46 



J. N ANGLE. 



in every community whose mental capacity is of a standard 

 which permits them to go through life in comparative 

 happiness though quite ignorant and unskilled. These are 

 best left to be "hewers of wood and drawers of water," and 

 as such they will fill a useful place in the community and 

 live a life of good citizenship. The danger, however, lies 

 in leaving in the ranks of the unskilled those whose natural 

 gifts fit them for more important work. At uninteresting 

 work these people necessarily become discontented and 

 unhappy, and, in their hearts, wage war with the social 

 system which denies them the right of congenial employ- 

 ment. Undirected and undisciplined, their very ability may 

 become dangerous and lead them into criminal channels. 

 The Vocational Training Scheme of the returned soldiers 

 not only aimed at putting 20,000 men into the way of 

 skilfully assisting in the development of the resources of 

 the country, but also in its working, provided that all who 

 were put into training were not merely of the class of 

 "hewers of wood and drawers of water," but were fitted 

 to follow some kind of trade or business calling which 

 required mental capacity or manual skill. It thus had a 

 social side of immense importance. It had a value of this 

 kind directly, inasmuch as it dealt with a definite number 

 of men who were trained to be of use in the skilled work of 

 the country. It also had an indirect value, since it indicated 

 what could be done on a very much larger scale in the 

 deliberate direction of boys and girls from school into 

 occupations for which they are naturally suited. 



The Scheme of Vocational Training has not yet worked 

 itself out. Indeed, some considerable time must yet elapse 

 before every man put into training shall have reached an 

 efficiency enabling him to earn the usual income in the 

 calling for which he has been trained; but a very large 

 number have already proved able to do so, and are managing 

 for themselves. Moreover, most of those still in training 



