The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-12-08

erD. In recent issue OF The Jour-
nal Of the American Medical Associa-
ton. DR.. Herbert J.sHalf Of Marble
head. Mass. discusses this question and
reviews the efforts that are being made
to help the invalid to-become self-sup-
porting. We do not have to search long
for suggestive examples Of work among
Handicapped people. Tho blind have
thriving industries. the cripple schools
have for q long time been engaged in
teaching their pupils trades adapted to
severe limitations. One Of the most re-
freshing activities Of modern institu-
| tional life 10 to be found in the schools
for feeble-minded such Al that at wav-
erly. Mass. where. under DR.. Fernald.
there Il an effective system manned al
most wholly by patients who in the old
days woud have been idle. In the in
sane hospitals all over the world the
patients are moro and more generally
given work to do in connection with the
farms and households, and lately in
workshops like that Of DR.. Tuttle at the
Mclean Hospital In Waverly and at the
Hans schonow under DR.. Laehr in Ber-
lin. Besides all this activity in char
table or semi-charitable institutions.
there has Of late years been . remark
ably effective use Of modified work A.
remedy in the sanitoriums for the
treatment Of nervous exhaustion among
people of means who have overworked
and overworried or who are suffering
from the effects Of too much idleness.
These Industrial experiments have all
been 80 hopeful in the results. 20 bene-
fetal to the workers and 20 surpris-
ingly productive that 1t seems almost
certain that important Developments
may DO expected from outpatient in
dustries.
In sanitorium work with nervously
exhausted patients. it has been found
that among persons Of education. and
taste the ancient handicrafts offer a
most interesting and profitable means
Of remaining strength. Some modifca-
ton Of this crafts-work system win be
easily available for hospital shops.
Crafts work is a vague term and may
be easily misunderstood. 1t means.
generally speaking. work by hand In
stead of by machine. and It includes
almost any useful and ornamental
product. from a rug to coal scuttle
The important difference IL that the
crafts work at its best IL confined to
products that can be made better by
hand. The world Is beginning to APP
preciate that a great many articles OF
daily use are best produced in this slow
way. It is true that the finest work Of
tho craftsman, the goldsmithery and
silversmiti1ery. the wonderful dyes and
weaves that make inimitable fabrics.
can be done only by highly trained
workers. But there is an enormous mass
Of routine and preparatory work in the
crafts. and this work can be done per-
fectly well by handicapped persons II
they are carefully directed and con-
trolled.
Men are thrown out Of employment for
very trivial reasons-it does not follow
that they are good for nothing because
they fail to fit the particular job they
happened to find available. The new
system will gather up these sick and
discarded workers and adapt them to
work which will be graded and coE-
trolled to meet any degree of handi-
cap. There will be some agreeable sur
prises for those who bring this plan to
pass. Many a woman considered unit
by the great industries. many q man
injured or worn out by the grind Of
the factories, win prove to be highly
ehicient under conditions that are
slightly altered to meet the especial
need. The wastefuf policy Of the reg
ular industries may or may not be nee
essary. but It il likely to necessftate O
secondary system of labor. Some day
II will be impossible for society to sup
port the number Of sick and idle; then
the new system will come in earnest.
Hospital workshops Of varied kinds may
become nearly or quite self-supporting.
Hand-weaving, Woodworking. wood
wood-carving. leather-worlking. pottery.
basket-weav1ng, and cement-work1ng
have all been tried.
Last year hve persons working In the
pottery established by an Eastern hos
pital made and sold six thousand dol
lars worth Of pottery. The money val
ne Of handicapped labor has been DEM
onstrated again and again in instttu-
tional life. Last summer a snan group
Of men patients at the State Colony In
Gardner, Mass. produced forty thous-
and dollars worth Of supplies from the
hospital farm. On the Pacific coast.
within the past two years has been es-
tablished a pottery in connection with
a hospital In which. under expert guild
ance, q group Of convalescent tubercu-
losis girls are paying their expenses-l
q dollar a day-whf1e they are under
sanatorium treatment. We are Begin
ming to see tho possibilities OF a prin-
ciple, which. given systematic applica-
ton. may change the face Of charit-
able affairs, . principle which may be
expected. to restore many discouraged
and enfeebled workers to full efficiency.
There are many trades and crafts
which may be adapted to this purpose.
There are pathetic limitations to such
q plan and many q wiling worker could