Once established in his new environment, the ex-soldier was not left to his own devices. The board's inspectors and supervisors regularly visited him—to give any practical guidance he might require, while local agricultural bodies and individual farmers volunteered their aid to assist him and smooth his path to success. But a condition precedent to his establishing himself on the land with Government aid was that he must first prove his military eligibility and also reveal a capacity, during his tenure at a training college or with a farmer, for owning and operating a farm of his own. That done, the Government lost no time in smoothing the way for him.

As to his army qualifications, an applicant must either have been a discharged member of the expeditionary forces of Canada, Great Britain, or of any of the self-governing Dominions, or a resident of Canada—who had joined the Allied forces at the time of enlistment. In either case he must have served outside the country in which he enlisted or in a theater of actual war; but he was also eligible as a discharged member of the Canadian expeditionary forces who had not served overseas, but who had become incapacitated from military service and entitled to a pension. Widows of members of both forces who had died in actual service were entitled to the same facilities to settle on the land.

The Government's land scheme for soldiers proved a great success. By November 1, 1919, over 40,000 men had applied for the benefits of the Government's offer, and over 30,000 had obtained qualification certificates after receiving tuition at training centers or with farmers. The scheme as a whole involved an expenditure of upward of $100,000,000.

Canada has regarded her returned soldiers as her wards, especially the disabled. Governmental guardianship could go no further. Her scale of pensions, for example, is more than one-third higher than that paid by any other nation. Any soldier or sailor disabled in the service of the Empire became entitled to a pension if medical attention failed to restore his normal capacities for earning a livelihood. The pension was neither a gift, a gratuity, nor a reward for service. The Government called it "compensation for disability suffered through the war," and its amount bore no relation to the calling previously followed by the recipient. A man totally disabled received $720; if married, the amount was $900, with $144 for the first child and $96 for subsequent children. Men totally helpless could also receive a special allowance of $450. The disabled received most of the pension fund, fully three-fourths going to them, while the remaining fourth went to the dependents of deceased service men.

There were twenty classes of disability pensions, according to the degree of the disability, which was the decisive factor in each case. No reduction was made because of the recipient's earning powers or because of his actual earnings. His physical disability, whatever it was—not his ability to support himself—determined the amount. He became a pensioner because of the loss or the lessening of a natural function of the body, and the pension lasted as long as the disability did. When the disability ceased, the pension also ceased. Medical reexaminations were made periodically so that pensions could be adjusted in accordance with the developments in a soldier's condition.

The payment of pensions, which was undertaken by the Board of Pension Commissioners, involved an annual expenditure of $30,000,000. It developed a largely and highly complex business machine; which had its beginnings early in the war period, growing from a small staff of 34 members, handling 2,700 pensions, to a clerical force of 1,300 and a pension roll of 80,000. District offices were established in the large centers of the Dominion to afford discharged men convenient bureaus of information. Medical officers were attached to each office, also Government visitors, who were detailed to call on a pensioner at least once annually. A pensioner's fitness to remain a pensioner was thus ascertained, in order to prevent any improper expenditure of pension money.

Then there was the war-service gratuity to which members of all ranks in the Canadian army were entitled upon discharge, after being in active service outside the Dominion. The payment covered six months and served as a send-off to each demobilized man to enable him to live in comfort pending his settling down to a civil occupation by his own efforts or through Government aid. The gratuities were based on a sliding scale, dependent on length of service; but a minimum payment was also determined on. It was fixed at $70 a month for the service men without dependents and $100 a month for those who had any. Thus, sergeants, corporals, lance corporals and privates without dependents received $420 for six months, or $70 monthly, and those with families, $600 for six months, or $100 monthly. Where the scale of pay was higher than this minimum it was based on the rate of pay of rank and the length of service. The war gratuity was really a continuation of army pay for six months after discharge.

CHAPTER XXIV

KEEPING THEIR HOME FIRES BURNING

Among the various voluntary war organizations working in Canada, or among the Canadian troops overseas, the most extensive in its scope was the Canadian Patriotic Fund. It was a form of war relief peculiar to Canada, a product of public initiative, entirely unrelated to the Government, being inspired by individual sympathy with the individual needs of service men and by the intimate and old-fashioned neighborly spirit that made all men brothers in an emergency. As a Canadian innovation, arising from the Dominion's own particular problems, and reflecting in a tangible form her characteristics as a nation, the fund was nation-wide in its workings, both in the source of its contributions and their distribution. It represented a voluntary "drive" for money which continued throughout the war period, and its administration was no less notable than its collection. Throughout the Dominion there was a coordination of effort and sympathies on the part of the fund's dispensers, with a complete elimination of overlapping and its attendant waste of time, money, and energy.