New-York tribune., 1916-02-28
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

To the Editor Of The Tribune
Sir: There was young peasant farmer
who went out with his fellows and stopped
the most powerful and perfectly equipped
army Of history. He saved France and the
cause Of gentlcncss and liberty. lie did IT
by the French blood in HMM gay courage
and endurance. He was happy in doing IT..
or, if not happy yet glorious. But he paid
the price. The enemy artillery sent a
splinter of she'll that mangled his arm lie
lay out through the long night on the rlch'
infected soil Then the strctcher bearer
found him, and lifted him to the car ana
carried him to the field hospital. There they
had to operate swiftly, for Infection was
spreading SO he was no longer a whole
man. but he was still Of good spirit for he
had done his bit for France. Then they
bore him TO "A base hospital, where nc had
white sheets and kindly nurse lie lay
there weak and content. Every one was good
TO him. But there came day whch theJ
told him he must leave TO make room lor
the frcsher cases Of need. SO he was turned
loose into world that had no further use
for him. A cripple, he couldn't fight, and ne
couldn't work. for his old job needed two
arms. and he had given one, up yonder on
the Marne. He drifted from shop to shop N
Paris But he didn't know trade. Life
was through with him, so one day he sho,
himself.
That. we learn from authoritative sources,
is the story Of more than one broken soldier
Of JofFre's army.
To be shot clean dead is an easier fate
than TO be turned loose into life. cripple
v,ho must beg his way about. Shall these
men who have defended France be allowed to
rot? All they ask is to be allowed to work.
Il is gallant and stirring TO fight, and when
wounded the soldier is tenderly cared for
But when he comes out, broken. he faces the
btterest thing IN war. After the hospital
what? Too bad. he's hurt-but there is no
room in the trades for any but trained
man.
Why not train him? Why not teach him
trade? Build bridge that will lead him
from the hospital over into normal life.
That is better than throwing him out among
the derelicts Pauperism is an Ill reward for
the service that shattered him, and it is poor
business for world that needs workers. II
these crippled men are not permitted TO re
construct their normal Life, tho French ma
ton will be dragged down by the multitude
of shattered unemployable men, who are be-
ing turned loose from the hospitals men
unfit to fight. unframed to work; new and
ever-increasing army of the miserable The
stout backbone and stanch spirit of even
France will be snapped by this dead weight
of misery.
A society has been formed in Paris to
save these men. For one hundred dollars, q
manned man can be supported and educated
into a worker who will carry himself. Such
trades are taught as basket making, car
pentry, glass work, photography. shoemaking,
tailoring. instrument making, watch making
tinware bookkeeping, shorthand and type
writing.
Only few weeks ago Arthur Ruhl told
this:
"Up through the trees came the voices OF
men singing | asked what this might be.
They were men, my friends explained, who
had had their legs amputated. There were
ffty-eight of them, and the people who
owned the big empty garden across the street
had set 1t aside for them TO live in. There
they could sit in the sun and learn to walk
on their artificial legs-it was sort Of
school for them. ! went TO see it next morn
ing this Garden OF Legless Men,
For legless men like these there are 4
dozen trades open, if they are trained. They
can be made into tailors. typists, mechani-