The Dominion TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1919. OPENING THE DOOR TO THE SOLDIER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 136, 4 March 1919, Page 6

The Dominion TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1919. OPENING THE DOOR TO THE SOLDIER

The vocational training of returned soldiers has been hitherto a comparatively minor feature of the Government's repatriation activities, but it must be expected to assume much greater importance from this time forward. Soon after the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department was constituted towards the end of 1915, arrangements were made to enable discharged soldiers to obtain training at technical schools and in other ways. At first there was no great demand for assistance of this nature, but at the time when the report on the subject presented to Parliament last session was compiled the demand was growing steadily. Two hundred and , eleven men were then in receipt of allowances enabling them to attend ■technical _ schools. Many others were receiving free tuition at these institutions. Fairly large numbers were gaining practical, experience on farms, such wages' as they were able to earn being supplemented by sustenance allowances. Several hundred returned soldiers had also received some instruction in accountancy. Obviously, however, it will be necessary henceforth to deal on a bigger scale and in a more comprehensive way with training, and more especially with the re-education of partially disabled soldiers. Ultimately a considerable number of soldiers who have suffered such injuries-as' unfit them for their former occupations will be returned to the Dominion—many such men have been detained in Europe in order that they might receive special treatment or be satisfactorily fitted \vith ft artificial limbs—and no single aspect of the repatriation problem demands or merits closer and more attentive consideration. It is the bounden duty of the State to do everything it can to encourage such men to fit themselves for some new occupation. So far as the State is concerned, the matter is not ono of economy, nor is the livelihood of disabled or partially disabled soldiers in question. Parliament has laid it down in plain terms that they are to receive a pension proportioned to their disability, and that.the pension, once settled, is not to be reduced on account of any subsequent increase in their earning power. What is at stako is the welfare- of the disabled men. Even those of them who are in a position to live in fair comfort on their pension have everything to gain by qualifying to enter upon some congenial and remunerative occupation. To disabled soldiers, as to most other neoplc, an active and purposeful life is a condition of happiness and welfare, and nothing will tend more to safeguard their future than re-education on practical lines, :

The Minister of Defence announced a few days ago that his Department's scheme for the vocational training of soldiers prior to their discharge was fairly under way, and he instanced a number of activities and developments 'which promise well. Apparently, however, a good deal remains to.be done in this country in elaborating arrangements for re-education and making them as far as possible comprehensive. While no time should be wasted in rounding off the scheme, it is advisable that careful consideration should be given to what is being done to the same end in other countries, and in this connection the experience of the Dominion of Canada seems to be particularly worthy of attention. In Canada the re-education of disabled soldiers is being carried out methodically and with marked success. Under the administration of the Canadian Invalided Soldiers' Commission the full benefits • of re-education are confined to soldiers who have silTfered such disabilities as prevent them returning to their previous occupations. Men ineligible for reeducation who spend a prolonged period in hospital aro enabled u» improve their general education and to gain a scientific and theoretical knowledge of their former occupations and so to valuably improve their qualifications and earning capacity. Men incapacitated for their former calling, however, aro given full facilities in the way of sustenance allowances and ordered courses of training to fit themselves for a now occupation, Two features of the Canadian scheme of re-education which are particularly noteworthy are the precautions taken against concentrating an undue number of men in a given industry, and _ the extent to which men _ are trained in industrial establishments instead of in technical schools. As to the first point, it is mentioned in an official publication that the Canadian authorities have been careful to avoid overloading any one industry in such a way as to bring re-edu-cated soldiers into competition with one another on completing their courso of training, or disturb the labour market. The results of this policy aro indicated in the fact that out of IGO re-education cases in the city of Montreal, apart from 40 taking general commercial, courses, 120 were distributed over 70 trades. "Many of these," it is stated, "have been enabled to take up and succeed in work of a higher type than that which they followed previous to enlistment, while all have returned to civilian life equipped toearn a livelihood in open competition _ with their fellow-workers, in spite of ■their physical disabilities resulting from service." Our own authorities should take all possible care that men are not trained in excessive numbers for any one industry. .The first and most obvious sfcan in

this direction, and one which commends itself on other grounds, is to make the scope of training as wide as possible, in Canada disabled soldiers are at present being trained in no fewer than 179 occupations, including a large number of skilled handicrafts. Ee-education on this wide basis is only made possible by freely adopting the policy of placing men for training in industrial establishments. Until the middle of 1917 it was the policy of the Canadian Invalided Soldiers' Commission to train all disabled soldiers in schools rather, than industrial establishments, and it paid the salaries of any additional instructors required and the cost of additional equipment. Investigation at that time showed, however, that it was only possible to teach about thirty courses in schools, and it was concluded • after careful consideration that the only way to adequately broaden the scope of instruction and avoid an undue concentration of men in a limited number of occupationswas to have men trained in industries. ' One result is seen in the great, increase in available courses of instruction implied in tlte fact that raen i are now being trained for 179 distinct occupations. Every care is taken to select suitable industries, to protect disabled men against exploitation, and to ensure that they are properly trained. The safeguards observed and the results achieved are indicated in the following passages from a report on the work of the Invalided Soldiers' Commission—

In order that the men may not be exploited, and in order that the Commission may be quite certain that they are receiving adequate training, every man placed in an industry is visited weekly by an officer of tho Department, who ascertains whether ho is_ medically fit for the work he is doing;Vliether he is receiving instruction or being placed on piece work; and whether his relations with the foremen and other men in the factory aro satisfactory.

The system just outlined is in effect in England, France, und other European countries. ... It Ims been given six months' trial in Canada (in May, 1918), and the results are no satisfactory that the number of men being traincd'in industrial establishments is increasing day by day. This me>ns thai: the transition from the status of pupil to that of a regular wage-earner will be easy, as the men increase in proficiency rarlidly. Reasonably liberal provision has been made in this country for the support of returned soldiers while they are undergoing instruction on farms and in industrial establishments as well as in technical schools. It seems likely, however, that much benefit would result from greatly extending the training of disabled men in factories and workshops on the lines followed so successfully in Canada and elsewhere. Here, as in that Dominion, one result would bo to considerably broaden the scope of training. _ Under this plan, also, the technical schools would be less likely to find themselves faced, for a limited period, by abnormal demands which it would be difficult to satisfy. Experience in Canada shows that it is no difficult matter to devise safeguards which will adequately protect the disabled men under training and the interests of labour generally. The problem as a whole is one upon which the Government is bound to concentrate its best energies.