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is to utilize the remaining capabilities of the disabled man to the maximum.

Each man, therefore, presents a different problem. No two injuries are in all respects similar; no two men have the same background of education, experience, trade knowledge, inclination or capacities for absorbing training. This necessitates a system of instruction in which small groups of students are handled. By reason of this extra care and attention, the recipients of instruction are enabled to make progress not possible when classes are larger. In the latter instance, as in the case of a convoy of troop ships, the distance covered is limited by the speed of the slowest vessel in the fleet; but with what amounts to individual instruction, there is absolutely no check upon individual development and the capacity of the individual to go ahead.

CHAPTER XX

THE PROBLEM OF PLACEMENT

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Placement an essential part of the restoration programme Employers protected against increased casualty insurance rates - Prejudice against employment of “cripples”— The retrained man dependent upon no special favors - A Government placement agency organized-Coöperation of state, local and private agencies- A survey of industrial opportunities made - Attitude and education of the employers The period of probation and adjustmentWork the acid test of training-Retraining and replacement of misfits - Follow-up work after placement - A square deal for the man and for the employer — The attitude of organized labor.

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After the disabled man has finished the course of study, training or education that he has chosen, and is pronounced competent to engage in that occupation as a worker, utilizing it as a means of livelihood, the next step is to find a position for him. This is no less a part of the Government's programme for vocational rehabilitation than the training, for it is recog nized that there still persists more or less prejudice in the minds of the generality of employers against the hiring of disabled men, and this must first be overcome. Much work has been done along these lines and satisfactory progress has been made.

The employer has been first assured that the casualty-insurance companies will not increase the rate on the blanket policy carried on his works because of the employment of a few retrained men therein. No other country has experienced a rise in casualty rates for industrial plants on this account, and assurances have

been given the Federal Board for Vocational Education by representatives of the casualty companies that a similar policy will be followed in this country.

The next step was to convince the employers that a retrained man is not necessarily a man deficient in his work. In the case of a process requiring only manual dexterity, it is obvious that the presence or absence of a natural leg does not at all affect the operator's working capacity. The whole theory of retraining is to make use of those capacities or members unimpaired by the experience of the subject in army life. Notwithstanding all this, there has persisted the practice of calling men "cripples" when they are not in fact. crippled, and the idea that the employment of such men was a condescension has been exceedingly difficult to combat and replace with the correct conception. The retrained man, in the majority of instances, can do as good work in the line for which he has been trained as any other man, and he is not asking special favors or special consideration in any

sense.

In placing the men it was decided that the efforts of a Government agency were likely to be more effective and systematic than private or even state effort. These, however, can be utilized most advantageously as aids to the Government placement agencies. They can assist greatly in helping to propagate the correct conception of the disabled or retrained man; they can bring the influence of public sentiment to bear upon the employers of labor in its various forms and persuade them to agree to extend to these men the opportunity to work and honestly earn their living. Moreover, local authorities can ascertain local conditions

in industries and assist in the placement of each man near his home, where he will not be among strangers but returned among his former friends, associates and community interests. In every case an effort is made to find employment for the man in his former community, and, if possible, in some branch of the industry in which he was engaged before the war.

A systematic search of the various industries of the country, for the purpose of listing all of the employment opportunities offered in which retrained men can be utilized, has been in progress for many months. In this survey the United States Department of Labor has directed, and it has coöperated with the Federal Board for Vocational Education in classifying and cataloguing the results. State compensation commissions and labor bureaus have rendered hearty assistance within their especial territories, and in the main there has been cordial coöperation by the press and by private individuals. The result has been the assembly of a vast amount of data on the various industries and occupations and their capacity to absorb the men who have been reëducated for them. This information is classified and immediately available for use to the fullest extent in the placement programme.

Once the employers clearly understood that there was nothing of a charitable nature about trying the reëducated men or giving them employment, the way was easy. Many employers did not understand. They were willing to contribute money for the disabled men, willing even to carry them on their payrolls in some capacities, if need be, as open and acknowledged incompetents; but they dreaded the

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CURATIVE WORKSHOP AT U. S. ARMY GENERAL HOSPITAL NO. 9, LAKE WOOD, NEW JERSEY

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