The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-01-11
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director,
Washington, D. g.
THE NEW VETERANS, SCHOOL.

THE NEW VETERANS SCHOOL.
Washington. D. c., Jan. S.-The
opening of the United States Veterans
Bureau Vocational schools at Chilli
cothe, Ohio, formerly Camp Sherman,
marks the Inauguration of a new
policy in rehabilitating the disabled
veterans.
Formerly the trainees were farmed
out to various institutions The vet
Grams will now be taken out Of these
schools and placed in the government
institution at Chillicothe. The gov
eminent will not take students out of
accredited universities and colleges
where veterans bureau trainees are
taking professional courses
The school at Chillicothe is being
rapidly equipped with modern labora-
tories and shops for classes in cleo
trica1 work, printing, steam fitting,
engraving, carpentry, architecture,
bookbinding, as well as courses along
agricultural lines, such as horticul-
ture. animal husbandry, dairying,
cheese and cream making, forestry,
and similar lines. The school will be
devoted principally to instruction in
the trades and in agriculture.
The closest attention will be paid to
the health of these disabled veterans.
A modern hospital will be maintained
on the campus, with an adequate med
ical and nursing staff. Disabled men
in some instances are subject to de-
spondency as a result of their condt-
ton. Consequently a recreative pro-
gram has been planned to better the
morale. Every accommodation has
been made for the married trainees
to insure the comfort of the student
and his family. Model cottages have
been built and furnished by the gov
ernment. The cottages will not be OF
uniform type or color in order to pre-
vent a military appearance. The
grounds will have the appearance OF
a.typical college campus, rather than
an army camp or military reservation.
The finance officer of the school
will make arrangements with the vari-
Gus banking establishments for the
students to open saving accounts, SO
that when they are rehabilitated or
graduated from the school. they will
have enough money to start business
for themselves, or at least enough to
tide them over the period of transit
ton.
The administrative head of the
schools will be Colonel Symmonds,
who was chief of the public service
commission of Cuba in 1898. He was
chief quartermaster Of the expedi-
tionary forces during the Cuban cam
paign, and was later in charge of the
public improvements at Port Prin-
cipe. During the World war he con-
structed the largest supply depot in
France.
Plans are made for the accommo-
| dalton of 5000 or more students at
the Chillicothe school. Some disabled
veterans have the impression that
strict military discipline will prevail
at this government school, and have
| objected to the plan on that ground.
| This objection is unrounded. Only
| ordinary discipline, such as is neces-
sary in all well regulated schools, will
| prevail.
Advantages of the school.
The national vocational schools will
| take the place of many inferior types
of schools formerly giving Instructions
| to veterans The period of training
will be sufficiently long to enable the
! trainee toMsmpletely master his vo-
| cation and~to overcome his vocational
| handicap. A system of adequate try
outs will be established for the trainee
| to determine if they have aptitude for
! particular lines of work
When the original soldier rehabili-
tation act was passed on June 81, 1918,
| the government had no reliable data,
| either in this country or in any for
eign country on which to base a pro-
| gram. The vocational rehabilitation
| of disabled veterans was a new propo-
sition. There had been an attempt
on a small scale to rehabilitate those
men injured in industry prior to the
passage of this act. The governmental
agency charged with this relief under
the act was the federal board for vo-
cational education, which had been
organized under the act of July 81,
| 1917.
Canada had already begun the es-
| Establishment of a veteran rehabilitation
program and generously loaned the
! federal board several men who had
been occupied in this work. How
ever, it had been found that the meth
| DDS used in Canada and. other coun-
| tries were not applicable in the United
| on a smaller scale, with a limited
class of eligible beneficiaries. Our
program was planned on a more gen.
| erous scale. The men who urged this
program for the United States, how
ever, contemplated that the maximum
number of men eligible would be about
$4,000. Today there are over 101, 900
men in training, $4,000 awaiting as
signment, and 425,O00 men who have
registered for vocational training.
The program adopted to carry out
the rehabilitation of our disabled vet
Grams was to utilize the existing edu-
cational institutions and also to place
the men IN training on the job, which
was called placement training AS
a result, there were 3,213 men in train
ing on June 80, 1919. and 40,193 on
June 80, 1920 of which 10000 were
in placement training.
| The New Bureau.
On August 9, 1921, that division OF
the federal board for vocational edu-
| cation, which prior to that date had
charge of the rehabilitation of disabled
| soldiers, was consolidated with the bu-
reau of war risk insurance, as a re-
suit of the passage of the Sweet bill.
Col. Charles r. Forbes became di-
rector of the consolidated soldier re-
lief agency of the government, the
United States Veterans bureau, under
this legislation. He discovered that
the rehabilitation program as admin
istered prior to this legislation was
not giving the hest results The m en-