Omaha daily bee., 1919-06-07
What We Owe Our Dis
CHARGED Soldiers
By Mai. Gen, Leonard Wood.

Appreciation of the work done by our SOL
diers, sailors and marines in the great war can
best be shown by active measures to return
them to suitable civil employment upon their
discharge from service. 1t is national duty
and one not to be shirked by nation that
stands for justice and square dealing. Our SOL
diers were sent to their training camps, to the
battle line, with every demonstration of ma
tons appreciation of the sacrifice that these
men were willing to make. Now that the active
clined to lose interest in those who made our
success possible. This is the time for the ma
ton to show that it understands and appreciates
the sacrifices which our men willingly made
when they answered the call for national
service.
The 100000 men inducted into the service,
less the dead are being returned to their homes.
We must organize all lines of effort so that
every possible opportunity will be given them
to settle down happily in civil life. Some of
them we will find bit difficult to handle and
we must have considerable patience with them.
They have been through big experience. Some
are bit unreasonable in way, and perhaps it
is hard for them to settle down.
In seeing that they are returned to suitable
civil employment, and by that l mean employ
ment in which they will find contentment we
will find it at times difficult to deal with them
We must remember that many of these men,
before going in for the great adventure, had
never been far from home, had never seen the big
things of life, had never had the opportunity of
finding themselves During their service in the
army they found out that all men were equal
except as distinguished one from the other by
such CHARACTERISTICS as physique, education and
character. They discovered that men who are
loyal, attentive to duty, always striving to do
more than required, stood out among their fel
lows and were marked for promotion. Natural
ly many of them now see that their former en-
ployment will not give them the opportunities
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and for that reason they want change. They
want kind of employment which offers oppor
tunties for promotion. Many such men are
fitted for forms of employment which offer
this advantage, and they must be given the op
portunlty to try to make good in the lines of
endeavor which they elect to follow. It is not
charity to give these men the opportunities for
which they strive. 1t is justice. Others are
not mentally equipped to take advantage of such
opportunities if offered and with these we will
find it more difficult to deal They must be rea-
soned with, and directed if possible, into the
kind Of employment best suited to their charac-
terstcs
We will find many of the men have tempor-
arily lost efficiency in the lines of employment
which they followed before entering the service,
but for that reason alone they must not be de-
prived of the opportunity to regain their eff
cheney in those lines nor can they be offered re-
duced wages during this period.
Our soldiers, sailors and marines offered
themselves for the great adventure. Many of
them have been through the great adventure,
in which they offered their lives to the end that
justice might prevail and the world made safe
to live in. Those who did not come face to face
with the great adventure nevertheless were
ready to do so, and it was through no fault of
theirs that they did not have the opportunity.
In training camps working from early morning
until late at night, fitting their bodies to meet
the physical hardships of war, fitting their minds
to meet the mental shock of combat, and in the
battle line under sou-strring conditions, these
men stood ready to make the great sacrifice
Let us remember that square deal for our
honorab1y discharged soldiers, sailors and ma
rines will strengthen the morale of the nation
and will help to create sound national con-
sciousness ready to act promptly in support of
truth, justice and right