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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358  

The fourth family responsibility toward the disabled man is to make the home influence as sensible and as truly helpful as possible after his return from hospital or school. The first and very natural impulse when son or husband comes home crippled or blind is to pet him and wait on him hand and foot. Yet the best interests of the family as well as of the man himself demand his being encouraged to do for himself everything he can, with the aim of stimulating that self-dependence which has been the object of his whole course of training. Within the limits imposed by affection the family should endeavor to carry along the spirit of that training.

359  

In the readjustment of the crippled soldier to civilian life the employer has a very definite responsibility. But this duty is not entirely obvious. It is, on the contrary, almost diametrically opposite to what one might superficially infer it to be. The duty is not to "take care of," from patriotic motives, a given number of disabled men, finding for them any odd jobs which are available, and putting the ex-soldiers In them without much regard to whether they can earn the wages paid or not.

360  

Yet this method is all too common. A local committee of employers will deliberate about as follows: "Here are a dozen crippled soldiers for whom we must find jobs. Jones, you have a large factory; you should be able to take care of six of them. Brown, can you not find places for four of them in your warehouse? And Smith, you ought to place at least a couple in your store."

361  

Such a procedure cannot have other than pernicious results. In the first years of war the spirit of patriotism runs high, but experience has shown that men placed on this basis alone find themselves out of a job after the war has been over several years, or in fact, after it has been in progress for a considerable period of time.

362  

A second weakness in this method is that a man who is patronized by giving him a charity job, comes to expect as a right such semi-gratuitous support. Such a situation breaks down rather than builds up character, and makes the man progressively a weaker rather than a stronger member of the community.

363  

The third difficulty is that such a system does not take into account the man's future. Casual placement means employment either in a make-shift job as watchman or elevator operator -- such as we should certainly not offer our disabled men except as a last resort -- or in a job beyond the man, one in which, on the cold-blooded considerations of product and wages, he cannot hold his own. Jobs of the first type have for the worker a future of monotony and discouragement. Jobs of the second type are frequently disastrous, for in them a man, instead of becoming steadily more competent and building up confidence in himself, stands still as regards improvement and loses confidence every day. When he is dropped or goes to some other employment, the job will have had for him no permanent benefit.

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Twelve men sent to twelve jobs may all be seriously misplaced, while the same twelve placed with thought and wisdom and differently assigned to the same twelve jobs may be ideally located. If normal workers require expert and careful placement, crippled candidates for employment require it even more.

365  

The positive desideratum is to find for the disabled man a constructive job which he can hold on the basis of competence alone. In such a job he can be self-respecting, be happy, and look forward to a future. This is a duty not so easy of execution as telling a superintendent to take care of four men, but there is infinitely more satisfaction to the employer in the results, and infinitely greater advantage to the employee. And it is entirely practical, even in dealing with seriously disabled men.

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Thousands of cripples are now holding important jobs in the industrial world. But they are men of exceptional character and initiative and have, in general, made their way in spite of employers rather than because of them. Too many employers are ready to give the cripple alms, but not willing to expend the thought necessary to place him in a suitable job. This attitude has helped to make many cripples dependent. With new responsibilities to the disabled soldier, the point of view must certainly be changed. What some cripples have done, other cripples can do -- if only given an even chance.

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This, then, constitutes the charge of patriotic duty upon the employer:

368  

To study the jobs under his jurisdiction to determine what ones might be satisfactorily held by cripples. To give the cripples preference for these jobs. To consider thoughtfully the applications of disabled men for employment, bearing in mind the importance of utilizing to as great an extent as possible labor which would otherwise be unproductive. To do the returned soldier the honor of offering him real employment, rather than proffering him the ignominy of a charity job.

369  

The responsibility to the disabled soldier on the part of the community at large is much more complex, since the contact exists at a multitude of points and is at none highly intimate. The first reaction of the public to the returning man Is hero-worship of the most empty type -- described coldly, it usually consists In making a fool of the man and entertaining him in inappropriate and hurtful ways.

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