, 1918-09-12
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@~ Based upon the combined ex
- perience OF the allies and the
central powers, studied at first hand by a corps
Of specialists, and supplemented by cooperative
research under the direction of the Red Gross
Institute for Crippled and Disabled Men, and the
National Association of Manufacturers, a pro
gramme has been worked out by the surgeon gen.
erals Office of the army which is calculated to
insure to every soldier of the United States who
comes back from "over there minus an arm or
a leg, blind, deaf, or otherwise handicapped. a
better chance of reinstatement as a useful mem
Der of society than was afforded to any of the
soldiers of the allies in the first two or three
years of the war.
Germany alone, the only nation that was pre-
pared for this war, had included detailed plans
for the reconstruction of MANNED and mutllated
soldiers in Its war program from the beginning
and, under its autocradc system of government,
has been able to enforce these plans, with the
result that every crippled German soldier is put
to work at some useful occupation with the slight
est possible delay after his injury. The allies
have had to evolve their general plans as well
as particular methods out of the bitter experience
of war, In this as In other phases of the great
conflict, writes Frank Parker Stockbridge in New
York Times.
It was not until after the United States en-
tered the warm May, 1917, to be exact-that
there was anything like a complete exchange of
experiences and principles evolved from them in
respect to the war cripple. Out of the first inter-
dkleu OuleIcuCc III CttO duQ r6-eUuCa-
ton of the disabled combatant, held In Paris May
8 to II, 1917, at which delegates from the United
States surgeon generals office sat for the first
time as representatives of their nation at war,
came an international interchange of knowledge
and ideas concerning the war cripple. At a sec
ond conference, held in London last November, a
permanent interallied committee was established
which viii have its headquarters In a new per-
manent institute for the disabled, endowed by
the French government with 10000 francs $780,
0nnN fnr hufIIfno ona anrIfnrnapt ~ v,atptat,xa
by annual appropriations of 10000 francs x$6,OOO)
each by the different allied nations represented.
Already this clearing house of scientific and
economic information for the benefit Of the war
cripple has done invaluable work in enabling the
warning nations to profit by each others expert
ences and mistakes. Not the least valuable con-
tributions have come from American sources, our
army surgeons having had opportunities for com.
parative observation Of methods in vogue in diff
ferent countri.s denied to those whose nations
had been actually at war for three years. The
United States, therefore, will begin its work OF
restoration witt the accumulated experience OF
nearly four years to build upon.
The first steps toward reinstatement to a self
supporting status, and by far the most important
steps, must be begun almost Immediately after
the soldier receives the incapacltating injury
and carried on continuously and cumulatively
throughout the period of his hospital care.
This is especially true In the case of the SOL
der who has lost a limb, or who has been blinded.
One Of the most important lessons gained from
the experience of the allies, If not the most I'M
portant, is that the problem of the restoration to
usefulness of the crippled soldier is a psyche
logical one, even more than 1t is surgical OF
economic. The experience of the French authori.
ties, who had to deal with a terrific proportion of
mutiles In the first two years Of the war, was
disheartening. Foyer than II per cent Of dis
abled soldiers expressed a desire or even willing
ness to learn how to do useful work. A large
proportion bad lost their nerve" at the same
time that they lost their limbs or their eyesight
most Of them felt that they had done enough fol
their country-that the nation owed them theiI
living without effort. Because facilities for tn,
early employment Of patients. even at trivial oc
equations, were lacking in the military hospitals
they had acquired the habit of fdleness which
when once fixed, is almost ineradicable.
The experience of France differed only in de
gree from that OF the other allied nations II
avoid a similar experience, and not only giv'
every crippled soldier the best possible chanc'
to become self-supporting. but to insure that h
avails himself of the opportunity thus afforded
the psychological and economic rehabilitation o.
every American incapacitated by his injuries 70
further military service will begin with and g
on parallel with his physical rehabilitation
which. in turn, will be a process not merely o
patching up" but of the actual development {
their utmost usefulness of all the injured man
remaining physical powers.
The first reaction of the man who has lost
limb is utter despair. He is dome for" In hi
own estimation. Nobody has any use for a Grip
ple," is the way in which nine out of ten express
IL. Unless he Is a man whose former occupa
,tion has been mental, not dependent upon tn
use of his physical energies, he sees no ray o
hope for his own future. Unless immediatel
~rcctifesl :his state of mind quickly becomes fxe
und all but irremediable. So the first step to
ward rehabilitation, which will begin almost a
soon ms the injured man comes out from unde
the nnesthetic, is what they are terming in tn
surgeon generals Office "cheer-up work" B
Every means that can be devised .he cripple Is {
he convinced that his case is not hopeless, tina
he wi las chances Of becoming again O usefu