The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-10-27

INC NUMBER OF men entering training
VIII equal theirs by the middle of No
vember.
| Suggestion is made that we have
established large number of contacts
with men on whose cases we have not
acted. 1t is not my purpose to excuse
delay nor to present an abb, but this
number of contacts includes oil the
men whose names have been referred
TO us by the Red Cross or other agen-
cles, or whose names we have as hav-
ing been IN hospital for any cause
during their service. A large number
OF these men are now suffering from
no disability whatever.
The law under which we operate al
lows us to train men who are yoca
tionally handicapped, paying them a
subsistence allowance, but at the same
time allows us to give job improve
ment training without same subsist.
ence allowance to all men who have
/ been awarded compensation, even
though their injuries do not consti.
tute vocational handicap
Should Congress pass the bill which
is now pending and which provides
compensation on basis of $50 per
month for total disability. this pro
vision would allow a much larger num-
Der Of men to take advantage of what
we call section training, because of
| the fact that their compensation allow
maintaining themselves while taking
Job Improvement courses or when at
tending school even though their dis
anees would assist them materially in
ability is not vocational handicap.
Some have questioned the small
number Of men who have been placed
IN employment after training. | am.
wondering whether or not it is not to
the credit OF the government, rather
than to its discredit, that these men
| are given the benefit of courses of rea
sonable length before being placed in
employment, rather than being turned
out with comparatively short courses.
The average length OF courses so far
approved Is 9s months, so You see at
this time relatively few men have com
pleted their courses and are ready for
placement.
We have tried to give first attention
to men wieh major handicaps. at the
same time giving all consideration pos
sible to men with minor disabilities.
In fact, recently, the district officers
have been wired to place Immediately
in training all men who had suffered
major amputation without referring
their cases to the Washington office
for action. As soon as we can take
care Of men suffering from major han
dicaps, we shall turn our entire atten-
ton to those suffering from minor dis
abilities
The statement has been made that
we have "conhscated' the wages of
men in placement training. This has
never been done. When we have placed
a man in training in shop he has
been given the maintenance allowance
and at the same time allowed to retain
what the employer paid him. Any
statements to the contrary are not |
based upon the facts Of the case
In regard TO medical attention. it /
has not been the desire of this board |
to build up separate governmental |
medical organization We have been |
in negotiation with the bureau of pub. /
lie health and with the war risk nsur- /
ance bureau and have reached an |
agreement All men in training who /
are entitled "a the service Of the pub /
lie health service or bureau of war risk |
insurance will receive it, and such 9TH
ers as are not entitled to such at
tention will be cared for at the ex-
pense Of the federal board for voca-
tional education No man under the
care of the board will be neglected.
but necessary medical care provided in
every case.
1t has been suggested that the board
"decentralize. We have Ia district
offices established, but the general pol
icies Of the board must be formulated
aud in part administered from cen
trial office The district offices are spe;
officially authorized TO place in train
ing without reference to central Office
all cases Of major amputation, includ.
ing loss of sight and we are sending
TO each one of the districts at least
once in two weeks representative
from this Office who can act on all cases
ready The reply to the criticism is
that central office at Washington is at
present 10000 cases ahead OF the dis
trict office in approyals in other words,
we have approved Of 10000 cases more
than the district offices have been able
to put in training, either because they
we're unable to find the men, who did
not reply to letters, or whose postoilice
address had been changed or the men Il
were physically unable to attend or H
The schools or shops were not ready for
them.
1t has also been suggested that we
should establish earlier and closer con
act in the hospitals. Instructions
nave gone out to vocational advisers
n the hospitals to Survey every man
n the wards Of the hospitals, and dis
rict vocational officers have been in
,tructed to act on all cases of men I
discharged from hospitals from now {