The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1918-06-15
WORK FOR CRIPPLED SOLDIERS

We must count on the return from the front of thousands
of crippled soldiers. We must plan to give them on their re-
turn the best possible chance for the future.
Dependence cannot be placed on monetary compensation
in the form of a pension, for in the past the pension system
has proved a distinct failure in so far as constructive ends are
involved. The pension has never been enough to support In
decency the average disabled soldier, but it has been just large
enough to act as all incentive to idleness and semidependence
on relatives or friends.
The only compensation of real value for physical disability
is rehabilitation for self support. Make a man again capable
of earning his own living and the chief burden of his handicap
drops away. Occupation is, further, the only means for max
ing him happy and cOntented.
The disability of some crippled soldiers is no bar to re-
turning to their former trade, but the injuries of many dis
qualify them' from pursuing again their past occupation. The
schools of training prepare these men for some work in which
their physical handicap will not materially interfere with their
production.
The education of the adult is made up largely of his work
ing experience. The groundwork of training in his past Occu-
patton must under no circumstances be abandoned. The new
trade must be related to the former one or be, perhaps, an ex-
tension or specialization of it. For example, a man who. has
done manual work in the building trades may by instruction
in architectural drafting and the Interpretation of plans be
fitted for a foreman's job in which the lack of an arm would
not prove a serious handicap. A trainman who has lost a leg
might wisely be prepared as a telegraph operator, so that he
could go back to railroad work, with the practice of which he
is already familiar.
Whatever training is given must be thorough, for an adult
cannot be sent out to employment on the same basis as a boy
apprentice. He must be adequately prepared for the work he
is to undertake.
The industrial cripple should be considered as well as the
military cripple, for in these days of national demand for the
greatest possible output there should not be left any idle men
who can be made into productive workers.
With the thoughtful placement effort, many men can be
employed directly on the basis of their past experience. With
the disabled soldiers who profit by the training facilities the
government will provide, the task should be even easier.
This, then, constitutes the charge of patriotic duty upon
the employer:
To study the jobs under his jurisdiction to determine what
ones might be satisfactorily held by cripples. To give the
cripples preference for these jobs. To consider thoughtfully
the applications of disabled men for employment, bearing in
mind the Importance of utilizing to as great an extent as
possible labor which would otherwise be unproductive. To
r., HI potuppad co1diop h hopon 90 ofPon:oo L.. - 800,
mcnt. rather than offering him the ienominy of a charity lob
If The employer will do this, it will be a great factor in
making the complete elimination of the dependent cripple a
real and inspiring possibility.