The aftermath of the Great War, which virtually ended with the Armistice on November 11, 1918, should be historically different from the social and economic muddles and messes which have succeeded other prolonged struggles. Human nature has not changed, but society is more enlightened, more highly organized, and more averse to waste.

The soldiers who returned to Canada from the Boer War were paid small Imperial pensions for disabilities incurred and were rewarded by grants of land in the great Canadian West, which almost all of them realized on immediately, selling them to “land sharks” for ridiculously small cash sums. It has been stated that most of the British veterans of the Crimea died in the workhouses.

Just as the last War was fought with more highly developed death-dealing machines and apparatus, and consequently evolved entirely new means of counter-offensive and protection, so the Allied nations employed entirely new methods to compensate the disabled fighting men for the incapacities they suffered through service. The aim was to develop all of the remaining abilities and aptitudes of the crippled soldier so that he might be able to retain his place in civilian life as an active, independent, self-supporting citizen.

Nova Scotia can justly claim the credit for starting the plan of vocational re-training developed in Canada. In July, 1915, Miss I. Matthews, who was assisting her sister, Mrs. J. K. L. Ross, in preparing the residence of the latter in Sydney for use as a convalescent home for soldiers, secured a pamphlet describing the early efforts of France in rehabilitating war cripples. She brought it to the attention of Hon. G. H. Murray, who asked Principal F. H. Sexton, of the Technical College, for some concrete practical suggestions. The latter prepared a careful report on the methods which the Dominion might use to organize this work, and this was submitted to the Premier of Canada, Sir Robert Borden.

Just before this there had been created the Military Hospitals Commission to control the treatment in Canada of wounded and disabled men returning from Europe. The report on vocational re-training was submitted to the Commission for consideration and action. The subject was regarded of such importance that a conference of Provincial Premiers and other representatives was called to consider this and some other questions affecting returned men.

Principal Sexton was sent as a Nova Scotian delegate to this conference and explained his ideas. He asserted that nearly all maimed and crippled men could be put on their feet again as wage-earners by a short, practical, intensive course in vocational training. The men were adults who had already had some industrial experience and consequently would not need as much or as long training as youths being apprenticed in trades. During the last twenty-five years industry had been sub-divided into many specialized occupations, in many of which little physical effort was required. Advantage could be taken of the vocational experience of the soldier previous to enlistment and, in most cases, he could be trained for some occupation in the same industry where his disability would not be a handicap. That is, the crippled men could be moved side-wise in industry to some parallel occupation or, by means of a little education, could be lifted up higher and fitted for some supervisory position as boss, foreman, or superintendent. Thus, a structural steel worker, with some physical deficiency, would be trained for a position of draftsman. The coal miner, who was disabled, so that he could no longer dig coal at the face could, in a comparatively short time, be trained for the position of shot-firer, fire boss, mine examiner, overman, underground foreman, or mine manager.

There were endless opportunities for fitting men for occupations that required more technical knowledge, more skill, and more mental capacity. Most of the Canadian soldiers had not much opportunity for vocational education in their youth, and the great majority could be prepared for better jobs with their disability than they had been able to qualify for before they enlisted. It was pointed out that technical schools could offer some courses for disabled men, and that the rest of them could be given intensive short apprenticeships in industry. The disabled men and their families should be supported in respectability during the course of training. It was emphasized that the soldier in the hospital should begin to do some work as soon as possible, so that he would not lose his habits of industry by too prolonged an idleness during treatment. This method of technical education would be expensive, but it would more than repay the country by making almost all the disabled men competent to maintain themselves as wage-earners for the remainder of their lives, and eliminate the great proportion of indigent, idle pensioners that had succeeded other great wars.

The conference in September, 1915, enthusiastically recommended that the Military Hospitals Commission proceed to develop vocational training of disabled soldiers along the lines proposed. Soon after this steps were taken to put the suggestions into actual practice. Principal Sexton was appointed, under the Commission, as Vocational Officer for Quebec and the Maritime Provinces, which office he has held for four and one-half years.

When the convalescent hospitals were first opened in Canada, it was thought at first that all the men needed was the necessary medical treatment and a rest and then most of them would naturally return to work. People who had not had army training, and who had not endured the terrible experiences in the front line trenches, did not understand the psychological reversal most of the soldiers had suffered. The ordinary Canadian was noted for his power of initiative. In times of peace he had developed resourcefulness and individuality. From thousands of occupations our men donned the khaki uniform. The first great lesson for the new soldier was that of implicit obedience to his superior officers. He was instructed that others would do his thinking for him. The responsibility of providing food, shelter, and raiment for himself and his dependants, which had been his constant effort in waking hours, was lifted from his shoulders. His habits were regularized to conform to a single standard,—that of the well-disciplined soldier. In action he was forced into a condition of personal dirtiness that would have been absolutely repellent to him in ordinary life. He was subjected to the nerve-racking, soul-splitting ordeal of continuous fire of high explosives. Death lurked at his elbow continuously in a thousand hideous forms. He lived like a worm, and the taking and giving of human life became an hourly experience. He forgot what a normal mode of living was like, and his tours back and forth to the trenches seemed the whole of existence, with only a ghastly way out of it. Then came his “blighty,” and the long, painful period of hospital experience where willing and loving hands ministered to every need. He was doctored, nursed and entertained lavishly. Is it any wonder that he found himself in an abnormal mental state, and that ordinary civilian life seemed petty and cold and humdrum? Is it surprising that he found himself slow to rouse himself and prepare to take up again some civilian task in the treadmill of industry which would reward him with only food, clothing and lodging? After the glorious comradeship with his fellows in facing death, the competitive system in a life of routine duties seemed dull and deadly.

It seemed evident from the first experience that work was the only panacea. Definite, interesting occupation alone offered the means of making the man forget himself, and of wrenching him around into the footpath of peace. Self-imposed routine duties of an absorbing nature provided the necessary attraction and distraction to enable the man to prepare himself again for a useful life in industry. Therefore interesting work of all kinds was provided to suit different abilities and disabilities.

Three divisions of the work of re-training the disabled soldier developed as progress was made with this task, viz.: (1) Ward Occupations; (2) Curative Workshops; (3) Industrial Re-training. These will be taken up in the order named.

1. Ward Occupations. Basketry, weaving, leather work and other handicrafts were taught to the men in hospital right in the wards, as recreational activity, during the time of convalescence when the soldiers, as patients, are not advanced far enough in their recovery to leave their beds or to take up serious education.

2. Curative Workshops. Every hospital had either a separate vocational building or a portion of its space set aside for curative workshops. Here were held a variety of classes for men taking treatment who were able to leave their wards and who wished to study some subjects which would be of advantage to them when they were discharged from hospital and would re-enter civilian life or take up training for a new occupation.

3. Industrial Re-Training. This was the most important division of the work and, in fact, constituted the main activity of the Vocational Branch of the Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-establishment. All soldiers who received a disability in military service through disease, accident or wounds which prevented them from returning to their old occupations, were entitled to industrial re-training. Any man who enlisted under the age of eighteen, and whose apprenticeship or training for some useful occupation was seriously interrupted by the War, was also entitled to an industrial re-training course. Thousands of men had to be intensively trained for hundreds of different occupations in the shortest possible time. During their courses they and their dependants received pay and allowances to support themselves. Every kind of institution which offered definite vocational training was utilized, but a great proportion of the men were placed in industry itself to learn their new occupations. Special trade classes and schools had to be organized and equipped by the Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-establishment to meet the new need. The main aim was to train the disabled soldiers and minors in six to ten months, so that they could earn the prevailing wage in suitable vocations. This aim was realized with results that have amply justified the predictions of experts in industrial education and the enormous expenditure of money necessary. The development of the three main divisions of the vocational work in Nova Scotia is interesting and illuminating, and promises much for the future in pointing the way to further developments in our hospital treatment and the reclaiming of the productive power of our men who have been or will be crippled by accident or disease.

It was very evident from the first experience with returned disabled soldiers in Canadian convalescent hospitals, that they needed some definite work to engage their attention just as soon as they were able to do it. After a prolonged illness their morale was very low, and many were convinced that they were so badly disabled that they would never be good for anything again. Nerves, muscles, and tendons which had been seriously damaged by wounds, could be healed and brought back to part of their former power by operative treatment, massage, electric therapy, etc., but at a certain stage further improvement could take place only through the action of the will of the patient. At this point the soldier will try to make his damaged body function properly if he is absorbed in some interesting task.

Consequently, handicraft work was introduced into the hospitals under the title of ward occupations. In the summer of 1917 volunteers from the V.A.D. of the St. John Ambulance Association were trained in different handicrafts at the Nova Scotia Technical College, and gave their services to the patients at Camp Hill and Pine Hill Hospitals. The value of the work soon became apparent, and a central training school for ward aides, as the handicraft teachers were called, was opened in Toronto. Young women of education, character, and aptitude were carefully selected for this work, and as soon as they had been given training, they were placed in every military hospital and sanitarium. They co-operated with the medical officers and nursing sisters in every particular, and a combined effort was made to get every patient busy at some kind of work just as soon as he was able to do anything. Basketry, weaving, embroidery, leather tooling, raffia work, toy-making, wood carving, art craft, metal work, and other forms of occupation were provided. The chief difficulty was in first getting the individual interested; and this task took an immense amount of tact and persuasion in some instances.

The underlying motive was to divert the man’s mind from its morbid state and to give him a mental stimulus back toward civilian life. In the majority of cases, the patient would make artistic objects for his relatives and friends. If he wished to keep the articles he merely paid for the cost of the material, but if he did not want them the Vocational Branch offered them for sale at a fair commercial value, deducted the cost of raw materials and gave the balance to the patient. There was no idea of instructing the men in gainful trades Which they could follow after their discharge.

Too high a tribute cannot be paid to the high character and ability and the unflagging devotion of the Nova Scotia Ward Aides. They gave the same high form of unselfish, patriotic service that was characteristic of the best groups of women workers. The ward occupations were of enormous benefit in making the weary hours of the days pass quickly, in improving the discipline in the institutions, and in materially shortening the time of treatment in many cases. The handicraft work has been specially developed for insane patients, and helps to fill the pathetic lives of the soldiers confined in the Nova Scotia Hospital for the Insane.

A large proportion of the men in the institutions were not confined to their wards. Their disabilities were such, or they had reached such an advanced stage in their treatment, that they were able to move about and to perform light work. For these cases there was only a half-hour a day of treatment, and the rest of the time might be spent in playing cards, in reading magazines, or in sheer idleness. There was great danger that the men might become “hospitalized” and unfitted for the stern tasks of industrial life. Therefore, curative workshops were provided, where a wide range of classes was held for six or seven hours a day. Practical and accomplished instructors were in charge of the various branches, and nearly every soldier, physically fit to pursue such studies, could find something of interest and value. Many of the patients had never had a fair chance to get a good education, and a goodly number who had had such an opportunity had not availed themselves of it. A few of the soldiers did not even know how to read and write. As mechanics, most of the soldiers had acquired such skill as they possessed in a careless and haphazard manner and were not thoroughly competent. To suit the general needs and tastes of the patients, instruction was offered in business English, practical arithmetic, practical algebra, geometry and trigonometry, bookkeeping, stenography and typewriting, telegraphy, mechanical and architectural drafting, gardening, woodworking, shoe repairing, automobile driving and repair, etc.

These adult students made amazing progress in their studies. Those who had forgotten all their mathematics, except the first four rules, covered years of school work in a few months, and in going over it the second time would never again forget it. Foreigners and men who were illiterate learned the rudiments of arithmetic and the English language in a surprisingly short time. Others were absorbed in the work of the different classes, and gained valuable knowledge according to their ability and the length of time they stayed in the hospital. For some of them, who were not entitled to industrial re-training after discharge, it was their only opportunity to get general or vocational education. For those who were so disabled that they could not return to their old occupations, the curative workshops offered a trying-out ground where they could test their aptitudes and often lay a solid basis for further training. It was a pathetic as well as an inspiring sight to see some grizzled hero bringing back muscular power to a scarred and withered arm in planing a piece of wood to make some piece of furniture for his home. The workshop offered practically the only method of treatment to the neurasthenic or “shell-shocked” patient. No medicine or massage or operation could help him, and only the stimulation of his self-interest in class work could get him to forget himself and thus gradually bring him back to normal.

The first curative workshop classes to be opened in the Dominion started at the Ross Convalescent Hospital in Sydney, on April 4, 1916. They were rapidly developed in every hospital and sanatorium throughout Canada, and proved of immense benefit in helping to re-establish our disabled soldiers who received treatment in Canada.

By far the most important division of the vocational work of civil re-establishment, however, was the industrial re-training. France and Belgium showed the way in which crippled men could be trained for future usefulness in suitable trades; and practically every belligerent country evolved a system of human rehabilitation for maimed soldiers. Canada had the advantage of time to plan and develop her methods of dealing with this problem before she was swamped with numbers, and consequently was able to establish a uniform system with centralized authority. The basis of the whole work was to give suitable training for every soldier who, through some disability incurred in military service, could not efficiently resume the occupation which he followed prior to enlistment. In addition to this class, all men classed as minors, who had enlisted under the age of eighteen, were later given training if their war service had seriously interfered with their preparation for their chosen occupation, whether they were disabled or not.

Every effort was made to place the disabled man in the right position. He was interviewed by a sympathetic and competent official and counselled intelligently about the important choice of a new trade. The soldier already had industrial experience and, in the majority of cases, had some definite idea of what he wished to do. If his conceptions of the duties, remuneration, conditions of work, chances for promotion, stability, etc., in the new occupation, were wrong, he was reasonably and patiently advised to make another choice. The disabled man, however, always made the decision about his own future. His own wishes were followed as far as possible, because he would make a failure of his training and of his new occupation if he himself was not satisfied and enthusiastic.

The queer trait of human nature that considers “distant fields as ever green” was much in evidence. During his former experience, the disabled soldier had always had a conviction that some other job completely outside of his own vocation was easier and better paid, or that some new development of industry was holding out its arms and screaming for workers. Consequently, there was a common tendency to enter some vocation wholly outside of his former experience. Most of the men were extremely reasonable and when all the facts were put before them they made wise decisions. Every definite effort was made to keep the man as close as possible to the industry in which he was employed before enlistment. If they had all tried to crowd into a few of the highly skilled occupations, there would not have been vacancies enough to give them all employment. So the training was made as wide as business and industry. Schools and classes were organized and equipped for those vocations which needed preliminary education under skilled instructors, and for which comparatively large groups of men were preparing. In cases where men were deficient in general education, and needed some fundamental knowledge of English and arithmetic in order to succeed, they were given intensive preliminary instruction for one, two or three months before starting specialized vocational training. Every educational institution which offered intensive practical courses leading to wage-earning power, was made use of to the fullest extent. Industry itself, however, offered the widest opportunities, and a great proportion of the students were placed directly in industry to learn there how to fill the job acceptably under working conditions, so that at the end of their period of training they could slip over on the pay roll of the employer without any break. Other men, who had preliminary training in the special trade classes established by the Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-establishment, were placed in industry for the latter part of their period of education so that they would get accustomed to workshop conditions, and in order that there would be no appreciable hiatus between training and employment.

In order to provide ample means for the training and employment of the thousands of men the War produced, it was necessary to secure the closest co-operation of the employers, trade unions, and the general public. It is a pleasure to chronicle the fact that everybody gave active help without stint. The Dominion Steel Corporation and the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company, the largest single employers of labor in Nova Scotia, announced publicly that they would find a suitable place for every one of their former employees who had gone into military service and who desired work after his discharge. They carried out their promise, and also provided every possible facility for re-training disabled men. Trade unions also gave generous assistance, and waived all restrictions regarding apprenticeship where these might be detrimental to maimed and crippled soldiers who were learning new trades. Without all this splendid co-operation, the results achieved in Canada in re-training the disabled soldiers for future usefulness would have been impossible.

The usual period of time that was found necessary to put the discharged soldiers on their feet so that they could earn the prevailing wage in a new occupation, was seven or eight months. During the War, when all labor was very scarce, employers would accept men and give them full wages after about six months’ training, but when competition became keener and more workers became available in 1919, eight months was found to be necessary in most cases, and sometimes even a whole year. During the period of learning a new vocation, the soldier’s pension was suspended, and he and his dependants received a uniform scale of pay and allowances as follows:—

If training caused the man to live apart from his dependants, an extra allowance of $16.00 per month was granted. Owing to the increased cost of living, these rates were advanced on September 1, 1920.

All classes carried on by the Department of Civil Re-establishment in Nova Scotia were conducted for eight hours per day in order to get the men accustomed to the conditions prevailing in industry. Where men were sent to educational institutions, or were apprenticed in industry, they were subject to the rules and regulations in force at the place where they were learning.

The scope of the work widened rapidly as it progressed until men were being re-trained for more than 300 different occupations. It is not necessary to give a list of these occupations, but the comprehensive field covered may be imagined if only those classified under the letter “A” were mentioned:—

The man who was placed in industry for training or employment was kept under constant supervision and visited every two or three weeks to ascertain his progress. If he was not securing proper treatment or opportunity to learn, he was moved to some other position. If his choice of occupation had not been wise, he was tried out in some other line of work. After he had finished his course, he was visited at least once a month for four months to see that his re-establishment was complete and his progress satisfactory.

The first group to receive industrial re-training in Canada consisted of a number of unfortunate members of a British West India Regiment. A large number were landed in Halifax in February, 1917, from a transport and were sent to hospital to be treated for severe frost bite. Nine of them had to have both legs amputated and eight of them lost one leg or a portion of a leg. Previous to enlistment these Jamaicans had been “cultivators” or agricultural laborers, and had very little education. When their hospital treatment was completed they were re-trained by the Vocational Branch in Halifax. Mr. W. J. Clayton gave over his whole residence and the Provincial Branch of the Red Cross Society fitted it up completely for a convalescent hospital and re-training centre. The men were given instruction in three trades suitable to their disability, viz., tailoring, shoe repairing, and tin-smithing. At the end of five and one-half months they were sent back to Jamaica able to earn at least fifty per cent. more in their new occupations than they had received before as laborers.

The work of re-training disabled Nova Scotian soldiers began seriously in the spring of 1917. A centre was established at the Technical College in Halifax. It was fortunate, indeed, that the Province had embarked on its scheme of technical education before the War, and that this splendid institution stood ready with all its equipment and trained Staff to render service to the men disabled in war. The Provincial Government turned practically the whole establishment over to the Dominion Government for this work. Classes in garage mechanics, automobile tire vulcanizing, electricity, mechanical, architectural and ship drafting, land surveying, machine tool operation, stationary engineering, oxyacetylene welding, shoe repairing, etc., were organized. The institution became a busy hive of industry. The numbers grew until larger quarters had to be secured for part of the classes. In the summer of 1919 a large group of demobilization barracks on Cunard St., Halifax, was taken over and specially fitted and equipped for educational purposes. This was called the Borden Re-training Centre, and the main portion of the work has been done there since that time. A number of the classes are still maintained at the Technical College, and this service will be rendered by the College until the whole task is completed.

The number of re-training students in Nova Scotia increased rapidly in 1919 until it reached its peak with a strength of about 2,300 in March, 1920. From this number it has rapidly declined. Altogether, in the Province, about 4,000 returned men have been granted courses to this date. When one considers that they were training for nearly 300 trades, and that they were being admitted to and discharged from courses every day, that they and their dependants must be paid twice a month, that employment must be found for them, that they must be followed up for four months after completing their training, and thousands of their difficulties smoothed out, the magnitude of the task can be appreciated.

A centre for re-training men in agriculture was established at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College at Truro. Here again this advantage of having a fully equipped institution, with a Staff of highly-trained specialists ready to render service to the discharged soldiers, cannot be overestimated. All the re-training students from the three Maritime Provinces were sent here, because it was the only place in this area competent to meet their needs. Special courses adapted for the purpose were provided, and the regular Staff of the College gave unstintingly of their time and knowledge. Like the Technical College, the Agricultural College allowed discharged soldiers to attend all regular courses without any tuition fees. The number of men applying for re-training in agricultural branches was small because most forms of farming demand physical fitness, and the army experience of the soldiers tended to make them wish to stick to industries in the towns.

Contrary to the expectations of the public, very few men were blinded in the army. Wounds that would deprive a man of his sight usually killed him. Out of our forces of about a half million men, only 130 have had their vision impaired to such an extent that they require re-training. The Canadian authorities arranged with Sir Arthur Pearson that the blind men should all be trained in that splendid institution, St. Dunstan’s Hostel, in London. In the early days of the War, however, a few blinded men drifted back to Canada without training. These were collected and about a dozen sent to Halifax, where they were given special instruction under the Military Hospitals Commission at the School for the Blind. They were taught Braille reading and writing, typewriting, Braille stenography, massage, and shoe repairing. Most of the men made remarkable progress, and are successfully earning their own livings to-day.

Altogether Canada has granted about 53,000 courses of re-training. From the very first she has followed a sane, practical policy, and has enjoyed the advantages of uniformity and centralized control throughout all the Provinces.

The results speak for themselves. In Nova Scotia 65 per cent. of the men who have completed their courses are successfully re-established in the occupation for which they were trained. Another 20 per cent. are earning satisfactory wages in other lines of work than those for which they were specifically prepared. These men have changed because they saw better opportunities for themselves, individually, in another vocation, or they may have felt fit enough, after their course, to return to their old occupation. Their training will not be lost, because they are so much more competent because of having it. Ten per cent. of the men have gone out of the Province and cannot be traced. It is safe to conclude that most of these are successfully re-established. Two per cent. of the men are reported as unemployed, but it is not known to what extent this is due to lack of temporary opportunity or disinclination on the part of the man. Three per cent. of the men are reported as still ill and temporarily under treatment.

This high salvage among war-wrecked men can be accepted with great satisfaction by every patriotic Canadian. Without the loyal co-operation of every section of society and the unflagging devotion to duty on the part of the large Staff of returned men who were engaged in administration and instruction, these results would have been impossible. Canada’s record of reconstruction and her efforts to rehabilitate the brave soldiers who gave of their youth and strength in the service of the country, stand on a par with her military achievements.