It’s A Merry Christmas For Many \
Bat 2 Millions In U. S. Are III
__ ■»
Bv JAMES MARLOW
WASHINGTON, Dec. 23.—-J’-It
may be disquieting just before
Christmas to recall that there are
perhaps 23 1-2 million people in
this country who are disabled or
have chronic diseases.
But here are reason for not for
getting it: many more of them
could be employed than are work
ing now; and we have a long way
to ■’o before solving the problem
of our disabled—or handicapped
people.
Fven information about them ap
pears meager: who they are, where
they are. how to reach them and
what to do for them to help them
tnost.
In Congress, a House subcommit
tee has been studying the problem
since last June. It admits the sur
face has hardly been scratched
and will ask the new Congress for
permission to continue its work.
\o one knows how long that will
take. Years, perhaps. At the end
th~ committee hopes to draw up
legislation which will do some good
on a much wider scale than is be
ing done now.
England has a law which now in
wartime compels industries to hire
disabled people on a basis of per
centage of total number of work
ers. We have nothing like that.
And such a law in peacetime
seems unlikely here.
Not even the real number of peo
ple suffering from disabilities or
chronic diseases is known. The fig
ure—23 1-2 million—at the start of
this story is a committee estimate
based on old figures.
It includes the blind, deaf, lame,
tubercular.)
But of that total—because some
are too young, some too old and
many are women—not more than
perhaps 10 million disabled men
and women could be considered
prospects for jobs.
And even that figure is too high
when you subtract that unknown
number of persons totally unable
to work because of chronic illness
or some other cause.
Here’s some of the picture from
the committee’s report:
“In 1943, Federal Agencies re
ported 2,500.000 physically handi
capped registered for employment.
Of these, it was estimated that ap
proximately 1,500,000 required
some form of rehabilitation proc
ess.
"The remaining one million could
be placed without further training
but the combined resources of Fed
eral agencies responsible for place
ment of workers in industry were
able to place only 194,000.’’
This is one point the committee
stresses:
‘‘There is great need for more
widespread information about the
*
jobs the physically handicapped
can do and a program of public
education to remove from the
minds of some employers longr
standing prejudices against the
employment of such persons.
The Federal government is now
the largest employer of disabled
people. As to those who have found
wartime jobs in industry: the La
bor department reports they have
made good records, very often bet
ter than the able-bodied.
The Federal government has an
agency—the Office of Vocational
Rehabilitation—to help disabled
people fit into some kind of job
which they could do if trained prop
erly.
This agency works with the
states. In every state there are
vocational rehabilitation offices
and staffs to train the disabled for
jobs.
The office was created by Fed
eral law of 1920 to help those who
were too poor to help themselves
or, being able to pay, needed ex
per* aid in getting rehabilitated.
In the first 20 years of its ex
istence the agency rehabilitated
only about 210,000 people. Through
subsequent amendments it was
able to expand its work. Last year
it rehabilitated 44.000.
But this is a pretty small figure
when placed against estimates that
last year 358,000 people were per
manently disabled, which is only
about 8,000 more than were per
manently disabled the year before.
-V
1,000 V-2’s LAUNCHED
LONDON. Dec. 23.— OP) —More
than 1.000 V-2’s have been launch
ed against the Allies since the be
ginning of the rocket attacks in
September, the Berlin raido said
today. The broadcast said that for
some time the Germans have been
producing ‘‘a considerable quan
tity of the weapons in factories
which are secure from enemy at
tack.”
Yanks Home From War For Christmas^ ■
With a tiny puppy in his musette bag. s**- J*ndy Kiddey of Wells
ville. Ohio, and other American soldiers from the battle
at Camp Kilmer. N. J„ en route home for Christmas. Sgt. Klddey
got the pup in Florence while on war duty in Italy. ®°,d e”
and many others who could be spared from war front duty will go t
reception centers nearest their# homes to receive their Christm s
furloughs. ___________
m r tobacco
J HITS PEAK
RALEIGH. Dec. 23—CP>—East
ern North Carolina’s new bright
lue-cured tob scco belt, the
world’s largest, produced its larg
st crop since 1939 and establish
;d a new record in value this
rear, the War Food Administra
ion said here toda>.
The fourteen markets operating
in the belt sold 391,244,954 pounds
during the 1944 season for approxi
mately $167,500,000. The official
average was $42.80, a gain of
$2.65 per hundred pounds over
last year’s average. The markets
this year operated with an OPA
ceiling of $43.50 per hundred.
Gross sales this year exceeded
those of last year by more than
100,000,000. The belt’s 1943 saies
totalled 290,0/1,292 pounds, of
which 267,543,271 pounds were
producers’ sales, or first hand
sales. Value of the 1944 crop ex
ceeded last year’s bv more than
$51,000,000.
The marketing season began
August 28 and lasted 17 weeks
Final sales were held at Wilson
and Rocky Mount December 20.
Left-Handed Negress
Convinces The Judge
BALTIMORE, Dec. 22.—(ift-A
yung Negro woman was called be
fore U. S. Commissioner James’
K. Cullen to testify - -
state motor theft ' - ' '"'Sr
instructed tc »i
to be sworn. She . d
Commissioner Ci
od upon her to rg P ■ Jtslh
hand. She he-../; ..... . c " "Silt
"But I’m left
-—
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—
MAlVUCm
Distributed by
MILL ft CONTRACTORS
SUPPLY CO.
Denting Pumps
Mtfla Snppiiea Machinery — Contractor* Equipment
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ft
|X* HE^spint^of^^hnstmasf remainsVuncliange3?|Fro5 ft
'the'pleasures ofttheiYuletide^ season!todayjwe]gain |
strength and fortitude with jy hichto meet.the problems. ft
L, * *f{~ ij
(ofjtomorrowj J
'TcTour friends’orTthe^fiome^ffont'and5 to"our'meh\ A
ft
rin uniform, we wish fromJthe depths'of our hearts thgj |
things that will bring you the happiness*youjojichly' A
^deserveT . jj
h
£
I THE MORRIS PLAN BANK I
| OF- WILMINGTON ^ . \
I
Again, it is our happy privilege io extend this
familiar greeting in expression of our pleasure
in serving you in 1944..;.
To V/ish that 1945 J
V/iH be the ;;
nev/ year
0f peace on Ear
till X
As we observe this holy season a deep sense of
obligation to those who fight our battles in
lands far away prompts us
a a i A a a .
THREE
THE / MILLION DOLLAR
Carolina Building & Loan Association
*
ROGER MOORE, President
M. G. JAMES, \ ice President
*
“MEMBER FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK”
W. A. FONVIELLE, Sec.-Treas.
W. D. JONES, Asst. Sec.-TreaP.
J. 0. CARR, Attorney
J. 0. Carr
W. A. Fonvielle
John R. Hanby
H. Jaffe
J. E. Sternberger
W. D. Jones
-DIRECTORS
, Fred E. Little
Lloyd W. Moore, Jr.
Roger Moore
D. B. Branch
J. E. Post
Sol Sternberger
J. D. Carr
M. G. James
Howard A. Hanby
B. B. Cameron, Jr.