Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 111, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 May 1918 — Plan for Rehabilitation and Re-Education of Men Who Are Disabled in War [ARTICLE]

Plan for Rehabilitation and Re-Education of Men Who Are Disabled in War

Plans for the rehabilitation and reeducation of soldiers and sailors disabled in the war. so that they may earn higher wages than before their enlistment, are outlined in two reports submitted to eopgress by the federal board of vocational education. Both reports urge an appropriation for the training of teachers for the work and for establishing great schools near hospitals in all parts of the country. , They point out that while congress has made full plans for fighting the war, it has neglected to furnish money for the reclamation of the wounded men so that they may become not only self-supporting, but be an asset to the nation by turning back into civilian life a flood of welltrained and disciplined men who will be highly valuable in industry. Unless the work of training the men for new occupations or for better places in-their old occupations is undertaken while the soldiers are in the or in the convalescent camps, C. A. " Prosser; —the directoi of the survey, asserts, the men will lose their will power and discipline, become morbid and indolent, and finally become perpetual wards of the government. It is expected that the exercises training the wounded for new occupations or for better places in their old occupations will develop the muscles that remain inactive through the hospital period. Director Prosser says that the training is one of the cures in the treatment of the war’s wounded, because it will buoy up their spirits and hopes. It will demonstrate to them that they are hot public burdens, and that “after they have played the man’s part in the supreme moment of history they may take up a man’s job again in civilian life at wages higher than they received before they entered the army.” In some cases where men are bedridden for months he suggests that the training be undertaken at the bedside. He calls all these workshops “curative workshops.”