but others did not. The reason was as much political as economic. With the Red Scare alive after the October 1917 revolution in Russia, American patriots were careful to take every step, no matter how small, to reduce the risk of domestic unrest in the United States.
Every job given strengthens the arms of the defenders of law and order.
This agency was given responsibility for helping disabled people find gainful employment. The previous year, Massachusetts had been the first state to allot public funds to rehabilitate disabled people. The real horsepower behind this task came in 1920 when Congress passed the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, which provided matching federal funds to the states for vocational training, counseling, artificial limbs, and placement services. The location of several offices in the coal regions was no coincidence, because one third of all cases were caused by accidents in mines. Unemployment lines in the 1930s, such as this one in Philadelphia, stretched for blocks.