The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-08-07
DISABLED YANKS
FILE COMPLAINT
over TREATMENT
Injustice Shown War Cripples
by Board of Vocational
Training, is Charge.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. Aug. Hun
dreds Of war cripples in the country
are registering serious complaints
against the Intellectual results obtain
ed by the Federal Board for vocation
al education, the government agency
charged by Congress with the respon-
sibility Of retaining disabled soldiers
for lives of usefulness, according to a
statement issued by the Association
for disabled Soldiers, Sailors and Mar
ines Of 5000 members.
The Federal board for vocational
education with headquarters at Wash
ington is under the Craftsmanship of
Secretary of Agricultural Houston.
The director of the board is Charles
A Prosser. The Association of Dis
abled Soldiers, Sailors and Marines,
with headquarters in Philadelphia,
was organized nationally in June of
this year. The statement Of the as
ISOLATION follows in part:
Investigation of the work Of the
Federal board and actual contact with
thousands Of war cripples have re-
vealed to the association the follow
Ing startling instances of injustice to
the disabled soldiers.
Only Eleven Men Placed
Il. According to a report Of the
Federal board under date of June 81
1919. only eleven men have been
placed in remunerative employment
after completing courses Of training.
"2 Hundreds Of men have com,
planned that they were compelled to
wait form six weeks to six months
without pay and forced to depend on
the help of friends or charity before
their cases were finally acted upon.
"3. A number of men have com
planned that in spite of President Will
sons orders that physical examina
tions be waived in the cases OF men
certified by the Federal board fol
civil service Jobs. the board refused
to give the men the required data
and that consequently they were I'M
able to obtain the positions.
object to Order
"a. 1t has recently come to the at
tention OF the association that the
Federal board has issued to its four
teen districts vocational officers ar
order that precedence be given tc
cases of seriously disabled men over
those with minor injuries. Such q
ruling Is resented by the thousands
Of soldiers who have suffered less
conspicuous disabilities, but who
neverthele are prevented from re
turning to their old jobs as much as
the men who have given an arm OF
a leg in battle.
"5. Many trained under the Fedora,
board auspices have objected to theil
pay being reduced by the board by
the amount that they earned while
learning the trade. This is manifest
ly unfair, they claim, since it encour
ages the employer to exploit the dis
abled soldier.
So Another grievance of the as
sociation is that 1t has not learned
Of a single disabled soldier having
been placed among the 1900 odd EN-
ployees Of the Federal board. Aus
tralia points proudly to its department
of repatriation. which has 80 percent
of return disabled soldiers in its EN-
ploy.
~. The Federal board has an
nounced that it has made contract;
with 146,931 men for training anC
that of this number only 5,S78 al
ready have been placed in training
AS a result, over 100000 disabled mer
are still waiting without pay from the
Federal board.