The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-07-21
TEACHING The CRIPPLES
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
BY Frederic j. Haskin. Director,
Washington, ID. G.

crippled soldiers has Just been estab-
lished in New York City. private
philanthropist of New York, Mr.. Jere-
miah Milbank. started it with check
for fifty thousand dollars, and the war
council of the Red Cross is to carry it
on. Already all sorts of working
equipment has been installed, from
typewriters and sewing machines to
carpenters tools and broom straw. so
that when our first detachment of
crippled soldiers and sailors are re-
leased from the base hospitals new
future will be awaiting them. In the
meantime, the school will be used Tor
industrial cripples, of whom there is
a startling number.
This is the first war lin which the
state or society has recognized its full
duty toward the derelicts of battle
Before, the state felt that it had dis
charged all responsibility when 1t paid
a man a small pension for his dis
ability, but today that does not suf-
flee. A pension of $50 month does
not compensate man for the loss OF
a remunerative occupation or even an
unremunerative one, if it happened to
be congenial. You cannot pay man
in coin for the loss of a congenial oc-
cupation which is one of the greatest
gifts of life.
There was a British soldier sent
home shortly after the beginning of
the war with his right arm gone. Dur
ing the entire period of his conva-
lescence in the hospital, this man
had,-as Huckleberry Finn would say,
a we'll developed case of the IAN
tods" The nurses racked their brains
for material to cheer him up, but he
remained consistently gloomy. Final
1y one of them succeeded in gaining
his confidence. 1T amt that 1 mind
bein' wounded" he told her, but
amt no more good for clock-makin.
1t kinda sounds silly to say it, but 1
did love to make those little clocks"
The French were the first to under
take the business of re-educating
their crippled soldiers to fill up the
gaps in industry. The French are al
ways thinking up new schemes to take
care of their INDECENT and poor.
Moreover, some say it was the French
who first introduced technical and
commercial education, altho the Ger
mans quickly grabbed the idea as well
as the credit for it. The first institu-
ton for war cripples was opened in
Lyons, France in 1914 The buildings
were contributed by the town, and the
funds raised by popular subscription,
while the minister of war agreed to
pay about 20 cents a day for each SOL
der.
This was 80 cents less than the gov
eminent paid to men who stayed in
their own homes, the deduction being
made on the grounds that the school
was in the nature Of a hospital. The
men did not see the government line
of reasoning, however, and there was
considerable grumbling. which the
mayor of Lyons dispelled by allowing
each man 80 cents from the funds of
the institution as long as it was pos
sible to spare it. Besides this, the
m en- ni0Vod fha q
of the goods they manufactured.
France tried several plans before it
finally adopted the technical board
ing school as the most satisfactory
one. First, the government paid the
crippled soldier a certain allowance
while he lived in his own home and
learned trade by becoming an APP
prentice in some workshop in his
neighborhood. This did not turn out
well at ALL He had the constant ex-
ample of men working without
handicap before him, and he soon be-
came discouraged.
The second plan provided that the
man should also live in his own home,
but should attend a vocational school
which would teach him a trade and
also serve him a substantial meal in
the middle of the day hat he
would not have to waste time in go
ing home. This plan was bettcr than
the first. but not SO efficient as the
the institution and was under the
constant supervision of his instruc-
tors The instructors have not only to
inculcate a trade, but a new psychol-
ogy in the cripple.
Now there are nearly twenty such
schools in France, and almost as
many in Great Britain. A man must
be cured of disease and his wounds
healed in a hospital before he is ac-
! zl.&z
and he must also be unfit for further
military duty. Furthermore, man
must be physically strong enough to
take his place in the Industrial army.
After thoro physical examination,
the soldier cripple is conducted over
the establishment and permitted to
make his choice of occupation. The
! school courses, with a few exceptions,
| include bookkeeping, shorthand and
! typewriting, book-binding, r.
stitching, woodwork and drawing,
| making, Recommending, garden
| ing, crude forms of machinery, wood
carving, tailoring and toy making.
The last has been an occupation much
| encouraged in France recently, since
| before the war 80 per cent of French
toys were supplied by the Germans
and the people are determined not to
\ return to German toys when the war
| is over.
A special course, known as account
| ing, is also taught 1t includes book
keeping and stenography, arithmetic,
! geography, history, English and Rus
sian, and is far the most popular
course. Every soldier wants TO take
| it, but unfortunately many of them
are ~precluded on account of the lack
! of sufficient elementary education
When soldier has mastered a new
vocation-and it is astonishing how
soon they learn to get along without
tho usual number of legs, arms and
hands-the school undertakes to place
him in the industrial world. Thus
| hundreds of efficient workers have
been returned to industry. Then the
schools encountered a new problem
| What was to be done about EMPLOY
ers' liability? Would the private cor
/ porations insure against accident men
rln1n or