The Washington bee., 1908-09-05
JOBS FOR HANDICAPPED
Bureau Which Does a
Needed Work.
MANY INDECENT POOR

Wages Difficult Problems
Straightened-COst of Maintain
ing Paupers.
Instead Of using boys and girls of
working age for work that cannot
pay full mems wages, have you ever
tried to use a capable man, who has
some handicap, but who will fit into
your work in spite of it?"
This is one of the questions that
have for the last few months been
propounded to employers by the men
who have in charge what is known
as a special employment bureau for
the handicapped, says the New York
Times.
Statistics have been compiled
which show that there is annually q
waste Of $4,000, 900 worth of labor
in the world. In the United States
alone 624,0 persons are disabled
In Industrial accidents. OF these
thousands, It is estimated that 225.-
600 still possess a certain earning
power which can be utilized and here
is where the bureau expects to ap-
peal to the utilization for help. If
these crippled, sick and defective
persons can do so per cent. as much
work as they did before, why should
not that 90 per cent. of labor be ia
ken advantage Of?
The average yearly wage of the
workingman is $3.50. Take your
225,O00 handicapped men who can
still make good and multiply by
1925, half the average wage, and YOU
have in round numbers $4,000. 900
a year saved to the world by the
placing Of willing energies.
Other statistics have shown that it
takes about $4,000 to support a
pauper through the natural term of
life. Keep on figuring and assume
that the world is not willing to take
the responsibility of finding work.
but in taxes, charities and in other
ways prefers to assume the liabilities
Of its paupers, and it is not long be-
fore you find a sum like $2,O0O,OOO,-
900 yearly incurred in this way, the
well mans burden. Eight million
paupers in the British Empire, with
one out of every four dying a public
charge is almost equalled by our own
records.
In the long list of available
'handicaps" none Of the 10000
professional paupers now on the
lists Of the various charitable organ
izatiOns has place or part. These lat
ter have been tried in the fire of
work and patience and have been
found wanting they are the waste
heap Of humanity, for which there is
no adequate testing crucible Is yet.
The "handicaps" are Trustworthy.
Their abilities, ambitions, earning
power and pasts have been thor
oughly Investigated and they have
been as carefully classified.
All classes in society are represent
ed and all ages. The young girl whose
hand has been torn in the machinery
OF a factory and the professor of
bellies lettres whose place has been
taken in the university by a young
man jOstle each other in the line of
application.
What could be found for a girl Of
seventeen, crippled as described?
The answer that such a one has al
ready been placed at the small
switchboard of a telephone with sat
isfactory results disposes of that
question. The professor Of belle let
tres is more than content with being
made private secretary to a wealthy
man.
An old man who has added to the
| allotted years an extra half decade is
pointed out. At one time he was
chief geoIogist for one OF the West
ern railroads. He is an expert chem
ist and, Russian by birth, speaks and
writes seven languages. A place was
found for him as translator on a
mining periodical, but for two years
he had tramped the streets of New
| York seeking employment.
One Of the most difficult problems
] that has to be faced is the heartless-
( ness Of the world toward the man
who has passed his prime and is on
the down grade. Every year the bust
ness world levies on the young man,
and as squeezed oranges they are
thrown aside when youth and vital
ity are gone. There are many places
which might be filed by these
"handicaps" If only employers could
be made to see that age, while it may
| debar from certain roles, has its
J value In the commercial and profes-
| siOnal market
Clerical positions are filled with
the young and inexpert because they
can be had cheaper; girls and boys in
their teens are found in them often
to the detriment of their short
sighted employers. A man who has
had nifty years experience In the
business world might be made much
more useful, even with q handicap,
than boy of seventeen.
The man who is totally blind is q
hard problem, although IN one OF the
candy manufactures a blind man
has been employed for years to crack
/ nuts task which ha fuIfIIs with