Library Collections: Document: Full Text


The Disabled Soldier

Creator: Douglas C. McMurtrie (author)
Date: 1919
Publisher: The Macmillan Company, New York
Source: Available at selected libraries
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 2  Figure 3  Figure 4  Figure 5  Figure 6  Figure 7  Figure 8  Figure 9  Figure 10  Figure 11  Figure 12  Figure 13  Figure 14  Figure 15  Figure 16  Figure 17  Figure 18  Figure 19  Figure 20  Figure 21  Figure 22  Figure 23  Figure 24  Figure 25  Figure 26

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378  

That there is no such word as "impossible" in his dictionary.

379  

That his natural ambition to earn a good living can be fulfilled.

380  

That he can either get rid of his disability or acquire a new ability to offset it.

381  

That the whole object of doctors, nurses, and instructors is to help him in doing that very thing.

382  

That he must help them to help him.

383  

That he will have the most careful and effectual treatment known to science.

384  

That interesting and useful occupations form a most valuable part of the treatment in the convalescent homes and sanatoria.

385  

That if he cannot carry out his first duty by rejoining his comrades at the front, and if there is no light duty for him with the Canadian forces overseas, he is taken home to Canada, as soon as his condition and the shipping facilities make this possible.

386  

That his strength and earning capacity will be restored there to the highest degree possible, through the Invalided Soldiers' Commission.

387  

That if he requires an artificial limb or kindred appliance it will be supplied free.

388  

That every man disabled by service will receive a pension or gratuity in proportion to his disability.

389  

That if his disability prevents him from returning to his old work he will receive free training for a new occupation.

390  

That full consideration is given to his own capacity and desires when a new occupation has to be chosen.

391  

That his own will-power and determination will enable him to succeed, both in the training and in the occupation afterwards.

392  

That his maintenance and that of his family will be paid for during the training he may receive after discharge, and for a month longer.

393  

That neither his treatment nor his training will cost him a cent.

394  

That his home Province has a special commission to assist him in finding employment on discharge.

395  

That hundreds of towns and villages have committees, associations, and clubs, to welcome him on arrival, and to help in securing a position for him.

396  

That the Dominion and Provincial governments, the municipal authorities, and all sorts of employers, give the returned soldier preference in filling vacant positions.

397  

That the returned soldier wishing to take up land and farm it, will be helped to do so, under Federal and other settlement schemes.

398  

That the Invalided Soldiers' Commission exists to carry out his restoration and training in Canada.

399  

That the Board of Pension Commissioners exists to distribute the pensions provided by his country for him and his dependents.

400  

That the Invalided Soldiers' Commission and the Board of Pensions Commissioners are in the position of trustees, appointed for his benefit, and representing the whole people of Canada.

401  

That, therefore, he should write direct to the commission or the board if he needs advice or help.

402  

Canadians are unanimously resolved that every returned soldier shall have a full opportunity to succeed. When that opportunity is put within his reach, his success will depend on his own good sense in seizing and using it.

403  

Another poster of pictorial character shows a one-armed man, fitted with an artificial appliance, at work on a drill press.

404  

The daily press has been supplied with material descriptive of the success of men who have completed training and made good. Some stories have carried with them a little preachment as to sound attitude toward the disabled soldiers. One concludes with this statement: "Every man doing steady work suited to his capacity is a gain to himself and his country. Every man left idle, or performing some trifling task beneath his capacity, or trying to do work he is unfit for, is wasted. And Canada cannot afford to waste a man."

405  

A remarkable moving picture film in ten reels has been prepared by the government authorities to illustrate the progress of the disabled soldier after his return from overseas. It shows reception at the debarkation depot, transportation in a hospital train, various forms of treatment at military hospitals, recreation, vocational training, and, finally, re-employment in Industry. The message of the series of reels is "that Injury does not mean pauperism; that every man is given a chance to make good." Where the man does not try to help himself, however, there is shown the opposite eventuality of vagrancy. The film Is for exhibition in Canadian military hospitals In England, and for showing to the public of the Dominion.

406  

In the United States there has been as keen If not a keener realization of the fundamental Importance of public education to the cause of the disabled as In any other country, and as might properly be expected actual work on such a campaign began at an early date. The Surgeon General of the Army issued in October, 1917, a clear statement of the modern policy and spirit of dealing with the disabled soldier, under the title of "The Passing of the Cripple." Later the same office made an excellent contribution to the cause in the preparation of moving picture films of five successful American cripples, who were seriously handicapped, yet had overcome their obstacles. This series of reels was entitled "The Way Out," and was intended for showing to the general public and in hospitals overseas to men who have just met with disabling injury. The set is one item in a "cheer-up campaign," another projected feature of which is the issue of a volume of biographies of disabled Americans who have beaten their handicaps. Still another factor in this work is the issue by the Surgeon General, in co-operation with the American Red Cross of an inspiration magazine, by name "Carry On," which aims to convey to members of the Army medical corps, to Army nurses, to Red Cross home service workers, and to the public at large some conception of the new spirit in dealing with wounds, of more kinds than one, which are sustained at the front. This magazine has already a monthly circulation of over a hundred thousand.

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