Evening star., 1918-01-27

now actively engaged In fighting and
before many months
Reha hi1itatino we shall be confront
=, -, ed by the necessity
the wounded. of restoring physio-
ally and mentally as completely and
quickly as possible the wounded and
streaming back from the battle front,
and putting them back into industry.
where they can give full "quid" for
every quo they receive in the form
Of wages or payment for what they
produce.
Unfortunately. It is said. we have
done too little In the way OF proper
medical. surgical and hospital treat
ment of men injured in industry. and
we have done almost nothing to re-
store the crippled man to industry.
On the other hand. 1t is most for
tunate that the surgeon general Of the
Army and his staff are fully cog
infant of the Importance Of this work
and have enlisted the enthusiastic In
terest and cooperation of physicians
and surgeons throughout the country,
in the medical and surgical aspects of
the great task before them. Every
agency, governmental or private. the
government officials believe. which can
contribute anything to the solution Of
the problem of how to restore the
wounded man to industry Is hard at
work assisting in organizing q system
Of training that will not only meet
present requirements, but that can be
continued after the war to care for the
industrial cripples. The division Of
military and naval insurance Of the
in ha
reau OF labor statistics and the federal
board for vocational education all have
extremely important functions to per-
form toward the working out of such
system. They will be materially as
sisted in their constructive work by
what has already been accomplished in
Great Britain Canada and France,
In Great Britain, say our experts, who
have been studying this question for
months now; at the beginning Of the
sion rs existed for the caro- Of disabled
officers and men was divided between the
admiralty. the war office and the Royal
Hospital Of Chelsea The admiralty dealt
with al naval cases. the war Office with
officers Of the Army and the Royal Hos
pital Of Chelsea awarded pensions to dis
abled soldiers and provided artificial limbs
IN amputation cases. Care Of the mems
families while they were In the service
and for the disabled after discharge was
and largely supported by voluntary con-
tributions.
With the progress of the war, say those
who have studied the matter, the need
for more systematic provision led. in 1915,
to tho creation in England Of the war
pensions statutory committee, having
among Its duties Q) the care of the dis
aDied officers and men after they had left
the service, including provision for their
health. training and employment, and (2)
the making OF grants in special cases for
the purpose Of enabling the dependents
OF the deceased officers and men to OBJ
tain employment. For assisting in the
execution OF its duties the committee
was empowered to establish local COM
mittees for every county and large town
in the country.
Developing still further a more CEN
traized administration was effected by
the creation Of the ministry of pensions
IN 1916. All pensions work for disable
ment, handled by the Chelsea Hospital,
the admiralty and the war office, was
transferred to the new ministry, and the
statutory committee with its attendant
local committees was placed under its di-
rection and control. For the further CO.
ordination OF effort the whole country
was divided into twenty or more districts
and the local committees of each area
were organized into a joint committee.
without surrendering their local functions.
We have not reached a point yet in this
country where we need such an organiza-
ton. but this matter Is being very care
fully dealt with by government officials
even now.