Just as the last War was fought with more highly developed death-dealing machines and apparatus, and consequently evolved entirely new means of counter-offensive and protection, so the Allied nations employed entirely new methods to compensate the disabled fighting men for the incapacities they suffered through service. The aim was to develop all of the remaining abilities and aptitudes of the crippled soldier so that he might be able to retain his place in civilian life as an active, independent, self-supporting citizen.
Nova Scotia can justly claim the credit for starting the plan of vocational re-training developed in Canada. In July, 1915, Miss I. Matthews, who was assisting her sister, Mrs. J. K. L. Ross, in preparing the residence of the latter in Sydney for use as a convalescent home for soldiers, secured a pamphlet describing the early efforts of France in rehabilitating war cripples. She brought it to the attention of Hon. G. H. Murray, who asked Principal F. H. Sexton, of the Technical College, for some concrete practical suggestions. The latter prepared a careful report on the methods which the Dominion might use to organize this work, and this was submitted to the Premier of Canada, Sir Robert Borden.
DR. F. H. SEXTON,
Principal Nova Scotia Technical College.
Just before this there had been created the Military Hospitals Commission to control the treatment in Canada of wounded and disabled men returning from Europe. The report on vocational re-training was submitted to the Commission for consideration and action. The subject was regarded of such importance that a conference of Provincial Premiers and other representatives was called to consider this and some other questions affecting returned men.
Principal Sexton was sent as a Nova Scotian delegate to this conference and explained his ideas. He asserted that nearly all maimed and crippled men could be put on their feet again as wage-earners by a short, practical, intensive course in vocational training. The men were adults who had already had some industrial experience and consequently would not need as much or as long training as youths being apprenticed in trades. During the last twenty-five years industry had been sub-divided into many specialized occupations, in many of which little physical effort was required. Advantage could be taken of the vocational experience of the soldier previous to enlistment and, in most cases, he could be trained for some occupation in the same industry where his disability would not be a handicap. That is, the crippled men could be moved side-wise in industry to some parallel occupation or, by means of a little education, could be lifted up higher and fitted for some supervisory position as boss, foreman, or superintendent. Thus, a structural steel worker, with some physical deficiency, would be trained for a position of draftsman. The coal miner, who was disabled, so that he could no longer dig coal at the face could, in a comparatively short time, be trained for the position of shot-firer, fire boss, mine examiner, overman, underground foreman, or mine manager.
There were endless opportunities for fitting men for occupations that required more technical knowledge, more skill, and more mental capacity. Most of the Canadian soldiers had not much opportunity for vocational education in their youth, and the great majority could be prepared for better jobs with their disability than they had been able to qualify for before they enlisted. It was pointed out that technical schools could offer some courses for disabled men, and that the rest of them could be given intensive short apprenticeships in industry. The disabled men and their families should be supported in respectability during the course of training. It was emphasized that the soldier in the hospital should begin to do some work as soon as possible, so that he would not lose his habits of industry by too prolonged an idleness during treatment. This method of technical education would be expensive, but it would more than repay the country by making almost all the disabled men competent to maintain themselves as wage-earners for the remainder of their lives, and eliminate the great proportion of indigent, idle pensioners that had succeeded other great wars.
The conference in September, 1915, enthusiastically recommended that the Military Hospitals Commission proceed to develop vocational training of disabled soldiers along the lines proposed. Soon after this steps were taken to put the suggestions into actual practice. Principal Sexton was appointed, under the Commission, as Vocational Officer for Quebec and the Maritime Provinces, which office he has held for four and one-half years.
When the convalescent hospitals were first opened in Canada, it was thought at first that all the men needed was the necessary medical treatment and a rest and then most of them would naturally return to work. People who had not had army training, and who had not endured the terrible experiences in the front line trenches, did not understand the psychological reversal most of the soldiers had suffered. The ordinary Canadian was noted for his power of initiative. In times of peace he had developed resourcefulness and individuality. From thousands of occupations our men donned the khaki uniform. The first great lesson for the new soldier was that of implicit obedience to his superior officers. He was instructed that others would do his thinking for him. The responsibility of providing food, shelter, and raiment for himself and his dependants, which had been his constant effort in waking hours, was lifted from his shoulders. His habits were regularized to conform to a single standard,—that of the well-disciplined soldier. In action he was forced into a condition of personal dirtiness that would have been absolutely repellent to him in ordinary life. He was subjected to the nerve-racking, soul-splitting ordeal of continuous fire of high explosives. Death lurked at his elbow continuously in a thousand hideous forms. He lived like a worm, and the taking and giving of human life became an hourly experience. He forgot what a normal mode of living was like, and his tours back and forth to the trenches seemed the whole of existence, with only a ghastly way out of it. Then came his “blighty,” and the long, painful period of hospital experience where willing and loving hands ministered to every need. He was doctored, nursed and entertained lavishly. Is it any wonder that he found himself in an abnormal mental state, and that ordinary civilian life seemed petty and cold and humdrum? Is it surprising that he found himself slow to rouse himself and prepare to take up again some civilian task in the treadmill of industry which would reward him with only food, clothing and lodging? After the glorious comradeship with his fellows in facing death, the competitive system in a life of routine duties seemed dull and deadly.
It seemed evident from the first experience that work was the only panacea. Definite, interesting occupation alone offered the means of making the man forget himself, and of wrenching him around into the footpath of peace. Self-imposed routine duties of an absorbing nature provided the necessary attraction and distraction to enable the man to prepare himself again for a useful life in industry. Therefore interesting work of all kinds was provided to suit different abilities and disabilities.