The aftermath of the Great War, which virtually ended with the Armistice on November 11, 1918, should be historically different from the social and economic muddles and messes which have succeeded other prolonged struggles. Human nature has not changed, but society is more enlightened, more highly organized, and more averse to waste. The soldiers who returned to Canada from the Boer War were paid small Imperial pensions for disabilities incurred and were rewarded by grants of land in the great Canadian West, which almost all of them realized on immediately, selling them to “land sharks” for ridiculously small cash sums. It has been stated that most of the British veterans of the Crimea died in the workhouses. Just as the last War was fought with more highly developed death-dealing machines and apparatus, and consequently evolved entirely new means of counter-offensive and protection, so the Allied nations employed entirely new methods to compensate the disabled fighting men for the incapacities they suffered through service. The aim was to develop all of the remaining abilities and aptitudes of the crippled soldier so that he might be able to retain his place in civilian life as an active, independent, self-supporting citizen. Nova Scotia can justly claim the credit for starting the plan of vocational re-training developed in Canada. In July, 1915, Miss I. Matthews, who was assisting her sister, Mrs. J. K. L. Ross, in preparing the residence of the latter in Sydney for use as a convalescent home for soldiers, secured a pamphlet describing the early efforts of France in rehabilitating war cripples. She brought it to the attention of Hon. G. H. Murray, who asked Principal F. H. Sexton, of the Technical College, for some concrete practical suggestions. The latter prepared a careful report on the methods which the Dominion might use to organize this work, and this was submitted to the Premier of Canada, Sir Robert Borden. [Illustration: DR. F. H. SEXTON, Principal Nova Scotia Technical College.] Just before this there had been created the Military Hospitals Commission to control the treatment in Canada of wounded and disabled men returning from Europe. The report on vocational re-training was submitted to the Commission for consideration and action. The subject was regarded of such importance that a conference of Provincial Premiers and other representatives was called to consider this and some other questions affecting returned men.