AmjJ?T'i9i1Srm" jl  Reconstruction  of  Crippled  Soldier.  501 
The  residue  from  the  ignition  of  10  grammes  of  ointment  of  zinc 
oxide  should  comply  with  the  requirements  for  absence  of  lead  (see 
zinc  oxide). 
THE  DUTY  OF  THE  EMPLOYER  IN  THE  RECONSTRUC- 
TION OF  THE  CRIPPLED  SOLDIER. 
By  Douglas  C.  McMurtrie,  Director  Red  Cross  Institute  for  Crippled  axd 
Disabled  Men,  New  York  City. 
We  must  count  on  the  return  from  the  front  of  thousands  of 
crippled  soldiers.  We  must  plan  to  give  them  on  their  return  the 
best  possible  chance  for  the  future. 
Dependence  cannot  be  placed  on  monetary  compensation  in  the 
form  of  a  pension,  for  in  the  past  the  pension  system  has  proved  a 
distinct  failure  in  so  far  as  constructive  ends  are  involved.  The 
pension  has  never  been  enough  to  support  in  decency  the  average 
disabled  soldier,  but  it  has  been  just  large  enough  to  act  as  an  in- 
centive to  idleness  and  semi-dependence  on  relatives  or  friends. 
The  only  compensation  of  real  value  for  physical  disability  is 
rehabilitation  for  self-support.  Make  a  man  again  capable  of  earning 
his  own  living  and  the  chief  burden  of  his  handicap  drops  away.  Oc- 
cupation is,  further,  the  only  means  for  making  him  happy  and  con- 
tented. 
Soon  after  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  the  European  countries 
began  the  establishment  of  vocational  training  schools  for  the  re- 
habilitation of  disabled  soldiers.  They  had  both  the  humanitarian 
aim  of  restoring  crippled  men  to  the  greatest  possible  degree  and  the 
economic  aim  of  sparing  the  community  the  burden  of  unproduc- 
tivity  on  the  part  of  thousands  of  its  best  citizens.  The  movement 
had  its  inception  with  Mayor  fidouard  Herriot,  of  the  city  of  Lyons, 
France,  who  found  it  difficult  to  reconcile  the  desperate  need  for 
labor  in  the  factories  and  munition  works  while  men  who  had  lost  an 
arm  or  a  leg,  but  were  otherwise  strong  and  well,  were  idling  their 
time  in  the  public  squares.  He  therefore  induced  the  municipal 
council  to  open  an  industrial  school  for  war  cripples,  which  has 
proved  the  example  and  inspiration  for  hundreds  of  similar  schools 
since  founded  throughout  France,  Italy,  Germany,  Great  Britain, 
and  Canada. 
