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 INDUSTRIAL TRAINING IN EDINBURGH 
 FOR CRIPPLED BOYS AND GIRLS 
 
 Douglas C: McMurtrie 
 
 Editor, American Journal of Care for Cripples 
 NEW YORK 
 
 For thirteen years organized work for crip- 
 pled boys and girls has been carried on in Edin- 
 burgh, Scotland, by the Edinburgh Cripple and 
 Invalid Children's Aid Society. All of the 
 features of this association's work are helpful, 
 but some are so unique in character that the 
 experience should be of general value and be 
 likely to find application elsewhere. 
 
 To gain an idea of the field of operation it 
 may be recalled that Edinburgh, the capital of 
 Scotland, is a city of well over 300,000 popu- 
 lation. The community is largely industrial in 
 character. 
 
 The various activities of the society will be 
 separately described. 
 
 Home for Girls. — The Nellfield Girls' Home 
 for crippled girls, founded in 1872, antedated 
 the organization of the society, but is now 
 maintained as a branch of its work. It accom- 
 modates sixteen girls, most of the residents 
 ranging in age from three to eleven years ; they 
 receive lessons from the matron, who is a cer- 
 tificated teacher. Several older girls are taught 
 dressmaking. The Home is located at 21 Colt- 
 bridge avenue. 
 
 The work is followed up by the Old Nell- 
 field Girls' Committee, which endeavors to keep 
 ill touch with all the girls who have been for- 
 
 ^<vt 
 
mcrly in residence at ihe home. This commit- 
 tee assists the girls to obtain each year a fort- 
 night's hoHday in the country, and aids neces- 
 sitous cases in other ways. Most of the girls, 
 however, neither expect nor receive such mate- 
 rial help. 
 
 Home for Boys. — The Home for Crippled 
 Boys at 22 View forth Terrace accommodates 
 fourteen residents. Board at $1.25 weekly is 
 charged here, as also in the girls' home, but in 
 needy cases this is provided by outside con- 
 tributors. The age limit is fourteen years. 
 
 Visitation of Cripples. — Since the founding 
 of the society in 1902, the work of visiting 
 cripples in their own homes has been one of its 
 principal activities. Each year a number of 
 invalids — children who are unable to attend 
 school and whose parents have neither time nor 
 talent for teaching — are given instruction regu- 
 larly twice, and in some cases, three times, a 
 week. Two examples were recently recorded 
 to show the value of this work. "A little boy, 
 nine years old, too delicate to start school at 
 the usual age, has benefited so much from his 
 visitor's teaching that on going to school this 
 autumn he was put in a higher class than the 
 average child of his age is fit for. Another lad, 
 so crippled that he can never go out, was taught 
 basket-making last winter, and not only has he 
 now an added interest in life, but he has 
 already earned a considerable sum of money." 
 The society has a long list of volunteers for 
 this work on its rolls. 
 
 Parlor Meetings. — The so-called cripple par- 
 lors, a feature of work unique to Great Britain, 
 are held fortnightly in various sections of the 
 city. To these meetings, which are largely 
 
 Gift 
 

 social ill character, the crippled children come 
 for entertainment, companionship, and profit. 
 Instruction is given in sewing, drawing, paint- 
 ing, basket-making, etc. Toys and games are 
 provided for those too young to take advantage 
 of the classes. There is also an industrial 
 center at which the older boys and girls are 
 taught dressmaking, carving and basket-mak- 
 ing. 
 
 Clubs for Cripples. — The girls' club meets 
 fortnightly from October till May. There are 
 classes in sewing, embroidery and singing, and 
 a lending library for the girls' use. A sum- 
 mer holiday is arranged for. 
 
 The boys' club meets weekly during the win- 
 ter, carrying through some systematic program. 
 In the summer a camping party is organized. 
 
 Relief and Assistance. — Orthopedic appli- 
 ances and artificial limbs are provided for cases 
 requiring them. Whenever possible the parents 
 pay part of the cost. The society also loans 
 or rents at a small fee special carriages and 
 invalid chairs. Milk, medicine and coal are 
 given in necessitous cases. During the year 
 the society sends delicate children to convales- 
 cent homes in the country. 
 
 Industrial Work. — It is this feature in the 
 activity of the society which is of particular 
 interest. In Edinburgh, as elsewhere, were 
 found grave difficulties in obtaining employ- 
 ment for cripples. The system developed solves 
 the problem, at least to a certam degree. In 
 1905 a boot-repairing shop was established, and 
 later a separate workshop for tailoring, dress- 
 making, and toymaking. In connection with 
 the opening of the latter workshop the follow- 
 
ing statement of experience and principle was 
 made. 
 
 For crippled boys and girls the problem of employ- 
 ment has always been serious, and especially is it the 
 case in these days of keen industrial competition. 
 
 An important part of the society's work is in help- 
 ing those who leave school to find work. 
 
 It is found that they resolve themselves into two 
 classes — (1) those who after training may be able 
 to take their place in ordinary workshops and become 
 self-supporting; (2) those who will probably never 
 be fit to enter ordinary workshops or to work for 
 long hours, but who are able to do work under favor- 
 able conditions, and at least partly support themselves. 
 
 Even those in the first class find great difficulty in 
 getting employment as apprentices, although, if trained 
 to a trade, openings are more easily found. 
 
 With this in view a boot repairing shop was opened 
 some years ago. This shop, now at 13 Brougham 
 street, is doing good work both in repairing and 
 making, and its turnover is steadily increasing. Nine 
 boys are employed under a competent foreman, while 
 a number who have been trained in the shop are 
 doing well in other boot shops. 
 
 A large number of the crippled boys are not physi- 
 cally fit for boot repairing, and to help these a tailor- 
 ing branch is now being opened in the new workshop ; 
 while, for girls, dressmaking is to be taught — in both 
 cases under the charge of capable instructors, and in 
 conditions as nearly as possible those met with in 
 ordinary workrooms. It is hoped that in both tailor- 
 ing and dressmaking a good deal of work in repair- 
 ing will be given. In commencing, employment will 
 be given to five or six boys and an equal number of 
 girls. 
 
 For the more helpless class it is proposed to start 
 in a few weeks the making of toys and nursery furni- 
 ture, with rug making, so that, though unable to find 
 work in outside shops afterward they may be able 
 to do work at home or in the workshop, and so be 
 able at least partially to earn a livelihood. In this 
 department there is room for about ten boys and 
 girls. Altogether, about twenty boys and girls between 
 the ages of 14 and 20 will probably be started in work' 
 during the first year. 
 
Rented premises, well lit and with open surround- 
 ings, have been secured on the first floor of 13a 
 George street, and every care has been taken in adapt- 
 ing the building, with due regard to economy, to make 
 it healthy and pleasant. 
 
 For those who cannot go home for their niitlday 
 meal, a hot dinner is being provided at a small charge. 
 
 At present no provision of boarding accommodation 
 is being made for those who are homeless, but it is 
 hoped that before long it may be possible to add this. 
 
 A word might be said for those who are too infirm 
 to move out of their homes, and who do knitting and 
 such work at their homes, but find it hard to get a 
 market for it. Their need is, from the nature of 
 things, less apparent, but none the less real. Orders 
 for their work will be gladly received at the work- 
 shop. 
 
 The work of the boot-repairing shop is con- 
 sidered to have been satisfactory. In view of 
 the fact that the primary purpose is construc- 
 tively educational, the financial statement is 
 encouraging. This expressed in dollars, and in 
 round figures, is as follows : 
 
 Year Earnings Expenses Deficit 
 
 1905 $135 $ 580 $ 445 
 
 1906 645 954 300 
 
 1907 670 995 325 
 
 1908 790 1,240 450 
 
 1909 960 1,450 490 
 
 1910 1,225 1,585 360 
 
 1911 1,390 1,740 350 
 
 1912 2,040 ' 2,360 320 
 
 1913 2,190 2,535 345 
 
 It will be observed that the receipts have 
 steadily increased without a proportionate rise 
 in expenses with the augmented output. It is 
 believed that with a larger turnover the deficit 
 may be wiped out. 
 
 The results other than financial must also be 
 taken into account. Since its establishment 
 forty-one crippled boys have been given the 
 opportunity to learn a trade. These are 
 
accounted for as follows: Seventeen are work- 
 ing at their trade under ordinary conditions; of 
 these six are earning from $5 to $6.50 a week, 
 and another is in business for himself. Seven 
 are earning from $2.50 to $4.25 a week, and 
 three others smaller wages. Twelve proved 
 unsuitable in physique or temperament, but 
 some of these have found other employment. 
 Eleven are still being trained in the boot shop. 
 One died. 
 
 In considering the figures given, it must be 
 borne in mind that the cash scale of wages is 
 considerably lower in Great Britain than in this 
 country. According to a recent report : "These 
 boys are instructed by a competent foreman in 
 both the making and repairing of boots, so that 
 at the end of two or three years' training, little 
 difficulty is experienced, in spite of their dis- 
 abilities, in finding them situations in which 
 they receive an adequate wage and have the 
 opportunity of completing their knowledge of 
 their trade." 
 
 The other workshop, for tailoring, dressmak- 
 ing and toy-making, has not been in operation 
 long enough to show conclusive results. During 
 the second year of actual operation there were 
 three instructors and twenty-four boys and 
 girls on the force, the latter distributed as fol- 
 lows : tailoring, seven boys ; toy-making, ten 
 boys ; dressmaking, seven girls. During the 
 year the receipts covered about half the expen- 
 ditures, but this ratio is expected to improve 
 with further operation. "But the value of the 
 workshop to the workers and indirectly to the 
 community cannot be measured in terms of 
 finance. Through sympathetic discipline and 
 application, and the sense of self-respect which 
 
conies from the consciousness of ability to earn, 
 these two dozen boys and girls have been intro- 
 duced to a larger life, satisfactory at once to 
 themselves and to the community. To be a 
 means of helping toward achieving the qualities 
 and efficiency thus encouraged, is felt to be 
 well worth all the expenditure involved alike in 
 time, in work, and in money." This opinion 
 i.s undoubtedly sound. 
 
 Employment Committee. — The industrial 
 work of the society is supplemented by an em- 
 ployment committee, which meets weekly to 
 deal with those cripples under its care who are 
 seeking work. The committee has found from 
 experience that it is especially easy for crippled 
 boys and girls to drift into "blind-alley" occu- 
 pations. After unsuccessful attempts to find 
 employment, parents are apt to allow them to 
 take any work that offers, and the result is often 
 an occupation which gives a comparatively high 
 starting wage, but has no tendency to develop 
 the workers. It keeps them employed until they 
 are too old to enter a skilled trade, and too 
 often they ultimately become casual workers 
 and loafers. The energies of the committee 
 have thus been largely directed — and in many 
 instances successfully — towards helping those 
 who have had an unfortunate start of this kind 
 to find work that will lead to something in the 
 end, although the wage may at first be small. 
 Some have had to be dissuaded from vain 
 quests and advised to seek employment that 
 was at least possible for them. Others, despair- 
 ing and discouraged, have had to be urged on 
 to keep searching for work. The efforts have 
 been more than usually successful. At the end 
 of a recent year the situation stood thus: About 
 
liiliBI- 
 
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 73 per cent, of the boys of working age under 
 the society's supervision were doing some work ; 
 17 per cent, were unfit for practically any kind 
 of work, and 10 per cent, were able to work, 
 but were unemployed. The percentage of girls 
 out of work was about the same, but the num- 
 ber of those unfit for work was greater. Among 
 those working, however, were a good number 
 whose occupation was only partial, some for 
 whom it was temporary or unsuitable, and 
 ethers who were depending for help on the 
 sale of products produced at home. 
 
 It only remains to say that there are always 
 between six and seven hundred cripples under 
 the care of this excellent society at any time. 
 
 The conclusions which have manifestly been 
 drawn from experience in the work described 
 are probably of practically universal applica- 
 tion in industrial work for crippled children. 
 There are a certain class of cripples who can 
 make their way with the minimum of assistance 
 under ordinary conditions of employment; and 
 there is another class that is unemployable, that 
 is, practically unfit for any work. But between 
 these two classes is a third class of considerable 
 numbers whose unsuccess, as regards self- 
 support and consequent self-respect, can be 
 turned into success through the expedient of a 
 shop philanthropically subsidized, offering spe- 
 cial conditions of employment, adapted to the 
 individual handicaps of the workers. 
 
 3505 Broadway. 
 
 Reprinted from 
 
 The Journal of the Missouri State Afcdical Axsocititioii 
 
 February. 1916, Vol. XIII, />. 7S 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 029 942 062 04 
 
 HoUinger Corp.