you an alibi for delay or excuse for work not accomplished, but to discuss with you, in a common-sense manner, the details of the problem which is a matter in which we are all interested, and particularly those men who have been disabled in the service, and whose disability is such as to prove a vocational handicap.

"In the first place, while our problem is not as large as that of the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, it is far more complex. I want you to understand that we have no previous workmen's compensation laws to guide us; we have nothing in the wars of previous years to gain knowledge from; we have not the experience of any such previous conditions to assist us. In fact, prior to the opening of this war, in 1914, no country in the world knew what to do with a disabled soldier, except to send him to the poor house or pension him off. To take this man who was disabled to the extent of being vocationally handicapped, to retrain him so that he could stand on his own feet and make his own living, and look his neighbor in the face and know that he was getting paid for being of service to his employer, that is the work of the Vocational Rehabilitation Board.

"Let me give you an example. Here is a fellow who is brought to your attention. He is a soldier whose hands have been stiffened in some way by his service. He is not entitled to compensation because in the general labor market he might be of equal value with some other man. But in his particular trade he is disabled. He is not entitled to the compensation under the workmen's compensation laws. It is our task to retrain that man for employment so that he can again stand upon his feet, can again take his place in society the same as before. I want you to understand that while a man is being retrained he is entitled to compensation from the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, and as the Director has told you he is entitled to compensation after he is retrained. But it is our task to make him productive, one hundred per cent productive, if he can be made so. I say that it is more complex because of the numerous elements which enter into it. There are five things in general which must be taken into consideration.

"In the first place, the man must be previously educated. You will readily agree with me that we have coming to us all classes from the illiterate to the college graduate. The average education of the men in our army was less than seven years of schooling. There were 700,000 men of the first draft who were illiterate, and yet some of the men first returned to us were graduates of colleges and universities.

"The second thing to be taken into consideration is their previous industrial experience and training. It may be that a man who was wounded was not so seriously disabled that he was prevented from going back to a certain trade, such as if a man formerly used his right hand to do a certain work he could in all probability be trained to do it with his left. Again, his previous training and experience might be absolutely no good at all, because he might have lost the members needed to successfully operate things.

"The third feature is the man's disability, and we have them so little disabled that they receive no compensation, and we have men totally and permanently disabled.

"Another thing which must be taken into consideration is the man's preference, what he wants to do after he is trained, and what he wants to be trained to do; and it is my opinion that this be given about 90 per cent consideration in the judgment of the committee, and the other things only 10 per cent.

"The fifth and final thing is, will the man be employable when he is trained? This is one of the most important elements which enter into the matter in any way. If he is not employable when trained, how are you going to help him by training him? A recent statement from the chief of a district board was to the fact that we did not take into consideration the fact that any man who is properly trained is employable. In other words, there is always room for the man who is properly trained. It is the man who is not trained that you cannot employ, and when you take these five factors, varying in several instances in many different ways, and from them endeavor to obtain the composite results in order to determine the definite form of training for each of these men, you will see that it would not be a very easy job, and would present more difficulties that would make it very complex.

"Concerning this feature of the preference of the man. Is he not justified in asking for his preference? If he wishes to become a lawyer, should he not be allowed to do so? Will he not display more enthusiasm in his work in something of his own picking? I think that you will all agree with me that he will.

"It has been said that the Board of War Risk Insurance receives a lot of mail. That is quite true, but we also have our share. In order to avoid the extra correspondence necessitated by the centralization of our local office in Washington, we are endeavoring to do all of our work by appointing local boards with authority to act in most cases.

These boards have examining physicians who report to the Board, and the Board pronounces judgment upon the case. In case the Board decides favorably we certify the man for any school to which he wishes to go, and for which circumstances are best situated that he should go. In case the local board does not approve the case, the man is permitted to take up the case with the Bureau directly. In many cases the local board is upheld, but also in many more cases its decision is overruled and the man is certified. It is not always possible, of course, to grant the request of every man who desires training along some particular line, but as nearly as is possible we give them the preference.

"I remember a case recently of a young man who had gone three years to Cornell and wished to finish up there. His local board had not the authority to authorize his transfer - he was from Massachusetts to the New York district, so the young man wrote to the Board direct. The result of it was that the man was permitted to go to Cornell. It was simply a case of the complexity of the situation. Neither party was at fault. Both were abiding by the laws of the Bureau, but when all the circumstances were reported it was found that it was quite possible to allow him to go where he desired. We have given to our local offices the definite instructions that the day a man is discharged and goes home he must be informed whether or not he is entitled to vocational training, and if he is, he must be informed of the method of securing same. And if you cannot get action from the local board, wire me at the office of the Vocational Training Board, Washington, government rate, and you will receive a response and action. I do not care if you are the American Legion Commander, or if you are the poorest member in the Legion.

"It is this limitation of the local boards which is now causing most of the delay. They have not the authority to make a definite decision in some important cases, and as soon as the legislation is so amended that they will be granted this authority, a lot of this correspondence to the Board at Washington will be unnecessary.

"The Board is at present forwarding to the State Headquarters of the Legion in all States a list of men who have been certified for training, but with whom we cannot get into communication. You ask what The American Legion can do. I will tell you. This is one way in which you members may help. I believe State Headquarters is sending out lists of these names to all local Posts, and if

any of you men recognize the men by name, do not let any time slip by without notifying them and telling them to get into communication with us at once.

"Nobody realized the task which we had in front of us at first. We were away below on our estimates of the number of men whom we would have to train. We thought that we might have to train possibly 10,000 men; then, when we saw that it was a larger job than we thought, we decided that the number might possibly rise to 20,000. We thought this would be large, but now I am of the opinion that we shall have finally to undertake to train no less than from 60,000 to 75,000 men. We are now working on plans to accommodate 50,000 additional men, and within a short time these plans will be perfected. We have 21,538 men under actual training compared with 6,600 in September, 6,600 who will enter shortly, and, counting those certified but not entered, 34,000 and some odd men who are ready to commence training whenever they desire to commence. We are the only Bureau that pays our men twice a month. On the twenty-ninth day of December the checks for every single man on our list had been sent out, and we expect to do it again before January 15, and again before the 30th, and so on.

"And so, finally, we desire the full co-operation and assistance of the Massachusetts Department to help put over the biggest, most complex thing that any government ever undertook."

Question: "Will you tell me, Mr. Lamkin, why the amount of compensation for totally and permanently disabled men was put at such a low figure as $30?"

Answer: "It was simply based on the rating of disability, as I said before. It is admittedly not enough, and that is why we have. recently changed it to $80 per month. The disability rating allows us to grant certain sums for certain disability; therefore, when the award for total permanent disability was placed at $30, although it was too small, that was all we could grant."

Question: "Will the gentleman tell me, when a man is sick after discharge due to his service, and goes to a doctor, who will pay the bills? Is the soldier forced to pay these when his ailment was caused from his service?"

Answer: "If the man's ailments were caused by his service, and it is proven to be so, then we will pay the bills."

Delegate: "But I know a case in Roxbury where a man has paid

his own bill. He was sick after discharge due to his service, and he

had to pay those bills."

Mr. Lamkin: "You get me a receipted copy of those bills and we will pay them."

Question: "If a man loses one arm he is a lawyer is he not entitled to compensation, even if it does not handicap him in his work?"

Answer: "He certainly is."

Delegate: "Well, Mr. Lamkin, one of your men in Boston, Mr. Hamilton, advanced the argument that it would prove an asset to him in pleading cases, instead of giving him compensation." [Laughter.]

Mr. Christopher J. Halligan, Jr., All-Dorchester Post: "Coming as it does from me, I think this will bear more fruit than from any one else, because I have had more to do with the Board than any one man in the district. I have cursed the Board and decried it, many a time and oft, but I want to say that in the persons of Dr. Lamkin and Mr. McLeod, the Boston District Director, we have two of the best men in the country at the head of their respective departments. This Mr. McLeod is an honest-to-goodness regular fellow, and is a go-through man. He is willing to meet the boys halfway, and does not stand aloof, with the air which characterizes many of the officers of the Board. Mr. McLeod has been of great help to me, and has given me the very best attention since I first met him. If you members of The American Legion here will only give him your support and co-operation, I am sure you will find out just what I have said, and that the work of the Board in this district would be made more efficient. I would like to ask the speaker if there is any need of a thirddegree treatment which they so often receive from the doctors of the Board."

Mr. Lamkin: "What do you mean by third degree? Rough stuff? Mr. Halligan: "That is just what I mean."

Mr. Lamkin: There is absolutely no cause for any such treatment, and if you will give me the name of such a man in the Board, and prove charges against him, I will soon separate him from the Board."

Mr. Halligan: "I move you, sir, that the business of the meeting be expedited by making all further questions in writing, and that the thanks of the assembly be expressed to Dr. Lamkin by a rising vote of thanks."

The motion was duly carried, and a rising vote of thanks given to Dr. Lamkin.