The Key West Citizen

WAR WORK FOR THE HANDICAPPED
By JACK STINNETT

WASHINGTON. June 19.-Congress has spread on the statutes provisions for taking care of the physically handicapped who will emerge from this war.

Private industry, in some sections, has been doing an excellent job of tapping this potential man-power lode. Some war plants are being manned almost entirely by the "lame, halt and blind."

According to the American Federation of the Physically Handicapped, Inc, with headquarters here, approximately 92,000 physically handicapped persons have been placed by the War Manpower Commission since it opened for business. That sounds swell, but wait.

Paul A. Strachan, president of the federation, and himself drafted, says there are 23,000,000 physically handicapped persons in this country and that a large portion of them are employable. If that is true, the 92,000 figure becomes pretty insignificant and it looks as if the manpower agencies are neglecting one of our best sources in combatting the employment shortages.

Washington repeatedly has received stories about factories in which blind persons have become adept "touch" inspectors; in which deaf persons, unperturbed by the noises of heavy industry, have proved highly efficient in operating machine tools, stampers and welders; and in which the armless and legless have done everything from handling precision instruments to driving trucks, tractors and cranes. Even partial invalids, whose efficiency plays out at the end of four or five hours, have been worked into short shifts.

The only thing that has been done about it so far is the introduction of a joint resolution, sponsored by Senator James J. Davis, Pennsylvania's "Puddler Jim," to make the 1,500 United States Employment Service offices recruiting stations for physically handicapped persons.

Senator Davis, who is not physically handicapped, but who started life as a Welsh immigrant lad, rose to be Secretary of Labor, and long has been a champion of the underprivileged.

The law he wants enacted would establish a division for the

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physically handicapped in every U. S. Employment Service office. These would be headed, where possible, by some person who is handicapped. Without regard to the civil service laws, these divisions would be authorized to employ, fix the compensation of, and otherwise see to the employment of such persons. They would work, of course, with state and local organizations already operating.

National headquarters of the division would make reports every three months to Congress to show what progress is being made.

The federation and several other organizations are, of course, thumping the drum pretty hard to see that the bill goes through. In view of manpower problems, it is difficult to understand what objections there would be to it--at least for the duration.

However, for some strange reason, there has been a lot of buck passing here on federal handling of the problem. While some states and smaller organizations have been very active, the federation's figure that only 92,000 have been placed is evidence that little has been accomplished.