As to the provision of artificial limbs, the Government undertook their manufacture, in order to forestall the temptation to profiteer by private firms at the expense of men who had lost limbs in war service. The Government also made orthopedic boots and surgical appliances.

Perhaps the most notable feature of the educational work was the establishment of the Khaki University. This project differed from the vocational training of disabled men for new pursuits. It aimed at reaching all Canadian troops overseas who had interrupted their studies at school or college to join the colors. It gave them an opportunity to employ their spare hours in continuing the course of study for a professional or business career which had been broken by the war. Otherwise the time that would elapse, dependent on the war's duration, before they could resume training for their various callings, would make such a gap in their lives that with the war's close they would be completely severed from their former plans for intellectual careers. They would have to begin all over again.

The foresight of the Canadian Y. M. C. A. brought the Khaki University into being. But it had its real inspiration in the officers and men themselves. The "Y" officers were always receiving requests from them for books and reading material of the kind required by students. There were also many inquiries from the men as to what life they should adopt on their return home. The Canadian Y. M. C. A. thereupon perceived a need. Men who had mapped careers for themselves, especially in the teaching and other cultured professions, not to mention those whose future lay in technical and commercial fields, must be saved for Canada. The men were keenly anxious to resume contact with the problems of civilian life. They had their spare moments, and there was much lost time to be made up. They had lived down the early excitements of army life, and their social and civic instincts dominated them when they were not fighting. So the Canadian "Y" personnel took occasion by the hand, and, with the cooperation of the military authorities, brought the Khaki University of Canada into being. It obtained official recognition by becoming a branch of the General Staff, and started out on its novel educational scheme under the guidance of President H. H. Torry, head of the University of Alberta, who acted as Director of Educational Services of the Canadian oversea forces.

It was a simple scheme, though its operation called for much preparation, especially in securing the assistance of Canadian and English universities. In brief, it continued a soldier's schooling, where he had left off, by class work and lectures. Apart from its service in providing practical education to enable him to resume his life's work, it greatly contributed as a sustaining factor to military efficiency and the general morale. In many cases the Khaki University determined the future plans of men who had no fixed and satisfactory occupation, for by offering tuition it enabled them to choose and secure a definite calling in life. It so worked out that the educational work conducted in war time—there was a Khaki college on the fighting front and local classes known by the same name in England—created an interest which during the demobilization period that duly came intensified and enabled the men's readjustment to civil life in Canada an easier matter to control.

The Canadian universities formed an advisory board which supervised the entire work, besides providing teaching facilities and personnel, while the Canadian Y. M. C. A., having started the Khaki University movement on its way, undertook to finance it to the utmost after transferring its control to the Universities. The scheme came before the Canadian Government in October, 1917, and at once received the hearty support of the Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet. It obtained a support as valuable from the Canadian people, who, when asked by the Y. M. C. A. to subscribe a million dollars to finance the work, promptly responded by giving a great deal more.

In France what became known as the Khaki University of Vimy Ridge was established, but at the beginning of 1918 the spring offensive stopped further progress in the fighting areas until after the Armistice was signed. The main educational work was conducted in England, where campaign exigencies did not interfere with the movement. In fact, the demand for instruction was so great among the Canadian troops there that the work could not be discontinued. In 1918 fourteen Khaki colleges came into existence, established at various points, with a central college at Ripon for advanced instruction, while battalion schools taught educational rudiments, including elementary agriculture and commercial subjects. The college courses covered the higher branches of agriculture, applied science, commerce, art, and theology. Students of advanced grade also had the advantage of completing their courses after demobilization at the chief British universities.

The work in France was successfully continued during demobilization, though with difficulty. The number of students who registered during December, 1918, will serve as a criterion of its popularity, the four Canadian divisions mustering 8,352 registrants. For the benefit of men who could not attend class courses, a correspondence department was organized which reached Canadians in hospitals, forestry and railroad camps, and other places where local organizations were not practicable.

As to general results, the grand total of registration for the final six months of 1918, during which the Khaki colleges got into their working stride, was 34,768, while over 100,000 books and 750,000 educational brochures and pamphlets were circulated among Canadian oversea forces. The teaching was almost entirely performed by voluntary instructors, chaplains, Y. M. C. A. secretaries, and by army officers, noncommissioned officers, and privates, who had previously belonged to the teaching profession.

CHAPTER XXVI

SERVICE TO THE TROOPS