AUG 27 1918 Preliminary Survey of the Piano, Leather, Rubber, Paper Goods, Prepared by the Department of Industrial Survey of the The Red Cross Institute for Crippled and Disabled Men Opportunities for the Employment of Disabled Men These preliminary reports on opportunities for the employment of disabled men in various industries are not presented as exhaustive surveys of the trades. The material was prepared primarily for the use of the employment bureau of the Red Cross Institute and it has been thought well to publish it at this time for the information of other organizations concerned in the placement or training of the physically handicapped The purpose of making an industrial survey in connection with the re-education and rehabilitation of the cripple is really five-fold. In the first place a survey of a particular industry enables the assembly of information as to the desirability of establishing classes for the training of cripples in that industry. In the second place, it is only by a careful survey of any industry that adequate knowledge of possibilities of employing cripples in that industry can be obtained. It is obvious that such knowledge is essential to prompt and efficient placement of the crippled men. The third purpose of the industrial survey is to obtain a mailing list, consisting of the names of firms which are both able and willing to employ cripples. Such a list will be of permanent value for the employment bureau, as these firms can be circularized at any time for any particular needs. The fourth aim of an industrial survey is to educate the employer to the point where he is willing to give the cripple a fair chance and to regard the placement of the handicapped, not as an appeal to charity or patriotism, but as a sound economic proposition. The fifth and last object of the industrial survey is to find definite jobs for the men who apply for work at the employment bureau day by day. This is one of the most interesting phases of the work and will eventually be the most valuable. The industrial survey should prove the chief source of jobs as the bureau grows. The method pursued in making the industrial survey has been to visit first the national and then the local trade associations. These associations have been asked to cooperate by sending the literature of the Red Cross Institute to all their members. Furthermore, the associations have been asked to permit speakers to appear before their meetings in order to explain the rehabilitation work and ask cooperation of the individual employer. The next step has been to approach the trade journals and ask them to find space in their columns for articles on the training and employment of cripples. The response to this has been very generous and we have obtained widespread publicity within the industries. Twenty-three industries have been taken up one at a time. Investigators have been sent to all of the largest factories in each industry and full reports of the findings have been filed in the office of the employment bureau. The cooperation of the smaller factories has then been solicited either by letter or visit. Separate factories in other lines of industry have also been investigated for special reasons, and if these industries have appeared fertile fields for study, the whole industry is covered later. This work has been done partly by paid workers and partly by volunteers who have been carefully trained and directed. There are now on our files 862 names representing firms in or near New York City which are willing to cooperate and which employ anywhere from 25 to 10,000 men. The information acquired has been varied and valuable. The survey department now has on file full descriptions of many processes open to cripples. Thus far 1,203 kinds of jobs have been found which are possible for leg cripples and 278 kinds of jobs for arm cripples. Furthermore, a careful statement is made as to sanitary conditions, fire precautions, etc., in each factory, so that the employment bureau may have a full knowledge of all conditions which will react favorably or unfavorably on a cripple who might be placed in such factory. In total 542 factories have been investigated or visited since January 1, 1918. It is difficult to state the results of the survey work, which is only just beginning. It is possible, however, to estimate some of the probable results. In the first place, much definite information as to factory conditions has been acquired by our office. In the second place, much information as to the desirability and possibility of employing cripples has been given to the employers. One of the most interesting results of the work of the survey has been the change in the attitude of the employer. This is due, of course, in large part to the educational campaign to create an enlightened and constructive public opinion regarding the cripple; but it has been contributed to by the intensive work which the survey department has done through the trade associations. Six months ago it was necessary to talk only of the war cripple; the employer who would listen to the problem of the industrial cripple was very rare. Today it is the exception to find an employer who declines to receive the industrial cripple not only as a preliminary step to the employment of the war cripple, but also as an economic factor in the labor problem of today. Perhaps the most definite result of the survey is the specific knowledge of jobs appropriate for cripples of varied types. The other obvious result of the industrial survey has been the actual jobs found for the industrial cripples who are being placed by the employment bureau every day. It is impossible at this time to estimate accurately how many of these men have been placed in jobs discovered by the survey. As time passes, however, this will prove the most definite practical result of the work of the survey department. Preliminary statements on some of the industries already surveyed are given herewith. THE PIANO INDUSTRY The first piano factories visited were small ones. In every case, the employer was interested and eager to cooperate, but there were not many openings. In small factories each man must do several different kinds of work, and it almost always happens that at least one of the processes which he must do is heavy or, in some way, impossible for cripples. In the larger factories visited there was a very different situation. Each man worked on one process; in fact, there were often several men working all the time at one process. This means that it would be possible to employ two or three cripples at the same process by using an ablebodied man, who could be an unskilled worker, to carry the material back and forth to these men. This matter of the material is a problem in the placement of cripples in the piano industry. A man might be able to work at the airbrush with one arm, but he could not lift the big piece of wood on to the rack or remove it when varnished. The Manufacturers' Association says that the piano manufacturers in England have been able to employ a large number of cripples. It is true, industry in New York, and the reports from also, that cripples have been placed in the piano. them show that they found the work suitable. The men placed were not skilled men, nor were they of the best type of workmen. Their wages were, therefore, low. All the employers agree, however, that it would be possible to employ men in the more highly paid work, if they could get the right kind of men. PROCESSES The following are the processes which we have found possible for crippled men. In no case is the process listed unless the employer agreed that the work could be done. that the work could be done. Not all of the ma chinery at present is possible for cripples, but there is much of it which could be adjusted, and all employers are eager and willing to make those adjustments. For example, air-brush work is very possible for cripples with the exception of the act of filling the can. By arranging some sort of an automatic stop-cock which can be worked with the foot, an employer can make |