The sun., 1919-03-20
INTEREST LAGS IN
CARE OF WOUNDED
Few Attend Meeting Held in
Carnegie Hall to Aid Re-
Mobilization. .
CAPTAIN BAKER SPEAKS
War Blinded Need Right Kind
Of Encouragement,
He Says.

Col Frank Biliinss. chief Of the divi-
sion OF physical reconstruction OF the
ONCE of the Surgeon General, admin
istered a singing rebuke--albeit uttered
in mild tones-to the people Of New York
last night for their lack Of interest
in tho international conference on the
rehabilitation of the disabled now being
held here under tho auspices of the Red
Cross. He was speaking at Carnegie
Hall at what had been advertised as
mass meeting. with experts from America
and the various allied countries to tell
about the wounded soldier and his needs.
But Carnegie, where time and time
again during the war audiences that
made a sea Of faces from platform to
topmost gallery cheered our victorious
soldiers to the echo. held last night n
mere handful, q scant 500 men and
women, who were all that cared enough
about our MANNED soldiers to come out
on rainy night.
"It behooves us now" Col. Billings
said. ito keep up the morale of the
wounded soldier--it behooves every one
who has a grain OF influence to en-
| courage the wounded man to stay in the
military hospital till he has received the
education the Government is willing 70
give him. that will enable him to take q
mans place among men. We aren't go
ing to accomplish the rehabilitation OF
the wounded men easily. II isn't going
to be done by turnouts like this-by one
tenth Of the people who should be here
coming to a meeting on a subject that
! should be near our hearts. I appeal for
| the support of all men ana women for
this work. Support the papers that are
published in the military hospitals, take
an interest in the reconstruction Of those
who have risked their lives and come
back no longer whole. Don't be guilty
Of forgetting
Blind Hero Speaks.
There were men on the platform in the
uniforms of various countries, but sitting
on one side was a quiet young man in
civilian clothes, and nobody would have
dreamed. till he was introduced, that he
was the famous Capt. Edwin A. Baker.
one of the first men to enlist from Can
ada, winner of the Croix de Guerre, the
man who. WHEN blinded in battle, went
straight to st. Dunstan's. in England.
and under Sir Arthur Pearson learned to
turn his handicap into an asset. So we'll
did he adopt himself to a sightless exist
encc that later he was put In charge OF
Canada's work for blinded soldiers. and
Is now one Of the delegates from that
| country to the Red Cross conference.
do you know what Is the nrst thing
a man blinded In battle thinks" Capt
Baker began when he had risen and
walked to the speakers desk with an
unerring step, HE says to himself, I
wonder what do blind people do any
howT And then probably he thinks Of
his homo town and the blind beggar on
the street. Thens the time the soldier
wants encouragement and some one to
guide him to the training that will en-
able him to carry on. Everybody In
this world has some handicap. and 'af-
Fiction isn't the word to apply to the
man who has risked his life in battle
and come away whole, with only his
sight gone. AS one OF Great Britain's
1900 blinded soldiers 1 can say that
such men don't need sympathy but the
right kind Of encouragement"
Industrial Accident Aid.
Dr. Charles A. Prosser. director of
the Federal Board for Vocational ed
ucation. declared that the Government
would fail in its object IL the work now
begun for disabled soldiers was not en-
| larged TO take in victims of industrial
accidents.
Other speakers were DR.. Maurice
Bourrillon OF France, director OF thu
permanent interallied committee; Louis
Alleman, chief OF the educational star
OF the institute at Port-Villez; Mrs.
Ethel Wood secretary OF the local war
pensions committee in London; Prof
Vittorio Putt, director OF the Rizzoli
institute in Bologna. and j.. Gerald
Robinson. from the Department OF Sol
diers' Reestablishment in Canada
DR.. Stockton Axton, secretary OF the
American Red Cross, who presided, an
nounced that there would be another
meeting at Carnegie Hall tomorrow
night The conference will be in session
at the Waldorf-Astoria to-day.