Show using the cripple cri aple as a mine worker BY PAULA GREEN employers are more interested than ever in the employment of disabled men it has been clearly demonstrated that the cripple so long believed to be of little or no use as a worker can be invaluable in business life employers of handicapped men have found them less restive than the ordinary workmen they are loyal steady and appreciative of the chance to work their physical disability tends to develop an earnestness about their work that greatly adds to their value in the mining industry there are many i positions open to the physically handicapped one legged men provided with artificial limbs can be blacksmiths or engineers and one armed men equipped work arms can be trap door tenders or to be a bank boss or a foreman requires a certain amount of education if a i man who has had mining experience is disabled for the branch of work in which he was employed he can qualify for these positions after a short course of training A coal miner who had been wounded in the knee ee while in service and was anxious to return urn to industry took a course of train ng which ich enabled him to pass an examina cioll on for fire boss he now has a position I 1 at four dollars a day and he intends to afy tor for higher work by taking a correspondence spon dence course this winter he will it at iselt for the position of bit boss and hopes pes to eventually become a mine man aler ee he is one of the many who is thus beirle alne elne stored restored to economic independence almost all the outside jobs can be filled aby ash to the fhe salt lake mining review revie e ute department of the red cross fourth 0 A for crippled and disabled men alen n avenue venue now new york city by disabled men legless men can do part of the hand sorting the work below the lumping bars is done seated and all that is required is constant watching which is comparatively easy work mechanical pickers can be attended by leg or arm cripples ticket collecting from the cars as they come from the mines and recording the weight of coal can be done by handicapped men as efficiently as by able bodied men in fact about 60 per cent of all the work outside the mines can be done by the cripple the movement of helping persons who are maimed and making them self support ing was started even before the great war in charleroi charleroy Char leroi belgium a trade school was established for men who had met with accidents and had been disabled when the germans took possession of that district the school was dispersed its director M Base que proved a great help to the mayor of lyons france the mayor was anxious to obtain workmen for the many vacant shops in his city there were hardly any 4 7 4 V 4 az at clovi ir A NIL coal miner being trained traine d as a lamp repairer crippled soldiers training in able bodied men but apparently many crippled soldiers who though willing enough to work did not know how to do so with the help of M was started the first reconstruction school in france soon all other countries followed suit and the training given in those institutions is now of the most varied kind taking in all occupations of industrial clerical and within the scope agricultural branches the red cross institute for crippled and disabled men of new york city was established the american red cross as a gift to through the philanthropy of jeremiah milbank the purpose of the institute te was to prove that the physically handicapped could be self supporting and to pave the way for the returned crippled soldier through its employment bureau the institute has successfully cess fully placed in positions hundreds of crippled men the making of artificial limbs mechanical drafting printing motion picture operating jewelry making and oxyacetylene welding are some of the courses which the institute offers free to cripples these classes have already turned out many skilled workers nothing has been more encouraging cou raging than the eagerness of the disabled men to refit themselves for industry the great progress which has been made in the manufacture of artificial limbs aids marvelously in the work of rehabilitation an artificial leg recently invented enables the legless man to walk with almost natural movements no crutch or support is necessary the foot movement is stimulated by a jointed instep when it is properly clad and booted it is difficult for the casual observer to detect its artificially artificial ty not only have artificial legs been perfected to this feet fact in their imitation of nature mention of the war cripple at once brings up in the popular mind a picture of a man with an artificial leg or arm As a matter of fact those who lose limbs in the fighting constitute only a small per cent of the permanently injured an amputation case however has been in the past so apparent that people have grown accustomed to the idea that all men who are of impaired efficiency on account of wounds are so crippled the injuries that leave no outward trac eare much in excess of the visible ones though and some of them are more dexa tiou s to the surgeons the united states government has made provision for the rehabilitation of all soldiers and sailors disabled in service according to the vocational rehabilitation act recently enacted by congress those disabled in the military and naval forces of the united states have been placed under the joint authority of the surgeon general of the army and the federal board for vocational education the surgeon general has jurisdiction from the time the person is injured until he is restored to good physical condition when he receives his honorable discharge from the service the federal board then offers him vocational reed re ed and training which will enable him to return to useful active employment and the united states employment service will operate cooperate co in finding him work while public interest is focused on the war cripple the industrial cripple is naturally brought more prominently to the fore there is a movement on in congress to include this class of cripples in the government program for reconstruction the attention ten of manufacturers is being directed to it |