Show e. e S Le 5 1 On I Copy tor for Thill Department Supplied by th the American Legion glon News REHABILITATED A rED MEN MAKE GOOD SHOWING Vocational training of World war veterans has proved the most serious mistake In the care lre of the disabled by the government according to Gen John F F. ORyan Many of the veterans veterans veterans vet vet- erans would have been better off oft If they had not been trained he hede declared declared de de- In an Interview with a representative representative representative of ot the tho American Legion upon his departure from Washington at the conclusion of a ten months' months Investigation of the veterans' veterans bureau The general said that this statement did not take Into consideration any charges of negligence extravagance or mismanagement but considered only the system of rehabilitation used In caring for the menI menI men I am firmly of the opinion be he said sald that there are a great many many- the number may run Into the thousands thou thon- sands sands sands-of of men In voc vocational training who would be better off If the government government govern govern- ment had never undertaken to reeducate reeducate re re- educate them By better off I mean more able than they are now to cope with conditions and win economic independence in- in dependence A AThe The governments government's vocational machinery machinery machinery ma ma- chinery never actually broke down clown i It never ne even started In the right wa way Little attention was vas paid to getting the right men Into the right course In 1920 and 1921 The whole thing was a travesty on the name of rehabilitation Instead of teaching men to strike out and paddle their own canoes again the tendency was to cultivate habitual pensioners In 1922 when the federal board was merged with the veterans' veterans bureau things took a turn for the better and the situation has bas steadily improved But the evil had been done Instead of being taught to become ent and supporting self-supporting thousands of veterans had been schooled for two years In how to get a livelihood at public expense It has been necessary to drop a u good many moo men whose cases have become impossible I believe others will have to go I cannot cannot can cnn not see how the bureau can turn out men as rehabilitated who obviously cannot make good Of the men now receiving vocational training about 2000 a month are leaving the Institutions as rehabilitated Recent experience shows that ninety five per cent of these men are making good after their absorption into the business life Ufe of the nation |