New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-11
Word Cripple" Made Obsolete
Through Modern War Surgery
Even Armless or Legless Sol
diers Made Socially Useful
by New Human Engineer
ing Applied in United
States by General Corgas
By Charles J. Rosebault, of The Vigil

"A ~ ANY interesting messages
have come out Of Wash
ington these past weeks
l. - We have fixed our money
problems, made compre-
hensive plans for a satisfactory army,
for ships, aeroplanes and equipment,
stifed profteering and are managing
about food. Now comes the most won
derful news of all. II is calculated to
make every American rise up and sing
"The Star-Spangled Banner" Best OF
all, it is going to bring reinsurance
and happiness to the home of the SOL
der. What it is going to do for the
future of our country can hardly be
calculated.
Summed up in a phrase, we have
eliminated the words "derelict" and
"crippe' from the national dictionary.
Hereafter. we will see none Of the
wasted manhood which kept alive in
the national consciousness, through
the long years following the Civil and
Spanish wars, the tragic consequences
of warfare. There are to DC no more
instances Of helpless veterans existing
on pensions. useless to themselves, a
drag upon their families, a source Of
irritation to the communities in which
they dwell. 1t is the announced pur-
pose of the United States government
TO make the victims Of shattering bull
let and shell not only useful members
of society, butt sounds incredible
and becomes convincing only because
Of the source whence it emanates-in
many instances more useful. more con-
tented. more successful than before
they donned the uniform Of Uncle
Sam.
Invents Human Engineering
Surgeon General Gorgas-the magi-
clan who expelled mosquitoes and fever
from Panama, so that the canal could
be built without wastage of human life
is the inspiration and driving force
behind the new idea. AS early as last
May he had worked it out definitely
enough to warrant sending abroad for
investigation Major J. L. Goldthwait
Major Goldthwait had been surgeon
in civil life and an expert in orthopedic
surgery. Abandoning his private prac-
tce at the request of the government,
Major Goldthwait, accompanied by a
number of other surgeons, went over
to England and France and made n
thorough study of the work done in the
so-called reconstruction hospitals.
In the meantime Surgeon General
Gorgas had not been idle He had de-
yeloped a theory as TO what should be
done. The basic feature Of this theory
called for experts in a new science
the science of human engineering.
The soldier victim was TO be regard
cd as a smashed machine. To restore
this machine, possibly to reconstruct
it, would REQUIRE the highest kind of
skill in engineering of various sorts.
There would be the surgeon, first of
all This surgeon would have TO be an
expert in orthopedic surgery. Fer such
an army as America viii within the
next year or two have on the Western
front, General Gorgas estimated that
500 expert orthopedic surgeons would
be required.
Qualify Quickly at Front
There are at the present in the whole
United States about $50. But the gem
eral knew-and his judgment was con-
firmed by Major Goldthwait upon his
return to this country-that in the
theatre of the war men of preliminary
training could be made experts in short
order. Major Goldthwait reported that
the experience gained in three months
at the front would more than equal
that which surgeon would have in a
whole lifetime of civil practice.
So much for the medical engineers
who will control only part of the
proposed reconstruction work. The
psychological analyst must follow the
surgeon. Here General Gorgas started
with another fundamental theory.
Many men, he decided. are forced By
circum stances or by environment into