is the stimulation of the churches and other social organizations in the communities near the camps, to give receptions, parties, and other social affairs, out of which springs up a more personal relation, and thousands of soldiers and sailors each week are invited to dinner or to pass the week end.

Other things that the association is doing are: Organizing community singing, band concerts, organ recitals, Sunday entertainments (in New York the Forty-fourth Street Theater has been taken over on Sunday afternooons for the last-named purpose), stimulating municipal meetings and receptions (including Christmas trees), supplying directories and bulletins of local recreational resources, securing teachers, especially of colloquial French, sending out entertainers for the men in camp finding lodgings at possible prices for officers and soldiers' wives and families, finding employment for soldiers' wives, protecting the men from exploitation by local tradesmen, sending flowers to men in hospitals and providing auto rides for convalescents, forming women's committees to do mending for the soldiers, persuading communities to open parks, playgrounds, school centers, to men in uniform, to hold public receptions for them, to provide benches in the parks, comfort stations, swimming pools, detention homes for wayward girls, providing these itself when necessary (as it has been in some small communities), making special efforts in behalf of Negro soldiers, securing better local supervision of movies and dance halls.

This war-camp community service, according to the testimony of Raymond B. Fosdick, chairman of the War and Navy Departments commissions on training-camp activities, "is the most significant piece of work carried on by those commissions." Its importance has been recognized by President Wilson in a letter to Mr. Joseph Lee, president of the association, in which President Wilson said, "I am writing to express my keen appreciation of this unique and excellent service. The spirit with which our soldiers leave America, and their efficiency on the battle fronts of Europe, will be vitally affected by the character of the environment surrounding our military training camps."

The desire for this legislation on the part of the administration was brought out at the hearing by Lieut. Richard E. Byrd, of the Navy Department, who spoke of the strong interest in the bill on the part of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, and who read the following letter from the Secretary of War:

Hon. EDWIN Y. Webb,

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, January 9, 1918.

Chairman Judiciary Committee, House of Representatives. DEAR MR. WEBB: The Recreation Association of America, an organization which is carrying on important responsibility in connection with the work of the War Department commission on training-camp activities, desires incorporation in the District of Columbia by a special act of Congress. This organization, which is responsible for organizing the social and recreational resources of the communities to which the men in training go when on leave from the cantonments, is performing a service of great importance to the physical and moral welfare of our soldiers.

In order that it may be relieved of all restrictions with regard to the selection of its board of directors, its place of annual meeting, amount of endowment, etc., I would be pleased if Congress should see fit to pass the special act incorporating this organization in the District of Columbia.

Sincerely, yours,

NEWTON D. BAKER, Secretary.

In view of the national importance of the work the association is carrying on, the recommendations of the War and Navy Departments and the apparent necessity for placing the association on the same businesslike and corporate basis as the Red Cross and other similar organizations in the matter of reports and accounting to Congress, and the liabilities and responsibilities of the officers, the committee urges the passage of the bill (H. R. 10240) incorporating the asso

ciation.

O

VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION OF RETURNED SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF THE UNITED STATES.

MAY 23, 1918.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. SEARS, from the Committee on Education, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 12212.]

The Committee on Education, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 12212) to provide for vocational rehabilitation and return to civil employment of disabled persons discharged from the military or naval forces of the United States, and for other purposes, having considered the same report the same favorably and recommend its passage.

A joint committee of the House and Senate conducted hearings on the vocational rehabilitation bill April 30, May 1, and May 2. A report of these hearings, with memoranda presented to the joint committee, has been printed and is in the hands of Members of the House. At these hearings practically unanimous support was given to the principles and to the detailed provisions of the bill, which is now introduced in both Houses of Congress.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES WHICH HAVE GUIDED THE HOUSE COMMITTEE.

The general principles which have guided the House committee in its consideration of the problems of vocational rehabilitation of disabled soldiers and sailors are these:

(a) Aside from its wisdom, the National Government owes it to the disabled man that he be returned to economic independence and to normal and happy civilian life.

(b) Any scheme of vocational rehabilitation for the victims of the war should be under national control, discharged through a national

agency.

(c) The work should be carried on through national support and the use of our national resources, dealing with vocational rehabilitation as a national obligation and a national war measure in a time of national emergency.

(d) In discharging this task the National Government should cooperate with all agencies, public and private, having anything to contribute to the successful discharge of the task.

(e) This should be done by the use of governmental agencies already in existence, rather than by the creation of new agencies and a multiplicity of boards. An effective cooperation should be established by those governmental agencies dealing in any way with the problems of disabled men.

(f) All the existing facilities and resources of the country should be utilized that are available for use in carrying on the work of vocational rehabilitation.

(g) Immediate action in dealing with this important problem is necessary for reasons which will be set out briefly.

PRINCIPLES EMBODIED IN THE BILL.

In preparing and reporting a bill to Congress, the committee has adopted the following principles as they are embodied in various sections of the act:

(a) Men disabled from any cause should undertake a course of Vocational education for which they are fitted.

(b) As far as possible, men should be returned to their old occupations; if this can not be done, to a kindred occupation. If neither of these is possible, then the man should be trained for some new occupation.

(c) This occupation should be chosen by the man upon his own. initiative, after he has had the helpful advice and counsel of vocational experts.

(d) He should not be subject to military control while pursuing the training, but should be in the same position as any other American citizen taking instruction, in this case given to him by the Government.

(e) When he has decided upon the course which he will follow, he should receive at least the same compensation, and his family should receive the same allowance which he has been receiving as a soldier in the service. He will be separated from his family while taking the training, and this arrangement as to compensation is necessary in order that he may be able to take the course without financial embarrassment and without worry.

(f) In a sense he is attending school and being paid for this attendance as he would be paid for service rendered the Government in the field or rendered by a workman in the shop. His proper conduct and attendance upon the course of training constitutes the record or pay roll upon the basis of which his compensation should be determined by the board in charge of the vocational rehabilitation.

(g) Willful failure to follow the course of instruction which he has elected and for which the Government is paying should result in the withholding of such portion of his pay as in the discretion of the board is necessary, but this should not apply to the family allowance given to his family while he is in training. In other words, the family should not be penalized for his indifference or misconduct.

(h) The Federal Board for Vocational Education, created by the Smith-Hughes Act in 1917, should be the national agency for vocational rehabilitation for reasons that will be given. This board should