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Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 858, 9 November 1916, Page 8

The erstwhile Berlin correspondent of the "Daily Mail," Frederick W. Wile, keeps a close eye on the German newspaper exchanges these days. In the "Frankfurter Zeitung," of September 15, Wile came across a remarkable scheme to replenish the colossal inroads made on Germany's labour supply. According to the journal referred to—the facts were contained in a communique reproduced by the Press—it was proposed to draw upon the 100,000 crippled youths officially tabulated in 1906, with a view to converting as many of them as possible into artisans to till the places of workmen killed or incapacitated in the war. Says Wile: The total indexed in the Imperial census records as cripples includes "physically abnormal and epileptic" children. As the large majority are believed to be mentally normal, the State medical authorities believe that tens of thousands can be cured entirely and just as many rendered sufficiently fit to become breadwinners. The official justification of this unusual proposal for training youthful cripples for industrial pursuits is founded on the opinion that the healing of the deformed "will be all the easier at the present time, as numerous and elaborate institutions for repairing soldiers mutilated in the war have been established during the past two years." With the industrial market of Germany depleted to such an extent as to force the authorities to attempt the mending of cripples in order to fit them for work, the motive for the brutal deportation of the women and girls of North-East France becomes plain. As Wile points out, much nonsense has been written about the "old men" and "cripples" whom, it was alleged, Germany had to send into the firing line, but this requisitioning of the physically handicapped for industrial operations has a very real significance.