Evening star., 1927-10-18

John Doe bought farm at the out
break OF the war. There was much
clearing to be done, and a heavy
mortgage to carry, so Doe occasionally
got outside work to earn some cash
While working portable sawmill, his
right arm and shoulder were slashed
off by the saw. In spite of this, Doe
his wife and four small children con
trived somehow to operate their farm
and make both ends meet. Then fire
destroyed his buildings, his years
crops and machinery, and the mort.
gage was foreclosed. The rehabilita.
ton service in his part Of the State
took an interest in his case, gave him
special instruction in agriculture. and
obtained for him position as fore.
on the county work farm. He did sc
well he was given general charge of
about 1000 convicts all working on the
farm. He managed them without
guards, and as the county supplied him
with house and food, he was able to
put by most Of his salary. Then the
rehabilitation service persuaded the
holders Of the mortgage to restore
his equity In his own farm upon
receipt of back payments and interest
to date. This was done and John Doe
is now successfully operating his own
farm.
George Doe was supporting a wife
and four small children, too. He lost
both legs in an accident more quickly
than 1t has taken time to read this
Another rehabilitation service found
George hobbling about the country
with the aid of crutches and a badly
fitting artificial limb, desperately seek
ing odd jobs. He was supplied with
enabled to throw away his crutches.
Then he was given training in shoe re-
pairing and now runs his own shor
and makes twice the income he had at
the time of his accident.
These are two typical examples OF
what rehabilitation work is doing. II
is now almost national In scope, as the
few States that have not taken it ur
represent less than 10 per cent Of the
population.
The Federal Board for Vocational
Education, which for the Federal Gov
ernment promotes this work among
the States and provides financial as
sistance, gave this example OF its dol
lars and cents value:
'1t is striking to observe that the
average weekly wage Of all persons
rehabilitated in the United States
during the fiscal year 1924 was
| $26.07. An analysis of the ages Of
these persons at the time OF rehabili
tation shows them as having on the
average a life expectancy OF at least
20 years. Their total earnings during
a period of 20 years following theil
rehabilitation will be $147 900
This Is an enormous return When com
pared with the total cost to the Fed
eral and to the State governments OF
rehabilitating these persons; that Is
81 1,242,557."
And yet despite it's value to the in
dividual rehabilitated and to the com
| munity in a producing citizen Wht
might otherwise be a public charge
| the movement has developed slowly
and does not yet reach the many dis
abled persons it should help, accord
| ing to the Federal board.
| n II 4
The statement tells Of the need d
more work as follows:
"The rehabilitation program, which
looms so large in numbers, is not ye
being met adequately. This Is be
cause the public has not been edu
Gated to provide sufficient financia
support for the rehabilitation service
Some of the States have made goot
progress in their attempts to provide
an adequate service, but In some o
them progress has been slow. Ever
| in the more progressive and wealth!
| States the program has not as ye
reached the point Of providing serv
ice for all classes of the disabled.
| Most OF the States have developed
their rehabilitation departments with
out knowing the total number Of per
sons who annually become eligible TO
service in their jurisdictions. In tw'
or three States censuses for the dis
abled have been taken, but the dati
secured were not satisfactory. TIL
time has come, however, when IL Is N
longer believed advisable in many o
the States to postpone further q de