That his strength and earning capacity will be restored in the highest degree possible.
That if his disability prevents him from returning to his old work, he will receive free training for a new occupation.
That full consideration is given to his own capacity and desires when a new occupation has to be chosen.
That neither his treatment nor his training nor his transportation will cost him a cent.
That his maintenance and his family's will be paid for during his training and for a month after.
That his home province has a special commission to assist him in finding employment on discharge.
To further the publicity of the work in Canada, moving-picture films have been prepared, systematically illustrating the treatment and reëducation of wounded soldiers in England, France, and Canada, and showing their progress up to the stage of final recovery. These films have been shown in hundreds of theaters throughout the Dominion.
It is encouraging that occasionally in France and Canada the vocational training in connection with hospitals places a man in a better position financially than before. The following examples are given out by the Canadian Military Hospitals Commission and are testimonials of the possibilities of rehabilitation.
Letter received is from an ex-private in the 13th Battalion. Before enlistment he was getting $12 a week as driver on a city milk round. "I always had a liking for drawing," he says, "and I felt that if I ever had the chance I would take up a course in mechanical drawing." This opportunity came to him at one of the commission's convalescent hospitals. After six weeks' application to the work there, he was able to secure an appointment beginning with $75 a month, with good prospects of advance.
A locomotive fireman had enlisted, was severely wounded, and had to have his left arm amputated. Under the commission's scheme of reëducation, which is offered to all men incapacitated for their former work by service, he received special training in telegraphy and railway routine. As a result he secured an appointment as station agent and dispatcher at $110 a month.
In England the high sheriff of Lancashire has formulated a scheme for listing the employments open to the disabled. First, the employer is asked, whenever possible, to give the returned soldier his old job. Next, certain employments are listed as being within the powers of partially disabled men, and with the help of labor exchanges and of other agencies, these are reserved for them.