checks; the other to pay training expenses to men technically ineligible under the vocational rehabilitation act, such as an American citizen who enlisted in the allied armies or in the American forces for the period prior to October 6, 1917, and was discharged some time between April 6, 1917, and the date of the passage of the warrisk insurance act, October 6, 1917. The number of loans made from March 9, 1919, to June 30, 1920, was 29,442; the number of borrowers. 12,248. The amount loaned aggregated $519,054.20. Of this amount $411,210.32 has been repaid.

The National Tuberculosis Association appointed an advisory committee to assist the Federal Board in working out a training policy for tuberculous ex-service men. This committee has been very active and the cooperation has been of special value. The National Catholic War Council, the National Manufacturers' Association, the United States Chamber of Commerce, the American Federation of Labor. individual labor unions, rotary clubs, and thousands of public and private agencies have assisted the Board in all sorts of way.

Working relations have been established at points of dependence with Government departments. The Bureau of War Risk Insurance and the Public Health Service have established cooperative plans of great practical value. The details of these plans have been given elsewhere. The Department of State assists the Board in the preparation of trainees for consular positions and by transmitting dependency claims to dependents residing in foreign countries. The Postmaster General has appointed a representative to confer with an officer of the Board relative to the training and qualifications of disabled men for positions in the Postal Service. A similar arrangement has been made with the United States Civil Service Commission. The commission's regulations have been amended by Executive order, permitting it to exempt disabled ex-service men from the usual physical requirements, provided they are certified by the Federal Board. The commission has from the first given the fullest cooperation and has done everything for the disabled men which the amended civil-service regulations have permitted. Representatives have also been appointed to perform the same duties as the representatives of the Post Office Department and the Civi Service Commission by the following departments: Department of Labor, Department of Commerce, Department of the Interior, am the War and Navy Departments. The War Department has also removed many restrictions for men disabled in the service. Both the War and Navy Departments further cooperate with the Board by giving it full access to the records of all disabled men.

On July 11, 1919, the new law amending section 2 of the former lan became effective. The law empowered the Board to decide in compliance with its terms the question of eligibility for section 2 training. which before depended upon the award of compensation, and to pay

trainees in full directly out of its appropriation for maintenance and support. On June 4, 1920, an appropriation of $90,000,000 was made for the rehabilitation of ex-service men for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1920. This is within three hundred and three thousand dollars of the estimate submitted and requested. While the Board is in no doubt of the very evident intention of the Congress to generously support the program of rehabilitation for ex-service men, nevertheless the amount appropriated, which practically equals the estimate submitted, will permit the board to plan the work of the year with greater certainty inasmuch as sufficient funds are already made available, with the possible exception of the million or more which will be required to meet the change of increased maintenance and support pay to certain classes of disabled men.

Following is the text of the act authorizing increased payments to trainees of the Federal Board:

An act making appropriations to supply deficiencies in appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920, and prior fiscal years, and for other purposes, Page 17, line 16, amendment No. 7: Provided further, That the Board may, after June 30, 1920, pay, subject to the conditions and limitations prescribed by section 3 of the vocational rehabilitation act as amended, to all trainees undergoing training under said section residing where maintenance and support is above the average and comparatively high, in lieu of the monthly payments for maintenance and support prescribed by section 2, as amended, such sum as in the judgment of the said Board is necessary for his maintenance and support, and for the maintenance and support of persons dependent upon him, if any Provided, however, That in no event shall the sum so paid such person while pursuing such course be more than $100 per month for a single man without dependents, or for a man with dependents $120 per month, plus the several sums prescribed as family allowances under section 204 of Article II of the war-risk insurance act.

The terms of this act left it to the Board to discover what amount was due each traince, and the merits of all sorts of plans have been discussed and compared. The various officers who have been called upon to devise a satisfactory plan of administration of the act have come to one conclusion from which there is no sign even of dissent --namely, that no plan can be devised that will give perfect satisfaction, with the possible exception of a plan that would include every trainee in the class that received the maximum per month.

The plan which has been adopted is in strict accordance with the spirit and letter of the law. All trainees will be included within one of the following classifications:

(a) Men residing in localities where the average cost for lodging and table board for an individual is less than $40 per month will be carried at the rates prevailing prior to July 1, 1920; that is, $80 per month for a man without dependents.

(b) Men residing in localities where the average cost for lodging and table board is $40 or more but less than $45 per month will receive an increase in payments of $10 per month.

(c) Men residing in localities where the average cost for lodging and table board is $45 or more will receive the maximum increase of $20 per month.

To fix the boundaries of localities and then to determine in which of these classifications a particular locality is to be included is the main difficulty under the plan. Food and lodging facts are the determining factors. The attempt is being made to get a very large body of facts from unprejudiced sources, particularly in doubtful localities. "Changes of cost of living," issued in the form of bulletins by the Department of Labor, and other public documents, cost schedules published in university, college, and school catalogues are being freely consulted. Information is being sought from the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars Association, American Red Cross, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, chambers of commerce, boards of trade, various local organizations, and from all other reliable sources.

It is clearly recognized that the success of the plan depends in large measure upon getting a complete and authoritative body of facts in regard to board and lodging in the different localities. No effort will be spared to accomplish this result. In case a decision is made and new facts are brought to the attention of the board that call for the reversal of a decision in regard to a particular locality there will be no hesitation in making the adjustment.

EXPENDITURES JUNE 27, 1918, TO JUNE 30, 1920.

From June 27, 1918, the effective date of the law passed providing vocational rehabilitation for disabled ex-service men, to June 30, 1920, the total expenditures were as follows:

It would be interesting to know with reasonable accuracy the percentage of the above total which represents in reality a transfer of accounts from the War Risk Insurance Bureau to the Federal Board. The obligation under the war-risk insurance act to compensate for disabilities which were incurred in the service or traceable to the service was a prior obligation to vocational education Even if provision had not been made for training, compensation would have been an outstanding obligation. Those trainees of the Federal Board who are awarded compensation less than the amount of maintenance and subsistence pay provided by the Board, transfer their account in effect to the Board. In a final segregation of accounts this should be taken into consideration. The ultimate cost of Vocational training for disabled ex-service men is the total amount expended minus the total amount of compensation which trainees would have received provided they had not taken training.

PART IV.

DISTRICT OFFICE STUDIES.

INTRODUCTION.

Each district vocational officer was requested to furnish a list of subjects representing distinctive work in his district. From this list a selection was made and assignments given with the purpose in mind of collecting in this way a variety of informal studies, which, read as a whole, would present, it was hoped, a vivid picture of district activities, and would supplement the more formal studies in Part VI.

It is hardly necessary to add that these studies in a given case do not pretend to represent the best work in the particular district, but represent the accident of this method of selecting subjects, the principal aim of which was, as stated, to get a good general collection in order to represent special intimate sides of the work as a whole.

Keeping this fact in mind, the reader will not attempt to judge the work of any district by the degree of merit or interest of the article which that district was assigned to write.

SUMMER SCHOOL AT ELLSWORTH, ME., FOR FEDERAL BOARD STUDENTS, DISTRICT NO. 1.

Ellsworth, located some 20 miles from Bar Harbor, offers living conditions which are ideal. The climate is cool and pleasant, and such that the customary exertion of school life and study during the summer months is not distasteful. In this pleasant region the College of Business Administration of Boston University conducted a summer session for Federal Board trainees from July 7 to August 27, 1920. The experiment proved to be very successful, and might well be termed an innovation in summer-school work. Eighty-six ex-service men availed themselves of the opportunities offered, and the results obtained are of national interest.

The purpose of the school was to give good vocational training. and to give it under the most favorable conditions for study and the pursuit of health. This involved making special arrangements regarding living conditions, curriculum, instruction, and school facilities, medical attention, healthful recreation, personal service, and maintenance of scholarship standards.