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Desire and Ambition Must Be Born in the Man Himself

WHILE the Medical Department of the Army is utilizing every preventive measure known to reduce the number and severity of disabilities, yet warfare inevitably produces a certain number of disabled soldiers.

Under the direction of the Surgeon General the medical officers today are seeking not only good end-results from a medical stand-point but the best possible end-results from an economic and social standpoint for all handicapped fighters.

In order to achieve these ideals it should be recognized that the disabled man himself must acquire the proper mental attitude toward this work -- he must develop the vision and see its purpose.

Hospitals may be established and the maximum cure sought; all kinds of schools and workshops for vocational training may be created; the whole great machinery for rehabilitation may be organized; but unless the desire and ambition for this training are born -- unless the idea of grasping every opportunity to make good by their own efforts is inculcated in the very souls of these men, the whole scheme is bound to be a failure.

To this end there has been started a campaign to show the men, disabled by wounds and disease, "The Way Out." A small book with this title is soon to be circulated throughout the hospitals in Europe and in this country. It is cheery, it is comforting, and it is filled with inspiring material to stimulate ambition. Here will be found short, optimistic letters from the disabled back home -- the men without arms, the blind, the diseased -- who have overcome their handicaps, have trained themselves, have become better men than they were before, and have successfully taken their places in society, established homes, have children, and most other things that make living worth while.

The nurses, attendants, and doctors in the wards are being inspired with this same material to pass it on to these handicapped men in gradually increasing doses from the earliest moment of disability until their reconstruction is completed.

Motion pictures showing "The Way Out" have been made and already have been of great inspirational value to many of the returned disabled. Every form of publicity that will help secure this proper mental attitude on the part of the disabled soldier is welcomed by the Surgeon General and the officers in charge of Physical Reconstruction.

With a sympathetic public behind this great movement and the wounded soldier imbued with the idea of making good in spite of his handicaps, the Medical Department of the Army will be able to render the greatest service to our boys -- a service beyond the dreams of medical science previous to this war and of permanent value to the community and the state.