Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-03-14

"AcS N"Sut INV AA~As
In France l have heard an ironist say:
Yes he was a hero for ten days and now he is
a decorated ruin; a cripple for life"
Yet even "mutiles" can be patched up. They
can be provided with a 'jambe Americalne" and
an arm fixed with all sorts Of joints and springs
that make 1t practical. Last week, in the train to
N-n. l sat next to one such mended hero; he
showed me his arm with real pride, and explained
that for the present he had work In the municipal
markets of Paris; but that he hoped to get trans
ferred to something more ~esthetic; he would pre-
Ter to be a sort of subcuratOr in a picture gallery,
"See, Monsieur. I can hold a fork like this-or
! can grasp a glass; the thumb is exaggeratedly
long; l have to get a special glove. . -"
Yes, the mutiles' features can be nodded into
something like n human semblance, where It's the
face that has suffered. But that is hardly enough.
1t is not enough to make the hero for ten days, the
cripple for a lifetime, look like a man. HI must
be restored to real living-to a part in the world
Of industry. That is for the sake Of Belgium, or
France, or Britain, or whatever his country may
be; 1t is also for the mans own sake.
l have just had a talk with MSS Grace Harper,
chief Of the bureau Of the re.education of mutiles
at American Red Cross headquarters in Paris.
She has shown me estimates that for every mil.
lion men placed In the field France counts on hav-
Ing to care for $4,000 m~utiles-5,OOO Of them q
month. And this figure does not take account Of
SsC WuI-UllLuCu I'LL WNT-ueuEeneu anu W0I.CruZcu.
please do not quote these figures as our own"
says the cautious chief. ''They are the best estl.
mates we have been able to secure, but they are
estimates. %%
France Is working miracles In making over
MANNED men," Miss Harper goes on, but even ut
the close Of 1017 the work Of reconstruction has
not yet caught up with the destructive forces. I'm.
der the French system the wounded soldier passes
from a Post de secours' to a base hospital, and
thence to one Of the eleven existing Centres do
Physiotherapie." At that center he receives sur
gtcal treatment, or physiotherapy. or both, physlo-
therapy meaning electrical or mechanical massage.
Here he receives also an artificial limb, and his
Industrial training Is b%egun--to fit hin for a new
place In the social organism.
The French centers Of physotlerapy are capa.
\ bic Of receiving less than Is per cent Of the mu.
tiles. Happily the schools Of re-educatlon are able
to take care OF some Of those mutlles who must,
perforce, forego the physiotherapeutics
II am talking to you in terms like these because
the problem Is such n big one, and because our
own country. too, must realize something Of tho
problem we are all up against, and the support
that must be given to the American Red Cross II
we IRE either to be Of much help to France or to
ourselves In this business Of making men out OF
wars wastage. But I want you to realize that the
Red Cross did not come to France just to study.
Il. Tor one, have been in Paris since March, 1917.
and have visited practically every lnrge center OF
re-educational work In France, md some Of the
small ones; not MI, by any means, for nomlnally
there are l03 Of them. The Red Cross continues
to study the new developments, the new demands
In the field Of re-educatjon, for when the Ameri.
can ormy has Its full share Of casualties tho Red
Cross. whose FIRST task II to back up that army,
must benent by French and British experience.
But our rcnl program for helping In France has
now advanced beyond the stage Of study.
"A superficial examination Of our field shows
this: The training already provided In France q
industrial training, Of the preparation Of dis.
charged soldiers for such Jobs % stsnography,