THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST AND OTHER MATTERS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 3, 28 November 1916, Page 7

THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST AND OTHER MATTERS.

I fTo Th® Editor Stratpoui) Post. I I Sir.—An article on the Problem of the Disabled in the September number of “The Round Table” is well worth the attention of members of War Relief Associations, Patriotic Committees and of the friends of invalided soldiers. The following are a few extracts:—“All who have experience in dealing with discharged soldiers agree that in the majority of cases a man who remains unemployed for three months after his discharge is past praying for, and what is true of the discharged, soldier in general applies with special force to the disabled man. It is not primarily a ' question of pension. The most liberal scale of pensions ever suggested will not check this waste of manhood, 1 which, in its ultimate effect on the community, entails a loss difficult to; over-estimate.” “The disabled man deteriorates because he lias no interest in life. He feels himself to be a marked man, a member of an unfortunate class, cut off from the normal life of his fellows. He broods over his disability, and too often he is persuaded that his services to the community entitle him to be kept in idleness for the rest of his life.” “The whole problem is to restore the man’s confidence in himself, to make him realise that he is not a wreck, but a citizen still capable of serving the community to which he belongs. The false psychology of the sentimentalist tends to encourage instead of eradicate that despondency and dependence which are usually far more difficult to cure than physical disability, and inevitably end in boredom and misery. The only hope for the disabled is to arouse in them the will to serve. A useless future is the worst reward for a glorious past. It is fatal to encourage the natural propensity of the human mind to think that happiness is to be found in plenty and idleness and not in work. The right that every disabled man can claim is that the community should spare no pains to help him to learn how to support himself and to bo of service to his fellows. The truest charity is to enable a man to do without charity, and to pension a man instead of training him is a counsel of despair. “No doubt many men will not at first be disposed to work, but every effort must be made to induce them to do so. . Every week that is lost after recovery is complete will add to the difficulty. The co-operation of the hospital stall’s in this work is of the utmost importance, and it would he an immense help if the doctors would encourage all men who obviously cannot return to active service to make up their minds what work they would like to undertake. A sensible doctor could do much to interest the man in his future career.

As to whether the Kaiser’s number is 666, I propose to preserve an open mind until we have got the

Kaiser. A reference then to me O'cv' "nor of the Penal Establishment in which he is to spend the remainder of his time on earth will settle tne question of his number.—l am, etc., T. H. PENN, November 27th, Stratford.