The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1919-12-11
BEST OF MEDICAL AND SURGICAL RELIEF
FOR DISABLED HEROES OF WORLD WAR
How the Bureau of War Risk Insurance Is Meeting the Herculean
Problem of Examining, Rating and Returning to Physical
Usefulness Minds and Bodies Wrecked in the
Great European War.

WaShington-The war has brought
the government face to face with a
brand new series of problems. Long
before the armistice was signed, con-
gress foresaw some of the necessities
Of the situation and, starting from the
b~road-angled viewpoint that a man
who has been injured in the service
of his country is not an object of
charity but a person who is entitled
to compensation and medical relief
exactly as is the man who suffers a
hurt at the hands of industry, a wise
Legislative program was inaugurated.
This contemplates that the director
of the bureau of war risk insurance
shall take all the necessary measures
to insure that every person who con-
tracted q disease or suffered an In
jury in military service in the line of
duty during the war with Germany
shall be recompensed therefor, and
that he shall receive such medical
and surgical attention which will re-
turn him to health, or at least shall
bring him the maximum relief posi-
bic in his particular case.
Furthermore, should this ex-soldier,
sailor or marine have lost q limb or
eye, or suffered any hurt for which
a mechanical device may be neces-
sary, that such apparatus shall be fur
nished him without cost. In further
ance of this plan congress has en-
acted enabling legislation and at pres
ent is considering a bill which will
further elucidate its purpose in this
regard.
National in Scope.
There is a man in Washington who
sits all day long facing a gigantic
map of the United States. On it is
shown every railroad, town and ham
let of the nation. Colored pins locate
the hospitals, dispensaries, medical
and surgical consultants and examin-
ers, all of this being the vast field ma
chinery which the government has put
in motion to relieve suffering, prolong
life, and return to efficiency the men
and women whose minds or bodies
may have been broken in humanity's
war.
Some one asked this officer why he
always sat facing this gigantic map,
why he lifted his eyes to it so many
times during the day? The answer
was: $50 that I may always keep be-
fore me the fact that the problem is
national in it's scope and a be solved
only by the maximum breadth OF
vision"
When ngre passed the war risk
insurance act little did anyone dream
of it's far-reaching effect.
No human brain could have fore
e the mu~ltitudinouS variety of
ways in which this beneficent easur
would touch the lives and happiness
of thousands of Americans.
Much Detail Involved.
At first glance the problem appears
easy. If a discharged soldier, sailor,
marine, army or navy nurse, yeo-
man (f) or marinette, car show that
he or she received an injury in service
or suffered an aggravation of a pre-
existing injury or disease, then conn
penSaLlon anu MculCdi anu SuiSASo
treatment, if necessary, must inev-
ftably follow. If it were so simple as
this, every one of these persons would
be able to arrange his compensation
Immediately upon his discharge from
the military forces, and it would be
unnecessary for the government to
employ special examiners and a corps
of medical specialists in order to adj
minister the act with justice to the
beneficiaries and to the government.
But such is not the case. In the
first place, it must be shown that a
claimant was actually in the military
or naval forces of the United States.
Secondly, that he suffered an injury