Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-11-01
CR|PP[ESLEARN|NG
TRADES IN FRANCE
Government, Looking to Fu-
ture, Teaches Wars MutiIat-
ed to Be Machinists.
SERVICES WILL BE NEEDED
WHEN PEACE Is RESTORED
American Inventions Must Supplant
Out-of-Date Methods Heretofore
Used by French Peasants.
BY HERBERT COREY.
DOWNRIGHT. 1915.O

BY HERBERT COREY.
! Copyright. 1879
! PARIS, October 12.-"American ma
chimes must do the work of France I'M
| til we grow a new crop of men,"
| That is the conclusion of DR.. Bour-
rillon, in charge of the great Home for
Convalescents at st. Maurice, near
| Paris. Thirty-two years ago DR.. Va
Classy began a school for the mutilated
here. The intention was to teach
trades to crippled men by which they
| could earn their own living. The war
has resulted in an extension of this
charity.
Most of all we need mechanics" said
DR.. Bourrillon. Every little country
viIlage-no matter how small-should
have it's trained machinist. For look
you, The work which the French
peasant has been doing by hand. as his
fathers have been doing before him,
must hereafter be done by machine"
This article is not to be read as a
signpost to a new market. 1t is not
the effect of the war on America, but
its effect upon France, which should
concern the reader. The war mas
swept the country almost clear of
horses. 1t is to be hoped that the gov
eminent studs have been preserved
against the needs of the future. but
work horses are very scarce. scores
of those on the streets of Paris today
bear the brand scared on in a western
prairie. Scissors horse ran away on
the Champs Elysees yesterday. A
Lazy Y is pulling a dispatch cart for
the foreign office. team made up of
a Bar z gelding and a Whiff1etree mare
snort furiously daily in front of load
of French fashions.
Therefore," said DE-. Bourrillon,
much of our hauling must be done by
to buy the small horse of America. We
have just discovered what valua BILE
thing freight-hau ling motor is"
The farming districts of France have
been swept clear of men. Many of
them-most of them, perhaps-will re-
turn when the war is over. But
Frances population has for years been
practically stationary. The country
had reached the point of saturation.
Before the war there was a job for
each man. The sum came out just
even, with no jobs left over. After the
war there will be almost as many jobs
as ever. but infinitely fewer men.
Waste of Labor on Farms.
The harvesting, now said DR.. Bour-
rillon. I'VE have done it with sickle
and cradle in the greater part OF
France. Ten men, perhaps, were re-
quired to do what one American self
binder would do better. After the war
we will not have so much labor to
spare, but we must get in the crop"
The conclusion is that France will
buy self-binders. She has not bought
many of them in the past, not because
the French farmer is unreasonably I'M
progressive, but because there was a
lack of mechanics in the small towns.
The average country blacksmith rises
to the shoeing of horses and the setting
of tires, and no higher. Ask him to
delve into the complicated tummy of
an American machine and he would
shake his head. There is no argusing
with French workman of this class.
He won't, and there's an end ont
I'VE cannot spare able bodied men to
be mechanics in the small towns" said
DR.. Bourrillon. There will be other
work for them. But the man with one
leg off can mend machinery as well as
sound man. if he only knows how. 1t
is my duty to teach him.
L didn't see DR.. Bourrillon's class of
thirty-two one-legged mechanics in the
making the day l visited the hospital
French government. 1 saw the shop
which is their schoolroom, with
freight motor pulled to pieces at one
side and a steam engine looking like a
picture puzzle at the other. and I'M
identified remains Of other machines
scattered between.
You see,' said DIR. BourriIlon, with a
sympathetic smile, today my master
mechanic has gone to Paris to buy u
dynamo We propose to set up that
dynamo In the shop. Then each man
will pull, that dynamo down and set it
up again and see that it runs So he
will know all about dynamos. Later it
VIII give US power for our operations
here The thirty-two were greatly ex-
cited. They were like children
I'VE wish to 20 to the CITY also. and
see how dynamos are bought they said
to me.
so we put them all in two buses this
morning and they set off on their shop
| ping tour, all talking and all happy-
Ihey are beginning to see light ahead"
100000 "Mutiles,
| The French government is exhibit
ing this wise foresight throughout
france in dealing with it's pitiful .rnu-
tiles, as the crippled of the war are
known. Rumor has it that there are
100000 Of them. 1t is doubtful if the
| exact figures are known. They certain
| iy have not been made public in any
, official way. Today they represent a
national debit. They are of no value
| either IN war or peace, and vet their
services are greatly needed.
SO that they are being trained in the
traoes Tor which they profess a lik-
ing. No effort is being made TO make
mighty skilled workmen of them. The
mutile' mechanic is quite content if
ne can mend housewives American
sewing machine. or tinker the good
mans motor into running condition AS
iast as a man is well grounded in his
new trade a place is found for him in
workshop and he is set to work,
mere are more Jobs today than the -e
are hands to do them. After the war
this condition will be Infinitely ex-
banded.
/ AS in every country, there has been
a trend away from the country dis
Irlcts toward the cities in France said
| DR.. Bourrillon. THE lively, active man
has seen a field for ambition in the
greater towns. To some extent-piti-
fully enough-this current will be
checked by my poor rnutiies. They do
not want TO live in "a CITY, ithaca moo,