Evening star., 1942-04-12
Illinois RehabiIitates
Draft Rejectees for
Work in War Plants
1876 Men Enroll First
Week After State Offers
Job-Finding Service

By the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, April 1.-THE F-4s Of
the draft are rapidly becoming the
Ais in industries behind Americas
drive to crush the Axis.
Vast numbers of young men re-
jected for combat duty because Of
missing arm or leg, a heart con-
dition, deafness, arrested tubercu-
losis or some other physical defect
not visable to the naked eye are
doing their bit in hunming machine
shops, In the United States ordnance
study rooms and in manufacturing
plants, both large and small, the
Illinois Rehabilitation Service re-
ported today.
Only a few short months ago
many Of these rejectees were fret
ting because there seemed to be no
way for them to help Uncle Sam.
To-day the Rehabilitation Depart
ment cited these as typical examples
to show how the picture has
changed:
Young men whose hearts won't
stand the exitement of parachute
leap are proving themselves 100 per
cent efficient handling precision in
struments over work benches.
Check Bullets and Shells.
Rejectees with arrested tubercu-
losis are checking bullets and shells.
Others are repairing airplane parts.
hNy vryitI
handle a machine gun, is operating
radio equipment with speed and ease.
A deaf youth who can't be trusted
as a sentry because of his afiiction
Is working amid the thunder Of a
metal welding shop as efficiently as
normal workers, If not more so.
"The rescue of these handicapped
youths" a spokesman for the re-
habilitation service said, lis now on
q national scale, but the work
started January 81 when Frank G.
Thompson, director of the Depart
ment of Registration and Education,
of which the rehabilitation service
Is part, overheard limping stran-
ger say: They turned me down, but
there must be a thousand places
where I could do something to whip
the Japs and Nazis.'
1,526 Enroll In Week.
That same day Mr.. Thompson an
nounced the division of rehabllita-
ton had offered it's service and
within a week 1926 men were en-
rolled for rehabilitation. Classify
ing the young men, the staff began
combing the industry for jobs.
The response was immediate.
The Navy, through its Material
Inspection Department, started Sc
lecting men who could examine and
inspect products manufactured for
naval use. 1t is sending these young
men to school one half day, using
them on war work the other half,
and is paying them as they learn.
War Production Board Chairman
Donald G. Nelson's plan whereby
employers pay workers while being
trained already has given scores of
these rejectees a better than living
wage while they learn their jobs.
Has Sharpened Wits.
Formerly we never considered a
legged man." one employer said,
"yet we find out now that his hand
and eye and his durability can be
just as good as a two-legged mans
often better because he had shar-
pened his wits to make up for his
orvsica1 deficiencies
Hundreds of rejectees - whose
handicaps call for special training
are being sent to short courses in
private schools at State expense.
Classifying the applicants as they
arrive, the rehabilitation Office has
set up what amounts to great
labor pool, with system that is
being studied and adopted in other
States.