Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-04-09
VICTIMS OF WAR
MADE OVER FOR
THEIR OLD JOBS
Industries to Adopt Methods
Used by Government in Re-
building of Wounded Men

The sixth conference of Industrial
Physicians and Surgeons was held
to-day i'm the House of Representa-
tives under the direction of the De-
partment of Labor and Industry. and
big audience of 1aymen, III addition
to the members, saw the most unus-
ual and interesting moving pictures
ever displayed here. Even Douglas
Fairbanks or Charlie Chaplin could
never have pulled stunts such as the
crippled actors exhibited to demon
strate the vital Importance of saving
industrial and war victims. The
films were shown here for the first
time in America-just turned off by
the Federal Government-and they
will be displayed all over the United
States for the purpose of waking up
the nation to the necessity of taking
care of men and women who have
been injured in war and industrial
work. Armless men made a neat job
OF shaving themselves, legless men
cavorted with all the eclat and sang
froid of Chaplin himself and the ac-
tors were mostly businessmen, at
that, men who had found that being
crippled is no hindrance to success.
The Price of Victory
The conference started with a bang
and it was chockful of enthusiasm
to the finish. Chairman DR.. Francis
l.. Patterson. chief of industrial hy-
giene and engineering, Department of
Labor and Industry, took occasion in
opening the session to identify Ger
many in the following classic ar
raignment, which made the huge au-
ditorium ring with cheers:
a painSt an enemy yybo has npith T
respect for human liberty no- rever-
ence for God, who makes war on de-
fenseless mothers and butchers little
children for a German holiday, who
strikes down the aged and the in
finn, the MANNED and the sick, who
makes a shambles of sleep and a
slaughterhouse of prayer, who tram
pies under foot the right of nations
to live and eXalts the harvest of the
sword, who plumbers in the name of
defense and kills in the name of the
Divinity, who blasphemes of victory
one hour and whines like a cur for
peace the next, who dispenses iron
crosses for murder on the field of
ten million crucifXions and chants a
requiem of hate over Freedom 5
dead-against such an enemy then
can only be two alternatives-either
We Must Lay Down the Price of Vic
tory or We Must Lay Down Our
Arms"
Lew r. Palmer, Acting Commits
sioner, read letter from Governor
Brumbaugh bearing on Pennsylva-
MAS duty in this cause, and follow
ing him came Mrs. Samuel Semple,
member of the Industrial Board. who
gave most pertinent and timely ad-
vice about the employing of women
in this state. She believes that wom-
en- should work in industries of
many kinds, but not ALL Her OBJ
servations show that one-fourth of
tine women who are employees in
5000 industrial establishments are
ma arried. One-fourth of these are
widows. Here are the things she
protests against: that women should
have employment which compels
them to stand all day; where they
must lift heavy weights or operate
footpower, or stretch excessively,
and particularly against all night
work.
Major Edward Martin, of the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania and now
with the Medical Officers Reserve
Corps, complimented the industrial
surgeon, for workers in industries
have proved to be less diseased and
susceptible to disease than men in
the Army. He urged cooperation
with the Government and laid par
ticular stress on the universal use of
di- chloramine, which. he says, is the
best antiseptic yet discovered for
treatment of wounds and injuries.
The man who owns or controls an
industry came under criticism from
Major Joseph C. Bloodgood, of Johns
Hopkins, who declared that the fac
tories have never given their medical
department a chance or encourage
ment. He said the remedy will be
to cooperate with the Government.
DIR. ShOudy's Views
This line of advice was taken up
by the next speaker, DR.. Loyal A.
Shoudy, chief surgeon of the Bethle-
hem Steel Company, who did not
mince words in criticising the owners
of industries. "If | paraded down
through the streets of Harrisburg
the thousands of blind and crippled
persons injured in industrial work,
the city would have the shock of it's
history" he said. I'VE do not ap-
preciate the number because the in
iuries come singly. They are a bur-
den because no one has seen fit to
make these victims over. The war
has shown us the value of manpower
as nothing else could have done. We
are planning to rehabilitate soldiers,
but we are neglecting the Industrial
cripples. If this country had been
awake, we would now have human
repair shops ready for the first hun
dred thousand crippled who will ar
rive when America gets in action.
Every man disabled in industry has
! been turned adrift. This is all
wrong. There must be national con-
troll of this injustice. Means must
| be taken to support these men and
not by charity. Last year 900