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THE provision of training for disabled men received a tremendous impetus at the opening of the present war. With the call of the able-bodied population to arms, the ensuing shortage of labor necessitated the draft into industry of women and old men. No potential productivity could be neglected, and the rehabilitation of the physically disabled became a national necessity. The dictates of national gratitude and national economy in this instance coincided, and in conjunction have stimulated extensive and vigorous activity.

The wounded soldier comes through the field and base hospital, and, finally, if his disability is such as to disqualify him from further military service, he is returned from overseas to a convalescent hospital at home. Certainly at this point, if not perhaps earlier, preparation for his social and economic rehabilitation should begin.

Before deciding what can best be done for him, the recent experience of the disabled soldier must be taken into account. In the first place, he has been away from home influence and environment for some time -- perhaps one year, perhaps three. During that period he has led a life in the open, free from the many routine responsibilities of the civilian. He has been provided automatically with every necessity of life -- his only reciprocal obligation being to obey the mandates of military discipline. After his injury he has been given every care which the medical corps and its auxiliaries have been able to provide. Every effort has been made to minimize worry or exertion on his part. These influences have the effect of deadening his initiative and his sense of social responsibility, and readjustment to civil life becomes in consequence more difficult.

The new handicap usually throws the man into a state of extreme discouragement. The loss of a hand, an arm, or a leg seems to the man formerly able-bodied an insuperable obstacle to his future economic activity. The prospective pension is the only mitigating feature of this depressing outlook, and he begins to calculate how he can exist on the meager stipend which will become his due. He has basis for this expectation, for has he not known in the past several men each of whom lost a limb through accident? It was necessary for them to eke out a living by selling pencils on the street, or in some similar enterprise of makeshift character. Again, life will hold no pleasure in the future; he will always feel sensitive about his missing limb. Besides, nobody has any use for a cripple.

REBIRTH OF AMBITION

Such a state of mind will be encountered in the convalescent soldier. It must be met and overcome. With returning health, initiative must be reawakened, responsibilities quickened, a heartened ambition must replace discouragement. We can go to him and truthfully say: "If you will yourself help to the best of your ability, we will so train you that your handicap will not prove a serious disadvantage; we will prepare you for a job at which you can earn as much as in your previous position. Meantime your family will be supported and maintained. You will be provided with a modern artificial limb so that a stranger would hardly know you are crippled. Finally, we will place you in a desirable job."

The first reaction to this program is fear that an increase of earning power will entail a reduction of pension. When re-education of the disabled was first begun in both France and Germany, it was found that many of the men were unwilling to undertake training, in apprehension of prejudicing their pension award. The solution of the difficulty was official announcement that such would not be the case, but that pensions would be based on degree of physical disability alone, without reference to earning power. In Canada, a placard to this effect is posted in all military hospitals and convalescent homes.

THE WISE CHOICE OF TRADES

The choice of trades in which disabled men may wisely be trained is of primary importance. In addition to considering whether men with certain types of physical disability can engage in a given trade, its present and prospective employment possibilities must be taken into account. If it is a seasonal trade, if the number of workers in any locality is so small as to make difficult the absorption of many newly-trained men, or if the industry is on the wane rather than enjoying a healthy growth, the indications are negative. The ideal trade is one in which the wage standards are high, the employment steady, and the demand for labor constantly increasing. In picking trades the present boom conditions should be discounted. Machinists are now earning fabulous wages, but it should be considered whether there will not be an extreme reaction after the war.

A VOLUNTARY ENLISTMENT

It is the general consensus of experience that the decision by the man to undertake a course of training must be voluntary. Of course, he may be retained in the military organization and detailed to trade classes in the same way as he is detailed to guard duty, but this would not make for successful results. The unwilling and rebellious pupil learns but little; the earnest and ambitious one makes rapid progress. The man must be persuaded, therefore, to take up instruction; the future advantages of being a trained workman in some skilled trade should be pointed out, and the practical arrangements to be made for him during the course of instruction carefully explained. There is no royal road to success in this effort, but after gaining the soldier's friendship and confidence, a patient persistence will win the battle. If a competent visitor has been in touch with the man's family during his absence at the front, the members of the home circle can be easily convinced of the wisdom of his reeducation; this will make all the simpler persuasion of the man himself.