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One form of this is society lionization -- and for but the proverbial six days indeed. To a large Canadian city there returned a disabled soldier after two years' absence at the front. His wife and children had been looking forward expectantly to having him with them, but after his arrival saw but little of the head of the house. As a national holiday was approaching, they were counting on his accompanying them to the park, and had exacted a tentative promise that he would do so. But as the morning arrived and mother was dressing the children to start, father made no move to get ready. Almost tearfully mother asked if he was not going with them. "Oh, no," he answered, "I am going for an automobile ride this morning and this afternoon to a sing-song at the -naming a fashionable hotel-." This was the way in which the community was showing kindness to the returned soldier and helping to put him back on his feet!

The man on the street thinks the greatest service to the disabled fighter, particularly when he is discharged from the army and no longer under the partial protection of the khaki, to consist in buying him at the corner saloon as many drinks as he can hold. From one small American city a social worker reported inability to distinguish as to whether certain discharged men were suffering from shell shock or intoxication, so hearty was the hospitality of the citizens. Such "kindness" requires no comment. Fortunately the war-time measure regarding the liquor trade will soon make this impossible, and will guard the ex-soldier from one pitfall. It may be noted in passing that this will be a boon to the returned men in more ways than one. In Canada at a time when most of the provinces had prohibition and one or two others limited license, the placement of disabled men in employment was many times simpler in the dry territory than the wet. In the latter many men lost jobs again and again by reason of intoxication, not only injuring themselves, but weakening the standing of their fellows as well in the eyes of the employers.

Finally, there is the great general public prejudice against the disabled, the incredulity as to possible usefulness, the apparent will to pauperize, and the reluctance through usual channels of opportunity to give the handicapped man a chance. Successful crippled and blind men unanimously testify that the handicap of public opinion is a greater obstacle than amputation of limb or loss of sight. And this unenlightened attitude is manifest in every social relation of the disabled -- with family, with employer, with the community as a whole.

It becomes clear, therefore, that a necessary feature of any program for restoring the disabled soldier to self-respect and self-support is a campaign of public education to convert the general attitude toward the crippled and handicapped.

This need was recognized most clearly among our enemies by Germany and among our allies by Canada. There was signal failure to appreciate the value of public education in France, Great Britain, and Italy. There is no need of it yet in Belgium as all the disabled men are retained in the army and provided not only with training but with employment as well, and there is no family problem as the men cannot return home.

Within a few months of the opening of the war, the secretary of the German national federation for the aid of cripples made a tour of the leading cities of the Fatherland speaking to meetings of public officials, social workers, and the like, with the aim of disseminating intelligence regarding modern principles and methods of dealing with the disabled. The same authority prepared several pamphlets of popular character which were distributed in editions of over a hundred thousand. There was in existence at the outbreak of the war an excellent monthly journal on work for cripples, and this devoted its columns to the subject of provision for the war disabled. Some other special publications in the same field immediately sprang up. One of these has the interesting title of "From War to Industry."

There has been issued under the title of "The Will Prevails" a volume of biographies of cripples who have overcome their handicaps -- from Tamburlaine down to men disabled in the present war. The book is intended for circulation in hospitals and for general reading. Exhibitions illustrating in a practical way the possibilities of the war cripple constitute another vehicle of public education, and have been held in the leading centers of the empire. Moving pictures and lantern slides are also being utilized for propaganda to stimulate interest on the part of the people and to arouse ambition and courage on the part of the disabled themselves.

In Canada a real and very intelligent effort has been made to acquaint the people with the aim and practice of re-education. A well-known poster, printed in red and black, entitled "What Every Disabled Soldier Should Know" is widely in evidence throughout the Dominion. It is really addressed as much to the public as to the returned soldier. The text of the poster is as follows :