Library Collections: Document: Full Text

6. The occupations for which training is given must not be those in which there must be expected labor disturbance or over-supply at the termination of the war. It would be hard, for example, to find an employment better suited to a one-legged man than automobile driving. Yet the British Pensions Ministry has sent out instructions that no disabled men are to be trained for this work. The explanation is that motor transport has, in the present war, displaced the army mule, and that tens of thousands of enlisted men have been trained to drive the automobile trucks. These men are receiving the most versatile experience a chauffeur could have, and at demobilization they will be turned out into the civilian labor market to seek employment. The disabled man should not be submitted to this unusual competition.

In actual practice the most popular trade being taught to crippled soldiers is "motor mechanics," that is, the operation and repair of automobile engines. Too popular the school directors think it, for almost every man asked to express his preference as to subject elects to train as a motor mechanic. There could be no better proof that the automobile still has glamour in the public eye. The work manifestly appeals to the men's imaginations, and they want to go into it whether their ability lies in that direction or not. So the job of the vocational director is to dissuade many from this first and seemingly universal choice. Otherwise, according to one authority, "all the disabled soldiers in Canada would be garage workers," and there would, of course, be available employment for but a few of them.

The aim of the courses is to train repair men for garages rather than chauffeurs. A specialized branch of automobile mechanics is the operation of agricultural tractors, an infant branch of the motor industry, but a growing one. Geographical influences determine this specialization. Whereas a motor class in Montreal will work with commercial trucks and pleasure cars, a similar class in a western province of Canada will take its training on farm tractors.

The various branches of electrical work offer another good field of instruction. In London the Institution of Electrical Engineers, in cooperation with Northampton Institute, arranged courses to train switchboard attendants for electric power houses, the classes being open free to disabled soldiers. The success of this work was proved by the employment of every man the day his course was completed. At other points in England war cripples are taught armature winding, magneto assembling, inside electrical wiring, and general repair work. In Germany there is electrical training at various centers, notably at the great school in Dusseldorf. There is little instructional work along this line in France. Electrical trades have the advantage of great industrial stability. They are growing steadily, the wages are good, and the employment is not subject to seasonal fluctuation.

Another popular subject of instruction is moving picture operation. This work is well-paid and fascinating as well. The employment demand seems unlimited as the number of "movie" houses is growing every day. The training comprises simple work in electrical wiring, and operation of the projecting machines. Some of the latter now run by motor, do not require the grinding of a crank, and can thus be handled by men with certain arm injuries.

To pass to a subject of another kind, cobbling has been found a good trade to teach a certain type of man. It is especially suitable for leg cripples. In large cities a reasonable number of men can be placed in shoe repairing shops, but in the smaller communities and in the rural districts the returned soldier can set up business for himself and build up a good trade. The required mechanical equipment is simple, and can be rented rather than purchased outright. This subject is taught in practically every country providing vocational re-education, but is particularly popular in France where it is represented at Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Cherbourg, Havre, Limoges, Montpellier, Rouen, Toulouse, and at dozens of smaller centers throughout the country. Some of the French cripples combine with cobbling the repair of sandals and wooden sabots.

The making of artificial limbs and orthopedic appliances has been found a good trade in which to instruct war cripples, and it is certainly as appropriate a line as any in which a maimed man could engage. This fitness is more than theoretical for most of the leg makers today are men who are themselves minus one or both of their lower limbs. In addition the trade is in a boom condition at the present time due to the extraordinary demand for limbs for crippled soldiers.

The number of trades being taught is legion. Their choice is usually dictated by the labor needs of the communities in which the particular school is located. Among those which have found fairly general adoption are tailoring, printing, telegraphy, machine tool work, sheet metal work, and toy-making.