The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-08-08
Vocational Education. Board
is Not, Giving Soldiers :.
.ii ia Proper Chance
ONLY ELEVEN JOBS
SECURED FOR THEM
Have to Wait for Weeks
Without Pay-Unable to Get Posi-
tions Under Civil Service-Discrim-
ination Against Some Men.

, ~ - s = 7lfa. r
ination Against Some Men.
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. S.-Hun
dreds Of war cripples throughout the
country are registering serious com
plants against the Intellectual results
obtained bys.fhe federal board for vo-
cational education, the government ag
ency charged by congress with the re
sponsibility of retaining disabled sol
diers for lives of usefulness. accord
ing to statement issued by the as
sociation. for. disabled soldiers, sailors
and marines
Cases of wounded soldiers who have
been made to suffer untold delay, in |
Justice and actual hardship because OF |
the faulty administration of the fed |
eral board are said to have come to
the attention of the association, which |
is an organization of over 5000 dis
abled ex-serviee men bent on getting
square deal for themselves and for
the thousands of their fellows who are
badly in need of encouragement and
constructive assistance
The federal board for vocational ed
ucation, with headquarters at Washing
tton, is under the Craftsmanship of Sec
rotary of Agriculture Houston. Secre
ltary of Commerce Redfeld, Secretary
| of Labor Wilson and Commissioners bf
| Education Claxton are members of the
/ board. while James 2. Monroe as vice
/ chairman.
The director of the board is Charles
A. Prosser. The association of disabled
soldiers, sailors and marines, with head
quarters in Philadelphia, was organ.
lied nationally in June of this year.
Raymond L.. Cuneff is chairman, John
IL. Ridgway' is secretary, Harry Remes
is treasurer and Robert F. Browning
| is field secretary.
The statement of the association fol
lows in part:
After waiting patiently for many
months for the federal board to make
adequate provision for the scores OF
cripples who were barred from return
ing to their old jobs because of dis
abilities incurred in service and after
urgihg q 4 President Wilsonato veto + the
sundry civil appropriation bill so that
the federal board might receive $14,
100000 TO carry on its work unimped
ed, the association has reached tho
point where it feels that the public
ought to be informed of the situation
regarding the disabled soldier:
"(D According to a report of the
federal board under date of June u.
1919, only eleven men have been placed
IN remunerative employment after com
pleting courses of training. This would
Indicate an alarmingly low figure con
sideriEg the number of disabled sol
diers who have completed training
courses.
) "(2) Hundreds of men have com
planned that they were compelled to
wait from six weeks to six months with
out pay and forced to depend on the
help of friends or charity before then
cases were finally acted upon by the
board.
"(3) A number of men have com
planned that in spite of President Viii
!. Eson' s order that physical examina
1 tions be waived in the eases of mer
certified by the federal board for civi
service Jobs, the board refused to Civ,
the required data and that consequent
" they were unable to obtain the posi-
tions under the civil service.
80 1t has recently come to the at
tention of the association that the fed
l eral board has issued to its fourteen
precedence be given to cases of serious
Nv disabled men over those with mino
! injuries. Such a ruling is resented b,
. The thousands of soldiers who have suf
fered less conspicuous disabilities, Blu
who. nevertheless, are prevented from
returning to their old jobs and VIII
I, need retaining just as much as tn
: man who lost an arm or leg in bat
e tie.
lei "(5). Many of those being traine'
under the federal board auscipes hav
objected to their pay being reduces
: by the board by the amount that the.
earned while learning new trade. Thl
is manifestly unfair, they claim. sine
y such a method offers no incentive TO
m progress and it encourages the employ
&c er to exploit the disabled soldier.
.(6.) Another grievance of the as
ISOLATION is that it has not learned Q
,of a single disabled soldier among til
500 employees of the federal boart
= Australia points proudly to its deparf
y ment of repatriation, which has 80 pc
cent of returned disabled soldiers j
it's employ. AsHs 4 *s-ss' 4 - s's-'-fs
i s.(74. The federal board has al
ltnounced that It has made contracts wit
fb146. 9y1 men! for training. and that
| this number only 5,s0s already hav
hfbeeh placed in tEaining. Atsits presef
Ifrate Of progress IT will take the boar
over a year to splace this number
training. As a result over 100000 di
abled men will be waiting without pa
from the federal board.
/ 'sIn general it has been the exper
i ence of the association that the fee
eral board for vocational education 'hs
shown a decided unwillingness to c.
operate with existing agencies tn:
have offered their facilities freely an
generously for, training and absorDir
e into employment disabled soldiers; tn;
it has acted in bureaucratic fashif
by demanding for its headquarters
Washington absolute power and by q
priving its district vocational officers !,
49, .o;.;o+;xa and that tho fpder