The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-06-12
VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION.
Federal Funds Provided for Train
ing of Persons Disabled in Industry

An important piece of legislation en-
acted at this session of Congress, and
approved by the president on the last
day of the session, is an act provld-
ing for the promotion of vocational re-
Mobilization of persons disabled in in
dustrv or otherwise, and for the re-
turn of such persons to some useful
employment. Under the provisions OF
this act the federal government pro
poses to cooperate with the states IN
the work of restoring to occupational
efficiency men and women who have
been manned by accident in any way
whatever, or disabled by disease, or
who may be congenitally crippled
In anticipation OF the passage OF
federal legislation for this purpose
more than dozen states have already
enacted laws providing for the voca i
tional rehabilitation of disabled men
and women, and providing in some
cases in advance for acceptance OF
the requirements of the federal act
which has now been approved by the
president.
Persons disabled" are defined in the
act to include ANY person who by
reason of physical defect, or lnfirmi-
ty, whether congenital or acquired by
accident, injury, or disease, is, or may
be expected to be, totally or partially
ineapacitated for remunerative occupa
ton"
"The federal board for vocation
education is the administrative federal
agency. A federal appropriation OF
S750,000 is made for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1921. and of Sl,000,0OO
annually for three years following.
These appropriations are to be allotted
to the state in proportion to their pop
ulation, and every federal dollar spent
by the states in training disabled men
and women must be matched by an
equal amount of money provided in the
states.
Thus, if the states provide for using
the total amount of the federal appro-
priation. Joint fund of federal and To-
cal money will be available amounting
to at least 81 ,500,0 900 in the year 1920
u and to $2,0O0,000 each year for the
three years ending June 30, 1922, 1928,
1924 Individual states, of course, may
do better than merely match the fed
eral money, but, on the other hand,
some states may, of course, fail to got
the work started under approved plans
in time to utilize the total amount
available for the first year.
Ii is to be noted that the federal
act does not provide that money made
available in the states to match the
federal appropriation shall be raised
by taxation in the state. In other
words. private funds may be made
available for matching federal money
in any state. 1t is provided only that
money expended under the federal act
shall be expended under the immediate
administrative direction and control of
the state board for vocational educa
ton in each state. Each state board is
required to submit TO the federal board
for vocational education, for approval,
the state plans for carrying out the
provisions of the federal act within the
state. specifying the kinds Of vocation
al rehabilitation to be provided, and
the proposed schemes of placement aft
err training. courses of study, methods
of instruction, qualifications of teach
ers, and plans for training teachers.
The social importance of this IN
dertaking may be judged from the fact
that it has been estimated that the
number Of persons injured each year
by accident alone in the various in
dustrics of the country is about eight
times as great as the total number Of
casualties among our troops on the
battlefelds of Europe during the war.
The federal act rounds out and com
nletes a program of vocational rehabll-