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Colcord. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Broken Homes, by Joanna C. Colcord + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Broken Homes + A Study of Family Desertion and its Social Treatment + +Author: Joanna C. Colcord + +Release Date: March 20, 2005 [EBook #15420] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BROKEN HOMES *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Melissa Er-Raqabi and the +PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + +<h3><i>SOCIAL WORK SERIES</i></h3> + +<h1>BROKEN HOMES</h1> + +<h2>A STUDY OF FAMILY DESERTION AND<br /> +ITS SOCIAL TREATMENT</h2> + +<h3><i>By</i></h3> +<h2>JOANNA C. COLCORD</h2> + +<h3>SUPERINTENDENT OF THE CHARITY ORGANIZATION SOCIETY<br /> +OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK</h3> + + +<hr style="width: 55%;" /> +<p class="center">NEW YORK<br /> +RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION<br /> +1919 +</p> +<div><br /></div> +<div><br /></div> + +<p class="center">COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY<br /> +THE RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION</p> +<div><br /></div> +<div><br /></div> + +<p class="center">WM F. FELL CO PRINTERS<br /> +PHILADELPHIA +</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE" /></p> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> +<p><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></p> + + +<p>No less thoughtful a critic of men and manners +than Joseph Conrad has remarked recently that +a universal experience "is exactly the sort of thing which +is most difficult to appraise justly in the individual instance." +The saying might have been made the motto +of this book, for in its pages Miss Colcord—with all the +eagerness of the newer school of social workers, bent +upon understanding, upon making allowances—seeks +that just appraisal to which Conrad refers. Marital +infelicities and broken homes are not universal, fortunately, +but some of the human weaknesses which lead +to them are very nearly so.</p> + +<p>To one who brings a long perspective to any theme +in social work, Broken Homes suggests the successive +stages through which the art of social case work has +progressed. Twenty years ago the editor of this Series +was responsible for the following sentences in an annual +report: "One of our most difficult problems has been +how to deal with deserted wives with children.... +One good woman, whose husband had left her for the +second time more than a year ago, declared often and +emphatically that she would never let him come back. +We rescued her furniture from the landlord, found her +work, furnished needed relief, and befriended the children;<a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a> +but the drunken and lazy husband returned the +other day, and is sitting in the chairs we rescued, while +he warms his hands at the fire that we have kept burning."</p> + +<p>The passage belongs to the first and what might be +termed the "muddling along" period of dealing with +family desertion, but the fact that boards of directors +actually were willing to print such frank statements +about their own shortcomings was a sign that the period +was drawing to a close.</p> + +<p>This first stage was succeeded by a disciplinary period, +in which earnest attempts were made to enact laws that +would punish the deserter and aid in his extradition +whenever he took refuge across a state line. Laws of +the strictest, and these well enforced, seemed for a while +the only possible solution.</p> + +<p>Then gradually, with the unfolding of a philosophy +and a technique of helping people in and through their +social relationships, a new way of dealing with this +ancient and perplexing human failing was developed. +This third way involved a more careful analysis of +relationships and motives, a greater variety in approach, +an increased flexibility in treatment, a new faith, perhaps, +in the re-creative powers latent in human nature. +But it is unnecessary to enlarge upon a point of view +which these pages admirably illustrate. Desertion laws +continue to serve a definite purpose, as Miss Colcord +makes clear, but no longer are they either the first or the +second resort of the skilful probation officer, family case +worker, or child protective agent.</p> + +<p>Just after the Russell Sage Foundation published a<a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a> +treatise on Social Diagnosis two years ago, a number of +letters came to the author urging that a volume on the +treatment of social maladjustments in individual cases +follow. But this second subject is not yet ready for the +large general treatise. A topic so new as social case +treatment must be developed aspect by aspect, preferably +in small, practical volumes each written by a specialist. +This is such a volume, and Miss Colcord breaks +new ground, moreover, in that her book illustrates the +whole present trend of social work as applied to individuals.</p> + +<p>Grateful acknowledgment should be made to the social +case workers who have furnished valuable contributions +to the body of data gathered for the present study. +Miss Colcord wishes mention made of her especial indebtedness +to Miss Betsey Libbey, Miss Helen Wallerstein +and Miss Elizabeth Wood of Philadelphia; Mr. C.C. +Carstens and Miss Elizabeth Holbrook of Boston; +Mrs. A.B. Fox and Mr. J.C. Murphy of Buffalo; Miss +Caroline Bedford of Minneapolis; Mr. Stockton Raymond +of Columbus; Mrs. Helen Glenn Tyson of Pittsburgh; +Mr. Arthur Towne of Brooklyn; Mr. E.J. +Cooley, Mr. Charles Zunser, Mr. Hiram Myers, and +Miss Mary B. Sayles of New York. Many others not +here mentioned were untiring in answering questions +and furnishing needed information.</p> + +<p> +MARY E. RICHMOND<br /> +<i>Editor of the Social Work Series</i><br /> +NEW YORK, May, 1919.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS" /><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='left'><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE</a></td><td align='right'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>I.</td><td align='left'><a href="#I">INTRODUCTION</a></td><td align='right'>7</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>II.</td><td align='left'><a href="#II">WHY DO MEN DESERT THEIR FAMILIES?</a></td><td align='right'>17</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>III.</td><td align='left'><a href="#III">CHANGES OF EMPHASIS IN TREATMENT</a></td><td align='right'>50</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>IV.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IV">FINDING THE DESERTING HUSBAND</a></td><td align='right'>65</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>V.</td><td align='left'><a href="#V">FURTHER ITEMS IN THE INVESTIGATION</a></td><td align='right'>91</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>VI.</td><td align='left'><a href="#VI">THE DETAILS OF TREATMENT</a></td><td align='right'>106</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>VII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#VII">THE DETAILS OF TREATMENT (<i>Continued</i>)</a></td><td align='right'>125</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>VIII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#VIII">THE HOME-STAYING NON-SUPPORTER</a></td><td align='right'>149</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>IX.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IX">NEXT STEPS IN CORRECTIVE TREATMENT</a></td><td align='right'>164</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>X.</td><td align='left'><a href="#X">NEXT STEPS IN PREVENTIVE TREATMENT</a></td><td align='right'>185</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='left'><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></td><td align='right'>201</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>BROKEN HOMES</h2> + +<h2><a name="I" id="I" />I</h2> + +<p class="center"><b>INTRODUCTION</b></p> + + +<p>It has frequently been said that desertion is +the poor man's divorce but, like many epigrams, +this one hardly stands the test of experience. +When examined closely it is neither +illuminating nor, if the testimony of social case +workers can be accepted, is it true. It is true, +of course, that many of the causes of domestic +infelicity which lead to divorce among the well-to-do +may bring about desertion among the less +fortunate, but the deserting man does not, as a +rule, consider his absences from home as anything +so final and definite as divorce.</p> + +<p>In a study of desertion made by the Philadelphia +Society for Organizing Charity in 1902,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> it +<a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>was found that 87 per cent of the men studied +had deserted more than once. The combined +experience of social workers goes to show that a +comparatively small number of first deserters +make so complete a break in their marital relations +that they are never heard from again, and +that an even smaller number actually start new +families elsewhere, although no statistical proof +of this last statement is available. One social +worker of experience says that in her judgment +desertion, instead of being a poor man's divorce, +comes nearer to being a poor man's vacation.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A man who had always been a good husband and +father was discharged from hospital after a long and +exhausting illness and returned to his family—wife and +seven children—in their five-room tenement. Ten days +later he disappeared suddenly, but reappeared some two +weeks later in very much better health and ready to resume +his occupation and the care of his family. His +explanation of his apparent desertion was that he was +unable to stand the confusion of his home and "had +needed rest." He had "beaten his way" to Philadelphia +and visited a friend there.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The reporter of the foregoing remarks that it +illustrates "unconscious self-therapy," and that +<a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>the patient's disappearance might have been +avoided if the services of a good medical-social +department had been available at the hospital +where the man was treated.</p> + +<p>It is more difficult to justify the thirst for +experience of another deserting husband who +came to the office of a family social agency +after an absence of a few months, with effusive +thanks for the care of his family and the explanation +that he "had always wanted to see the +West, and this had been the only way he could +find of accomplishing it."</p> + +<p>In fact, case work has convinced social workers +that there are few things less permanent +than desertion. In itself this provisional quality +tends to create irritation in the minds of many +of the profession. It is upsetting to plan for a +deserted family which stops being deserted, so +to speak, overnight. But in their understandable +despair social workers sometimes overlook +essential facts about the nature of marriage. +The <i>permanence</i> of family life is one of the foundation +stones of their professional faith; yet +they may fail to recognize certain manifestations +<a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>of this permanence as part and parcel of the end +for which they are striving. They would see no +point in the practice adopted by a certain social +agency which deals with many cases of family +desertion. This society, when it has had occasion +to print copies of a deserter's photograph +to use in seeking to discover his present whereabouts, +often presents his wife with an enlargement +of the picture suitable for framing. The +procedure displays, nevertheless, a profound insight +not only into human nature but into the +human institution called marriage.</p> + +<p>In the next chapter will be considered some of +the causes that make men leave their homes. +To deal effectively with the situation created by +desertion, however, we have need of a wider +knowledge than this. Not only what takes men +away but what keeps them from going, what +brings them back, what leads to their being forgiven +and received into their homes again, are +matters that seriously concern the social case +worker. What is it that makes this plant called +marriage so tough of fiber and so difficult to +eradicate from even the most unfriendly soil?</p> + +<p><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>It is fortunate (since the majority of case +workers are unmarried) that simply to have +been a member of a family gives one some understanding +of these questions. The theorist who +maintains that marriage is purely economic, or +that it is entirely a question of sex, has either +never belonged to a real family or has forgotten +some of the lessons he learned there.</p> + +<p>Many volumes have been written upon the +history of marriage, or rather of the family, +since, as one historian justly puts it, "marriage +has its source in the family rather than the +family in marriage."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> In all these studies the +influence of law, of custom, of self-interest, and +of economic pressure, is shown to have molded +the institution of marriage into curious shapes +and forms, some grievous to be borne. But is +it not after all the crystallized and conventionalized +records of past time which have had to +be used as the source material of such studies, +and could the spiritual values of the family in +<a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>any period be found in its laws and learned discourses? +We might rather expect to find students +of these sources preoccupied with the outward +aspects, the failures, the unusual instances. +It is as true of human beings as of nations, that +the happy find no chronicler. "Out of ... +interest and joy in caring for children in their +weakness and watching that weakness grow to +strength, family life came into being and has +persisted."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> It is hardly conceivable that in +any society, however primitive, there were not +some real families—even when custom ran otherwise—in +which marriage meant love and kindness +and the mutual sharing of responsibilities. +And these families, today as always, are the creators +and preservers of the spiritual gains of the +human race. It has been beautifully said of the +family in such a form, that "it is greater than +love itself, for it includes, ennobles, makes permanent, +all that is best in love. The pain of life is +hallowed by it, the drudgery sweetened, its pleas<a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>ures +consecrated. It is the great trysting-place +of the generations, where past and future flash +into the reality of the present. It is the great +storehouse in which the hardly-earned treasures +of the past, the inheritance of spirit and character +from our ancestors, are guarded and preserved +for our descendants. And it is the great +discipline through which each generation learns +anew the lesson of citizenship that no man can +live for himself alone."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> It follows that the +most trying and discouraging feature of social +work with deserted wives; namely, their determination +to take worthless men back and back +again for another trial, is often only a further +manifestation of the extraordinary viability of +the family.</p> + +<p>It is true that, into this enduring quality, many +elements enter, some homely or merely material. +A desire for support, or for a resumption of +sex relations, may play a part in a wife's decision +to forgive the wanderer. There are many +other factors—use and wont; pride in being +<a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>able to show a good front to the neighbors; a +feeling that it is unnatural to be receiving support +from other sources. Just the mere desire +to have his clothes hanging on the wall and +the smell of his pipe about, the hundreds of +small details that go to make up the habit of +living together, have each their separate pull on +the woman whose instinct to be wife and mother +to her erring man is urging her to give in; Home +is, in both their minds,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>" ... the place where when you have to go there<br /></span> +<span>They have to take you in....<br /></span> +<span>Something you somehow haven't to deserve."<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A woman who had left her home town and +found clerical work in a strange city, in order +not to be near her syphilitic husband from whom +she had determined to separate, said, "When +you've been married to a man, you can't get +over feeling your place is with him."</p> + +<p>However we may deplore the results in a +given case, the spineless woman who takes her +<a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>husband back many times may nevertheless be +giving a demonstration of the thing we are +most interested in conserving—the durability +and persistence of the family. And so the social +worker who is enabled by experience or imagination +to enter into the real meaning of family +life is neither scornful nor amused when Mrs. +Finnegan is found, on the morning when her +case against Finnegan is to come up in the +domestic relations court, busily washing and +ironing his other shirt in order that he may +make a proper appearance and not disgrace the +family before the judge.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>An attempt will be made in this small book +to analyze some causal factors in the problem of +the deserter, to touch upon recent changes in the +attitude of social workers toward deserted families, +to present illustrations from the best discoverable +practice in the treatment of desertion, and +to suggest certain possible next steps, both on the +legal and on the social side. For lack of space, it +will be impossible to consider the closely related +problems of the deserting wife, the unmarried +<a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>mother, or the divorced couple. It is assumed +throughout that the reader is familiar with the +general theory of modern case work; and no more +is here attempted than to give a number of suggestions +which will be found to be practical, it +is hoped, when the social worker deals with the +home marred and broken by desertion, or when +he seeks to prevent this evil by such constructive +measures as are now possible.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Philadelphia +Society for Organizing Charity, p. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Goodsell, Willystine: The Family as a Social and Educational +Institution, p. 8. New York, The Macmillan Co., +1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Byington, Margaret F.: Article on "The Normal +Family," <i>Annals of the American Academy of Political +and Social Science</i>, May, 1918.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Bosanquet, Helen: The Family, p. 342. London, +Macmillan & Co., 1906.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Frost, Robert: North of Boston, p. 20. New York, +Henry Holt & Co., 1915.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II" /><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>II</h2> + +<p class="center"><b>WHY DO MEN DESERT THEIR FAMILIES?</b></p> + + +<p>"Before the deserter there was a broken +man," said a district secretary who has +had conspicuous success in dealing with such men. +By this characterization she meant not necessarily +a physical or mental wreck, but a man bankrupt +for the time being in health, hopes, prospects, +or in all three; a man who lacked the power or +the will to dominate adverse conditions, who had +allowed life to overcome him. Such an unfortunate +may not be conscious of his own share in +bringing about the difficulties in which he finds +himself, but he is always aware that something +has gone seriously wrong in his life. His grasp of +this fact is the one sure ground upon which the +social worker can meet him at the start.</p> + +<p>We should distinguish between the <i>causes</i> +that bring about a given desertion, and the +<i>conscious motives in the mind of the deserter</i>. It +<a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>is well for the social worker to make the latter +the starting point in dealing with the man, accepting +the most preposterous as at least worthy +of discussion. The absconder is often too inarticulate +and ill at ease to give a clear picture +of what was in his mind when he went away. +If he was out of work, it may have been a perfectly +sincere belief that he would find work +elsewhere, or perhaps only a speculative hope +that he might. (These are not in the beginning +genuine desertions, but often become so later +on.) It is possible that, beset by irritations and +perplexities, the thought of cutting his way out +at one stroke from all his difficulties made an +appeal too strong to be resisted. Or perhaps +he flung out of the house and away, in a passion +of anger and jealousy which later crystallized +into cold dislike. The spell of an infatuation +for another woman might well have been the +cause; or he may have been mentally deranged +through alcohol. Simple weariness of the burden +which he has not strength of body or mind +to carry and ought never to have assumed is +one attitude to be reckoned with, and failure +<a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>to realize or in his heart accept the binding +nature of his obligations is another.</p> + +<p>His temperamental instability may have been +such that the desire for a change—the "wanderlust"—was +driving him to distraction. Or +perhaps, under the urge of his own subconscious +feeling of failure, he may have convinced +himself that if he could "shake" the old environment +and all in it that hampered him, he could +take a fresh start and make good. "If I could +only get to California," sighed Patrick Donald,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +"I have a feeling things would be different." +With too much imagination to be content with +the situation in which he found himself, Donald +had not imagination enough to realize that he +would have to take his old self with him wherever +he went, and that he might better fight +things out where he stood. Men of his sort +yearn constantly for the future, not realizing +that in its truest sense the present <i>is</i> the future.</p> + +<p>Only in rare instances will the deserter accept +the entire responsibility for his act. To try to +<a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>find justification for doing what we want to do +is characteristic of human beings, and the deserter +is no exception. He attempts to "rationalize" +his conduct and so regain his sense of +self-approval and well-being by finding excuses +and justifications in the conduct of others. +Even when the fault is all his, he usually succeeds +in making himself believe that his wife +is more to blame than he for his having left +home.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> The social worker who attempts to +deal with the situation the deserter creates +should know this attitude in advance and be +prepared, through some simple rule-of-thumb +psychology, to attack the obsession and bring +him, first of all, to see and face squarely his +own responsibility.</p> + +<p>Many blanket theories have been developed +to explain desertion—that it is due to economic +pressure; that it is the result of bad housekeeping; +that its causes can all be reduced to +sex incompatibility. All these factors: undoubt<a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>edly +have their bearing on the problem, but +there is no one cause or group of causes underlying +breakdowns in family morale. The ratio +of desertions has been observed to decrease +rather than to increase in "hard times";<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> moreover, +it is a matter of common observation that +not all slovenly and incompetent wives are deserted, +and that many married couples in all +walks of life whose sex relationships are unsatisfactory, +nevertheless maintain the fabric of +family life and support and bring up their children +with an average degree of success. None +of these three factors alone will serve, therefore, +as a fundamental causation unit in desertion. +Many statistical attempts have been made to +study the causes of desertion, and to assign to +each its mathematical percentage of influence. +The report of a court of domestic relations gives +such an analysis of over 1,500 cases, listing 25 +causes, and carefully calculating the percentage +of cases due to each. A summary of these +<a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>percentages grouped under five heads is as follows:</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='left'><i>Percentage</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>Distinct sex factors</td><td align='right'>39.03</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>Alcohol and narcotic drugs</td><td align='right'>37.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Temperamental traits</td><td align='right'>15.40</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>Economic issues</td><td align='right'>6.27</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>Mental and physical troubles</td><td align='right'>2.30</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>———</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'></td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>100.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>It would be easy to criticize the foregoing on +the score of grouping. Can alcoholism and drug +addiction be separated from mental and physical +disorders? And how distinguish infallibly between +sex factors, temperamental traits, and mental +disabilities? But the main defect in such +statistical studies is that they assume in each case +one cause, or at least one cause sufficiently dominant +to dwarf the rest; and few of the causes +listed are really fundamental. The mind instinctively +begins to reach back after the causes of all +these causes. The social worker who made the +sweeping assertion that there are two great reasons +for marital discord—"selfishness in men and +peevishness in women,"—came a good deal nearer +<a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>to an accurate statement of fact with infinitely +less trouble.</p> + +<p>Looked at from the point of view of the social +worker, desertion is itself only a symptom of some +more deeply seated trouble in the family structure. +The problem presented, if it could have +been recognized in time, is not essentially different +from what it would have been before the +man's departure. Without attempting, therefore, +any statistical analysis of the causes of desertion, +we may nevertheless be able to examine one by +one a number of possible <i>contributory factors</i> in +marital unhappiness and therefore in desertion. +No attempt will be made in the list that follows +to distinguish between primary and secondary +causes, nor to arrange them in any order of +importance. An effort to get from case workers +lists so arranged resulted only in confusion, each +person emphasizing a different set of factors. +The groupings here given, therefore, are no more +than a placing of the more obviously related +factors together and a leading from past history +up to the present.</p> + +<p>Considering first the personal as distinguished +<a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>from the community factors in desertion, these +may be listed as follows:</p> + +<div><br /></div> +<p><b>CONTRIBUTORY FACTORS IN THE MAN AND WOMAN</b></p> + +<p><b>1. Actual Mental Deficiency.</b>—Character weaknesses +such as were spoken of earlier in this +chapter grade down by degrees into real mental +defect or disorder, and not even the psychiatrist +can always draw the line.</p> + +<p>A physician connected with the Municipal +Court in Boston gives as his opinion that while +the percentage of actually insane or feeble-minded +among deserters is no higher than among +other offenders they are extremely likely to +present some of the phenomena of psychopathic +personality. Such people have to be studied by +the social worker and the psychiatrist, and not +from the behavior side only, but with a view to +discovering what sort of equipment for life was +handed down to them from their family stock.</p> + +<blockquote><p>The plan for the future of a fifteen-year-old boy which +was made by a society for family social work was markedly +modified when it was discovered that not only his +<a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>father but his grandfather had been a man of violent and +abusive temper, who drank habitually and neglected their +family obligations. With this sort of heredity and an +ineffective mother, whom he was accustomed to seeing +treated with abuse and disrespect, it was felt important +to remove the boy, who showed some promise, to surroundings +where he could be under firm discipline and +learn decent standards of family life.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Feeble-mindedness, closely connected as it usually +is with industrial inefficiency in the man, bad +housekeeping in the woman, and lack of self-control +in both, is of course, a potent factor in +non-support and probably also in desertion.</p> + +<p><b>2. Faults in Early Training.</b>—To low ideals of +home life and of personal obligation, which +were imbibed in youth, can be traced much +family irresponsibility. It is by no means the +rule, however, for children always to follow in +the footsteps of weak or vicious parents; and +it is the experience of social workers that such +children, taught by observation to avoid the +faults seen in their own homes, often make good +parents themselves. Perhaps even more insidious +in its effect on later marital history is +<a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>the home in which no self-control is learned. +The so-called "good homes" in which children +are exposed to petting, coddling, and overindulgence—and +these homes are not confined to the +wealthy—produce adults who do not stand up +to their responsibilities. A probation officer in +Philadelphia tells of the mother of a young +deserter who could not account for her son's +delinquency. "He <i>ought</i> to be a good boy," she +complained; "I carried him up to bed myself +every night till he was eleven years old."</p> + +<p><b>3. Differences in Background.</b>—Even though both +man and wife come from good homes, if those +homes are widely different in standards and in +cultural background strains may develop in later +life between the couple. Differences in race, religion +and age are recognized as having a causative +relation to desertion. Miss Brandt<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> found +that, in about 28 per cent of the cases where +these facts were ascertained, the husband and +wife were of different nationality. "In the +<a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>general population of the United States in 1900 +only 8.5 per cent was of mixed parentage, and +for New York City the proportion was less than +13 per cent.... A difference in nationality +was more than twice as frequent among the +cases of desertion as among the general population +of the city where it is most common." +Miss Brandt's figures for difference of religion +are less significant, but it existed in 19 per cent +of the total number of cases for which information +on this point was available. In 27 per cent of +the families where age-facts were learned, there +were differences of over six years between the +two; in 15 per cent the woman was older than +the man.</p> + +<p>Other differences which should find mention +under this heading are those that arise when +the environment is changed by immigration. +The man who precedes his wife by many years +in coming to America has often outgrown her +when she finally joins him, even if he has formed +no other family ties. The handicap is not +wholly overcome when the couple come to this +country together, for the much greater oppor<a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>tunities +of the man to learn American ways may +drive a wedge between him and his wife. On +the other hand it is a popular saying, particularly +among young Italian immigrants, that girls who +have been in America too long do not make good +wives, that when a man wants to marry he had +better send for a girl from the old country; and +these marriages seem on the whole to turn out +well.</p> + +<p><b>4. Wrong Basis of Marriage.</b>—Included here +should be hasty marriages, mercenary marriages, +marriages entered into unwillingly after pregnancy +had occurred, as well as marriages where +coercion was a factor for other reasons.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>When there have been sex relations before +marriage, unless the custom of the community +sanctions such intimacy, there are likely to develop +jealousies, quarrels, and ill feeling. "He +do be always castin' it up at me, but sure, 'twas +himself was to blame" is one version of the age-old +story.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>There should also be included here those irregular +unions called "common law marriages," +which are still permitted in many of our states. +The protection supposed to be afforded to the +woman by this institution is mainly fictitious, as +it is practically impossible to secure conviction +for bigamy if one of the marriages was of the +common law variety. A common law husband +who deserts, even if he admits his wife's legal +claim upon him, does not feel morally bound; +and this fact undoubtedly plays its part in the +causation of such desertions.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p><b>5. Lack of Education.</b>—More is included under +this title than scanty "book-learning." Not only +the morally undisciplined child but the mentally +undisciplined youth is handicapped as spouse and +parent. Ignorance of the physical and spiritual +bases of married life is a potent cause of desertion. +So also is a limited industrial equipment. Irregular +school attendance, early "working papers," +a dead-end job with no educational possibilities +<a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>in it—these form a frequent background for later +unsuccess in life and in marriage.</p> + +<blockquote><p>There seemed at first no good explanation for the +desertion of Alfred West. Both his record and his wife's +were good, and their mutual fondness for the children +seemed a strong bond. They constantly bickered, however, +over the small income Alfred was able to earn, and +his wife and her relatives "looked down" upon him as +being lower than they in the social scale. Inquiry into +past history showed that he had grown up in a southern +community where there were no facilities for education, +and that he could not even read and write until after his +marriage. Although of average capacity, he was restricted +by his early lack of training in his choice of a job; +and the mortification and sense of inferiority which his +wife fostered led to discouragement and indifference, +which ended in desertion. A thorough understanding of +the two backgrounds involved enabled a social worker to +effect a real reconciliation, with the woman's eyes opened +to her ungenerous behavior and the man taking steps to +improve his education in a night school.</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>6. Occupational Faults.</b>—Closely allied to the +foregoing, and in some respects growing out of +it, are the shortcomings on the employment +side that contribute to marital instability. Most +of these can be referred back to lack of education +or opportunity in youth, or to defects of char<a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>acter. +Laziness, incompetence, lack of skill in +any trade, lack of application, or, on the other +hand, the possession by a man with no business +"stake" in the community of a trade at which +he can work wherever he takes a fancy to go, +or of a trade which is seasonal and shifting—all +these have a direct relation to desertion.</p> + +<p>The wife's competence and willingness to earn +often seems to have a causal connection with +the man's failure as "provider."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>Corresponding to and complementing the +man's industrial defects, and springing from the +same causes, is the woman's failure in the business +of being a housewife. The wife's laziness, +incompetence, lack of interest, and lack of skill +and knowledge create, as one case worker puts +it, "the sort of home that tends to get itself +deserted." These faults of the wife are responsible +for as many desertions, probably, as are the +faults of the husband. When the man and the +wife are both industrial failures we get the +extremity of family breakdown to be found in +records of "chronic non-support" cases.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a><b>7. Wanderlust.</b>—As a cause of family desertion +this has probably been overestimated. Some +item of this sort appears in every list of causes +of desertion which has ever been compiled, and +there are more or less exceptional cases in which +it probably plays a part. The boy who becomes +a vagabond in childhood and early takes to the +road does not, however, seem to be a marrying +man; and the instances from case work in +which it is clear that the thirst for adventure +was at the bottom of desertion are rare. The +man whose line of work before marriage led +him from place to place seems, in fact, hardly +to contribute his quota to the ranks of wife-deserters, +and it is unusual to find sailors or +other wanderers from force of circumstance figuring +among them.</p> + +<p><b>8. Money Troubles.</b>—As has already been said, +it is impossible to show any direct relation between +small incomes and desertion. The connection +between low wage and non-support is +of course a great deal closer. The inadequate +income unquestionably acts indirectly to break +<a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>down family morale in much the same way as +does lowered physical vitality.</p> + +<p>But marital discord that springs from the +<i>handling</i> of the family finances is another matter, +and it recurs regularly in the history of +what went on prior to desertion. One deserter, +traced to a southern city, returned voluntarily +and begged the assistance of the social worker +interested to reform his wife's spending habits. +"I made good money and I never opened my +pay envelope on her," said he, "but the week's +wages was always gone by Thursday." Many +men, however, who make a boast of turning over +unbroken pay envelopes to their wives borrow +back so much in daily advances that their net +contribution is only a fraction of their wages.</p> + +<p>Some desertions brought about by financial +difficulties are not, strictly speaking, marital +problems at all. Debts resulting from his own +extravagance or dishonesty may cause a man to +leave home to escape prosecution or disgrace. +One such man kept in touch with his family, +sending money at irregular intervals for some +years, but always moving on to another place +<a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>before he could be found. It proved impossible +to get in communication with him, and finally +he stopped writing and disappeared.</p> + +<p><b>9. Ill Health: Physical Debility.</b>—All social workers +agree that physical condition plays a part, +though usually only indirectly and secondarily, +in causing desertion. In the man, it may lower +his vitality, cause irregular work, and superinduce +a condition of despondency and readiness +to give in. In the woman, it brings about careless +housekeeping, loss of attractiveness, and disinclination +to marital intercourse—all factors +which contribute directly to desertion. Continued +ill health of the wife brings burdens, +financial and other, which may help through +discouragement to break down the husband's +morale.</p> + +<p>There should be included here some consideration +of one of the most puzzling types of +abandonment—the "pregnancy desertion." Attempts +have been made to explain it on the +ground of the instinctive aversion of the male +sex for domestic crises. But the impulse that +<a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>causes the prosperous householder to move to +his club when house-cleaning time arrives will +hardly serve to explain such a custom, and as a +matter of fact other domestic crises, such as +illnesses of the children, do not have any such +effect upon the man who habitually absents +himself from home before the birth of each +child. Other possible reasons for it are the +well-known irritability and "difficulty" of women +in this condition, and their aversion to sexual +intercourse. Some pregnancy deserters take +the step in the hope that their wives will bring +about an abortion; but this is a modern and +sophisticated development and the institution of +"pregnancy desertion" is one of undoubted +antiquity. Its prevalence among certain European +immigrants would almost point to its +being a racial tradition. Ethnologists who have +studied strange marriage customs, such as the +"couvade," ought to turn their attention to +discovering the causes of this other and socially +more important marital vagary.</p> + +<p><b>10. Temperamental Incompatibility.</b>—It is diffi<a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>cult +to catalogue and appraise the causal factors +in desertion that lie in personality. They are +closely related to differences in background and +are intimately involved with the sex relations of +the pair. We cannot, however, admit that they +are identical with the latter, as some students +of the subject claim; or that the only incompatibility +in marriage is sex incompatibility. +Indeed, two people may be so incompatible as +to find in sex their only common ground.</p> + +<p>The commonest of these temperamental differences +center about standards of right and +wrong or proper and improper conduct. Especially +is this manifested in the bringing up of +the children. Extreme self-righteousness on the +part of one or the other, nagging and petty +criticism, unreasonable jealousy, "sulking spells," +violent quarrels, are some of its manifestations. +The idea of <i>possession</i> exercised by either of the +couple, and especially a tendency to dominate +or try to control on the part of the woman, may +be a causal factor in desertion. The lack of a +saving sense of humor in one or both is often +a complicating factor. These comparatively +<a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>minor differences take on a serious complexion +in the minds of the couple; and it is surprising +how often a deserting man will give promptly +and with every appearance of feeling justified +some cause for his desertion which falls clearly +under this head. "People forgive each other +the big things; it's the little things they can't +forgive."</p> + + +<p><b>11. Sex Incompatibility.</b>—There comes under +this heading a wide range of causative factors +which play an important part in marital discord. +Some of them are better understood by +the social worker than was formerly the case; +but many of them are obscure even to the practitioner +of mental medicine, to whom their results +come daily. Distasteful as the task may +be, the social worker should familiarize herself, +through reading or through instruction by a +qualified physician, in the commoner forms of +these maladjustments. This is not urged because +it is part of the social worker's task to +make detailed inquiry into such matters or to +pass judgment upon them, but because they +<a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>often clamor for attention and need to be recognized +by the first responsible person to whose +notice they are brought. Unless she knows, +for instance, what constitutes excess in sex relations, +a worker may misunderstand the situation +described to her and condemn a man for +being a selfish brute, when the trouble is really +sexual anæsthesia in the wife. It is well known +that this single cause operates disastrously to +disrupt many marriages or else to render them +insupportable. The warning should be added, +however—and it cannot be added too emphatically—that +the social worker must scrupulously +refrain from making diagnoses in these cases, +even tentatively; she must refer such data as +come to her either to the general practitioner +or to the psychiatrist, selecting one or the other +as the symptoms presented may indicate.</p> + +<p>Less well understood by the lay worker are +actual maladjustments, both physical and mental +(or spiritual), which prevent the complete +satisfaction of one or both. Some of these are +curable by medical care, others by instruction +and education. This instruction should be +<a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>given, needless to say, by the physician and not +by the case worker. If uncorrected such maladjustments +are apt to result in marital shipwreck.</p> + +<p>No attempt can be made here to discuss actual +sex perversions in their relation to desertion. +Their effect is obvious; and the social worker +should be sufficiently well informed, not only +from a few standard books on the subject,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> +but from a knowledge of the phrases which are +used in the tenements, to understand them, so +that significant symptoms are not overlooked. +So intimately are sex difficulties connected with +the neuroses that the lay social worker should +consult the psychiatrist freely wherever one is +available, before attempting to deal with them.</p> + + +<p><b>12. Vicious Habits.</b>—Sexual immorality, through +its degenerative effect on personality and the +lowered ideals of marriage it induces, has a real +effect in bringing about desertion. The "other +<a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>man" and the "other woman" type of desertion, +however, is often itself only a consequence +of a previously existing state of temperamental +or sexual incompatibility. If these underlying +causes can be attacked and changed such a desertion +may be "repairable."</p> + +<blockquote><p>A young man deserted his wife and three children and +eloped with an eighteen-year-old girl who had made his +acquaintance in a street car flirtation. He had been "an +obedient boy with good principles," and his later record +showed steadiness and ability; but he and his wife had +been drifting apart—their marital relations had not been +"quite the same" as formerly. Arrested and brought +back, he did not impute any blame to her, however, but +said he "must have been crazy." In spite of the circumstances, +the judge decided to give him six months in the +penitentiary; and a man visitor from the family social +agency interested began at once to try to secure an +influence over him. On his release the couple again went +to housekeeping. The wife had been cautioned on how to +receive him; but things went badly at first, and the man +began again insisting that they were mismated. (He +"had the other girl still considerably on his conscience +and heart.") Tangles continually arose which the +society's visitor was hard put to it to straighten out. Once +the wife found a letter from the girl; but finally, after the +charity organization society in the city where he had +left the girl reported that she was doing well and not +<a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>breaking her heart about him, the man decided to "cut +out" the correspondence. A little later the girl eliminated +herself by marrying. A year after the reconciliation the +wife told the friendly visitor that the trouble was gone +between them, and "it was just like a new life." For +another year efforts were continued to strengthen the +attachment and make the home more attractive, at the +end of which time it was felt that the home was stable +enough to need no further supervision.</p></blockquote> + +<p>For reasons of convenience we may include +here the causal relations between venereal disease +and desertion. In so far as syphilis brings +about mental and physical deterioration, the +relation between the two is obvious. The presence +of the disease in the man, if known to his +wife, may lead her to sever relations with him +in self-protection, and this severance, in turn, +may lead ultimately to desertion or complete +separation. Often separation is desirable, but the +syphilitic who is on the whole a good family man +raises some of the most difficult questions with +which the social worker has to deal. Whether +to try to force him out of the home and thus +make an unwilling deserter; whether to violate +the diagnosis given in confidence by passing it +<a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>on to the wife for her protection—these are only +two of the puzzles that may arise.</p> + +<p>The relation of alcoholism to non-support and +desertion is too well known to require discussion. +The causative relation between alcohol and desertion +is so direct that it probably ought not +to be included under contributory causes at all. +As it is an active poison to the cells of the nervous +system, it may bring about deteriorations +of mind and character that are directly to blame +for such anti-social acts as desertion. The same +is true in less degree of the use of narcotics; +though drug habits are far less common in connection +with desertion than alcoholism. What +relation drugs and alcohol will hold to desertion +after July 1, 1919, remains to be seen. +Alcoholism in the woman is, however, a real +contributory factor, and one frequently met +with. The experience of social workers leads +them to believe that alcohol is more devastating +in its effects on character with women than with +men, and that there is less hope of a cure. The +great majority of so-called "justifiable deserters" +are the husbands of alcoholic women.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>Gambling in its effect on family income will +be discussed in connection with non-support, to +which it bears a much more direct relation than +to desertion. In its degenerative effect upon +character it may have, however, a real causal +relation to the latter.</p> + +<p>The habit of desertion itself is a degenerative +one, not only upon the deserter but upon his +home. The "intermittent husband" often +weakens and demoralizes his wife in almost the +same ratio as his own progress down-hill.</p> + +<div><br /></div> +<p><b>CONTRIBUTORY FACTORS IN THE COMMUNITY</b></p> + +<p><b>1. Interference of Relatives.</b>—The tendency of +relatives to take sides against their "in-laws" +is a matter of everyone's observation. It is +frequently found as a serious factor in desertion. +Many case stories which will be used in the following +chapters to illustrate other points show +also the harmful interference of relatives in what +might otherwise have been a fairly stable home. +Relatives can be a factor in marital discord +without actively interfering. One high-tempered +<a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>young couple formed what amounted to a habit +of frequent quarrels and temporary separations +simply because the parents of both stood ready +to take them back whenever they chose to live +apart. Relatives within the home as well as +outside it may exercise an unfortunate influence +on marital relations. The desertion of a middle-aged +man who married a widow was found to be +directly caused by the antagonism which grew +up between him and his grown step-children.</p> + + +<p><b>2. Racial Attitude toward Marriage.</b>—The racial +factor is important in desertion. Not only the +individual's own background, but the attitude +of the people whence he sprang toward the sanctity +of marriage, toward the position of women, +and toward the importance of restraint in sexual +relations, will have an effect upon the desertion +rate of a given racial group. A study was recently +made of 480 deserters known to the New +York Charity Organization Society in 1916-17 +whose nationality was given. The results in +percentage form are given for what they may be +worth, compared with the same percentage in<a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a> +2,987 families of known nationalities which were +under care for all causes during the same year.</p> + +<p class="center"><b>NATIONALITY OR RACE</b></p> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Race Attitude Toward Marriage"> +<tr><td align='left'><b>Race or place of birth </b></td><td align='right'><b> Per cent among 480 deserters</b></td><td align='right'><b> Per cent among 2,987 families under care for all causes</b></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>United States—white</td><td align='right'>30.6</td><td align='right'>29.7</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>United States—colored</td><td align='right'>11.2</td><td align='right'>5.6</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Irish</td><td align='right'>9.7</td><td align='right'>14.7</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Other British</td><td align='right'>5.0</td><td align='right'>4.7</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>German</td><td align='right'>6.2</td><td align='right'>6.2</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Italian</td><td align='right'>20.2</td><td align='right'>28.0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Austrian</td><td align='right'>5.5</td><td align='right'>4.8</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Russian</td><td align='right'>2.8</td><td align='right'>1.0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Polish</td><td align='right'>3.3</td><td align='right'>1.2</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Other</td><td align='right'>5.5</td><td align='right'>4.1</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>100.0</td><td align='right'>100.0</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p><b>3. Community Standards.</b>—It cannot be too +emphatically stated that any tendency in the +community to belittle or ridicule the estate of +matrimony has a definite cumulative effect on +desertion. The "when a man's married" series +in the comic supplements, certain comic films +<a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>in the moving picture shows, the form of drama +popularly called "bedroom farce" are examples +of these destructive forces. Most of the people +who laugh at them accept them as a humorous +formula and are not seriously affected by them; +but their educational effect on young people is +bound to be bad and false to the last degree. +In so far as they overemphasize romantic love +and disparage conjugal love, the theater and the +popular press do this generation great disservice.</p> + +<p>Another way in which the community may +affect the popular conception of marriage is in +the administration of civil marriage. Lack of +care in enforcing the laws and lack of gravity +in performing the ceremonies may have a decided +reaction on respect for those laws and for +the institution itself. Similarly, the administration +of divorce laws may affect the popular +conception of marriage. One entire neighborhood +condoned the situation in which a deserted +wife immediately went to live with another man, +on the ground that "if they had been rich, they +could have got a divorce."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a><b>4. Lack of Proper Recreation.</b>—This may seem a +subject to be discussed under personal factors; +but proper recreation, after all, depends in large +measure upon what the community provides or +makes available. The American tendency for the +man to get his recreation apart from his family, +in saloons and social clubs, is responsible for +many family maladjustments. Any change in +family habits of recreation which means that +the man and wife enjoy fewer things together is +a danger signal the seriousness of which is not +always appreciated. Social workers are inclined +to undervalue not only the influence of faulty +recreation as a factor in family breakdown, but +also the possibilities of good recreation as an +aid in family reconstruction.</p> + + +<p><b>5. Influence of Companions.</b>—As a factor in desertion +this is closely connected with the two +just discussed. Neighborhood standards, as +they affect individuals, are apt to be transmitted +through the small group that stands +nearest, and a man's companions have the freest +opportunity to influence him during their com<a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>mon +periods of recreation. The influence of +companions is not often met as a force deliberately +exerted to bring about desertion; but, on +the other hand, a man's own mental contrast +between his condition and that of his unmarried +companions often plays a definite part in +his decision to desert, if he has begun to yearn +for freedom. The influence of companions is +particularly connected with the "wanderlust" +type of desertion.</p> + + +<p><b>6. Expectation of Charitable Relief.</b>—It used to +be held that many men who would otherwise +remain at home and support, might be encouraged +to desert if they had reason to believe +that their wives and families would be cared +for in their absence. This was no doubt often +the case before social workers had learned to +discriminate in treatment between deserted +wives and widows, or to press with vigor the +search for deserting men. At present, it is the +experience of social workers that few men deliberately +reckon upon transferring the burden +<a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>of their family's support to others, or are induced +by these considerations to leave.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In trying to determine the cause for any given +desertion it is well to keep in mind from the beginning +that there is probably more than one, +and that the obvious causes that first appear are +almost certain themselves to be the effects of +more deeply underlying causes. A young vaudeville +actor of Italian parentage married a Jewish +girl, a cabaret singer, and took her home to +live with his parents. Was his subsequent desertion +to be ascribed to difference in nationality +and religion, to interference of relatives, to +irregular and unsettling occupation, or to a +combination of all three? Would all marriages +so handicapped turn out as badly? If not, what +further factors entered to lower the threshold of +resistance to disintegration in this particular case?</p> + +<p>This last question is after all the most important +one of the foregoing series. It is one +which the social case worker must never be +content to leave unanswered.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> All names of deserters given throughout the text are +pseudonyms.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> For an excellent discussion of the process of rationalization +see The Psychology of Insanity, Bernard Hart, +Cambridge University Press, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> For a thoughtful discussion of this point see Eubank, +E.E.: A Study of Family Desertion. Chicago Department +of Public Welfare, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Brandt, Lilian: Family Desertion. The Charity Organization +Society of New York City, 1905.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> For a fuller discussion of forced marriages, <a href="#Page_92">see p. 92 sq.</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <a href="#Page_98">See also p. 98.</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <a href="#Page_154">See also p. 154.</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Two books may be suggested: Forel on The Sexual +Question and Havelock Ellis on Sex in Relation to Society +(Vol. VI of Studies in the Psychology of Sex).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <a href="#Page_70">See p. 70 sq. </a>for a discussion of collusive desertion.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III" /><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>III</h2> + +<p class="center"><b>CHANGES OF EMPHASIS IN TREATMENT</b></p> + + +<p>Unconsciously and imperceptibly, the +point of view about the treatment of desertion +has been changing during the past fifteen +years. The case worker's attention used to be +focussed on the danger of increasing the desertion +rate by a policy of too sympathetic care +for deserters' families. Little study was made +of individual causes, and in so far as there was +a general policy of treatment it was to insist, +wherever a desertion law existed, that the deserted +wife go at once to court and institute +proceedings against her husband. He was often +not seen by the social worker until he appeared +in court. The policy toward the family meantime +was to reduce its size by commitment of +the children until their mother could support +herself unaided; or, if relief was given, to give +smaller amounts than to a widow or the wife +<a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>of a man in hospital. As soon as the man had +been placed under court order or had returned +home, old records generally show that the social +worker's efforts were relaxed, and often the final +entry is, "Case closed—family self-supporting."</p> + +<p>There were excellent reasons underlying much +of the practice. Few laws were at that time in +existence or at all adequately enforced, and any +man who desired was at liberty, so far as the +community was concerned, to walk off and leave +his family at any time. The multiplicity of +sources of relief in the large communities and +the absence of anything resembling investigation +constituted almost an invitation to men to +desert. It did not occur to the charitable public +to draw any line between the widow and the +deserted wife, or indeed to inquire which of +these two a woman was, so long as she was a +good mother and "seemed worthy." No wonder +that the pioneering social agencies, busy +forging tools out of the very ore, took a rigid +stand on such a question of social policy as this. +Although their deterrents failed to eradicate the +evil of desertion or indeed to touch its sources, +<a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>there is little doubt that they did lessen its +volume by creating a wholesome respect for the +power of the law in the mind of the would-be +deserter and by fostering in his wife a disposition +to stand up for her rights. The more +lenient and more constructive policies now in +force have been made possible in part by these +changes of attitude. The very fact that the +collusive desertion, once fairly common, is now +seldom met with, illustrates the salutary effects +of the earlier methods of treatment.</p> + +<p>But the fact remains that no marked change +has been seen in the desertion rate, that successive +desertions have not been prevented in +individual cases. Hardly any statistical figure +in the work of family social agencies shows so +little fluctuation from year to year and between +different cities, as the percentage of deserted +families. It generally forms from ten to fifteen +per cent of the work of any such society.</p> + +<p>Gradually, therefore, the repressive features +of the earlier treatment have been abandoned, +and there has come about a realization of the +complexity of causes that bring about family +<a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>breakdowns. In particular, the relation of sex +maladjustments to failure in marriage have received +the serious attention of the social worker. +On the question of court intervention there has +been almost a right-about face; the best social +practitioners now say, unhesitatingly and unequivocally, +that they take cases into court only +as a matter of last resort, after case work methods +have been tried and have failed. In no other +case where court action is undertaken by one +individual against another does the relation between +them remain unchanged. One could not +conceive of a business partnership failing to be +annulled by one partner who brought suit +against another; yet we expect the marriage +relation to survive this. As a matter of fact, +such is its vitality that it often does. But many +times the result of court action is only to deaden +once and for all the tiny spark from which +marital happiness might have been rekindled. +As long as it survives, both man and wife feel +in their inmost hearts that, no matter what his +offense, to "take him to court" is treason against +the intangible bonds that still hold between +<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>them. No matter how far apart they have +drifted, or how unforgivable has been the deserter's +offense, something irrevocable does happen +to the fabric of marriage, a few poor shreds +of which may still exist between the two, when +his wife appears in a court of law to make complaint +against him. It is an instinctive realization +that she is abandoning hope which underlies +many a woman's reluctance to "take a +stand against her husband." Many social workers +(including some probation officers and court +workers) now feel that such a stand should be +urged only in the full conviction that the protection +of the woman and children demands it, +and that there is nothing else to be done.</p> + +<p>This must not, however, be interpreted as a +criticism of the laws concerning desertion or of +the courts which administer them. If they +were not there in the background, ready to be +taken advantage of when all else fails, the social +worker's hands would be tied, and the possibility +of a rich and flexible treatment of desertion +problems would be lost to her. It is precisely +because they had no such recourse that the case +<a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>workers of an earlier day had to adopt a policy +which now seems rigid. It is because they were +instrumental in securing better laws and specialized +courts that the latter day social worker +can push forward her own technique of dealing +with homes that are disintegrating.</p> + +<p>Another great change in emphasis has been +upon the question of interviewing the man, and +of being sure that his side, or what he thinks is +his side, has been thoroughly understood. Social +workers are under conviction of sin in the matter +of dealing too exclusively with the woman of +the family; in desertion cases it is more than +desirable, it is vitally necessary to have dealings +with the man. Many social workers feel +that, at all events with a first desertion, they +would rather take the risk of having the man +vanish a second time after having been found, +than have him arrested before an attempt to +talk the matter out with him. More stringent +measures, they believe, can be resorted to later—but +the man must first be convinced that he +will be listened to patiently and with the intent +to deal fairly. The case worker knows that the +<a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>power of the human mind to "rationalize" +anti-social conduct is infinite; and that, besides +the few "justifiable deserters," there are many +who have succeeded in convincing themselves +that their action is warrantable. A deserter who +could allege nothing else against his wife, averred +that he had placed under the bed two matches, +crossed, and a week later found them in the +same position, proving his contention that she +was slovenly and did not keep the rooms clean.</p> + +<p>The man who, aided by a sore conscience, +has worked himself into such a state of mind +as this must be permitted to talk himself out +before he can be made to see the true state of +affairs. In the minds of both man and woman +there is likely to be found a superstructure of +suspicion, jealousy, misinterpretation and distrust, +built upon the basic fact of their incompatibility, +which has to be pulled down before +the true causes can be probed. To arrest a man +in this state of mind is in his eyes simply to +"take sides" against him. Eventually he may +have to be arrested, but, in the case worker's +experience, the chances of success are ten to +<a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>one if the man can be induced to take some +voluntary step toward reconciliation without +the intervention of the law. In many instances +a real interview with the man, while not exonerating +him, would have thrown new light on the +woman's statements.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A family social work society writes: A young woman +with her mother and little boy were referred for aid by +a medical social department because her husband had +deserted and she was unable to work. The doctors +feared that her breakdown would result in insanity, so +they asked that her wishes be respected in not seeing the +man's family. She recovered, but it was later found +that her husband, while not doing all that he might for +her, had been living at home a good deal of the time and +did not know that his family was in receipt of aid.</p> + +<p>Some years ago a charity organization society, which +maintained a special bureau for treatment of desertion +cases, was asked by a Mrs. Clara Williams to help her +find her husband, John, who had left her some years +previously and was living with another woman, so that +she might force him to contribute to the support of herself +and her two children. Mrs. Williams was a motherly +appearing person who kept a clean, neat home, and +seemed to take excellent care of her children. She was +voluble concerning her husband's misdeeds and very +bitter toward him, which seemed only natural. The fact +of the other household was corroborated from other +<a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>sources, and Mr. Williams' work references indicated that +he had been quarrelsome and difficult for his employers +to get along with, although a competent workman. The +problem seemed to the desertion agent a perfectly clear +and uncomplicated one and he proceeded to handle it +according to the formula. Some very clever detective +work followed, in the course of which the man was traced +from one suburban city to another, and his present place +of employment found in the city where his wife lived, +although he lived just across the border of another state. +The warrant was served upon the man as he stepped from +the train on his way to work, and he appeared in the +domestic relations court. He did not deny the desertion +but made some attempt to bring counter charges against +his wife. When questioned about his present mode of +living he became silent and refused to testify further. +He was placed under bond, which was furnished by the +relatives of the woman with whom he was living, to pay +his wife $6.00 a week. No probation was thought necessary +and the case was closed, both the court and the +charity organization society crediting themselves with a +case successfully handled and terminated.</p> + +<p>About a year later Mrs. Williams again applied, stating +that her husband's bond had lapsed, his payment had +ceased, and that she had no knowledge of his whereabouts. +Although her home and children were still immaculate +she failed to satisfy the social worker who this time +visited her home with the plausible story which she had +told before. The children's health was not good and +they seemed unnaturally repressed and unhappy. Ugly +<a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>reports that Mrs. Williams drank came to the society. +The school teacher deplored the effect which the +morbid nature of Mrs. Williams was having on her +youngest child—a daughter just entering adolescence. +The son, a boy a little older, was listless and unsatisfactory +at his work, and defiant and secretive toward any +attempt to get to know him better. He spent many +nights away from home and was evidently not on good +terms with his mother. As soon as Mrs. Williams saw +that real information was desired she began indulging in +fits of rage in which she displayed such an exaggerated +ego as to cause some doubts as to her mentality. Baffled +at every turn the case worker decided to interview the +man, if possible, to see if through him any clue to the +situation might be gained. The first step was to gain +the confidence of a former fellow-workman and friend of +his who now maintained his own small shop. This was +done after several visits, the deserting husband consenting +to an evening meeting in his friend's shop.</p> + +<p>A most illuminating interview followed. Mr. Williams +was found to be an intelligent though melancholy and +self-centered man. The couple had married somewhat +late in life, it being Mrs. Williams' second marriage. +She had been strongly influenced by her mother to +marry him and had never had any real affection for +him. It became very evident from his story that the +strongly developed egotism of both the husband and +wife had made a real marriage impossible between them, +and the visitor became convinced of the genuineness of +Mr. Williams' protestations that he endured the constant +<a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>abuse and ill-treatment of his wife as long as it had been +possible to do so. As her drinking habits took more hold +upon her and he had realized that the break was coming +he had endeavored to place the children in homes, and +had once had his wife taken into court. There her +plausible story and good appearance resulted in the case +being dismissed with a reprimand to the husband. He +then left home, but continued to send her money at intervals, +although as he got older he was able to earn less at +his trade. Socialism was his religion, and it was his +preaching of this doctrine in season and out to his fellow +workmen which had earned him the ill-will of his employers. +He defended his present mode of living, vigorously +putting up a strong argument that it was a real marriage, +whereas the other had only been a sham. He spoke in +terms of affection of the woman who was giving him the +only real home he had ever known, and only wished that +the state of public opinion would permit his taking his +young daughter into his home. The boy, he realized, had +grown entirely away from him and they could never mean +anything to each other. It was his habit to make frequent +trips back to the region where his family lived in +order that he might stand on the corner and watch his +children go by. He gave readily much information about +his own and his wife's past connections, including the +addresses of many of her relatives whose existence she had +denied, and he successfully proved that her claims as to +his lapsed payments were false by producing the entire +series of post office receipts covering his remittances to +<a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>her and extending down to the very week of the interview.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>There have been striking changes not only in +the treatment of the deserter but in that of his +family. Writing in 1910, Miss Breed<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> deprecates +the habit of fostering the deserter's "easy-going +conviction that his family will get along somehow +without him" by giving relief. She approves +offering full support in an institution, +but is reluctant to recommend any form of aid +in the home, even from relatives. It is better, +she feels, to give entire support to some of the +children in foster homes, leaving the mother +only those she can care for.</p> + +<p>Much can be said for even so stringent a +policy as this. An unstable home, with a worthless +father an intermittent member of the household, +is as bad an environment as children can +have—its very fluctuations making for nervous +<a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>instability and a wrong point of view later on. +There is a possibility that other would-be deserters +may be deterred by temporarily breaking +up the home, and that an occasional absconding +father may be brought back. But the fact remains +that social workers have, in practice, departed +far from this point of view. Out of more +than twenty-five case workers of experience who +were interviewed or written to in preparation for +this book, only one believed there had not been +a decided change toward a policy of more liberal +relief.</p> + +<blockquote><p>One district secretary told of a woman who had more +than once taken back a disreputable husband whom she +always professed to dislike. Aid was given sparingly and +intermittently during his absences; but finally the +woman in a burst of frankness told the secretary that she +had never felt confident the society would stand behind +her. Each time the man came back with money in his +hand, she cheated herself into believing that he meant +"a new leaf." A budget was worked out with her, and a +promise given of an adequate income as long as she kept +her husband away. She has faithfully kept her side of +the bargain for over three years.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The extension in many states of "state aid to +<a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>mothers" to cover deserted wives is an indication +of this changed view. In most states, however, +some safeguards are set up; the wife must +take out a warrant, and a given number of years +must elapse during which the man shall not +have been heard from, before state aid can be +granted to the wife.</p> + +<p>Finally, it is more clearly recognized than +formerly that the time to "close the case" is +not just after the man's return.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A case supervisor speaks of "the strong temptation to +close our records as soon as relief becomes unnecessary. +The man's return to the family is often the critical point +at which there is need of skilful and sympathetic friendship. +These cases cry out for continued treatment. We +need to think more humanely about all the unsettling +elements in our urban civilization and to see that all the +nice individual adjustments that as case workers we can +make are made. If the man's work gives him no opportunity +for self-expression, what attempt are we making to +give him such opportunities outside his work, to connect +him with a trade union, with clubs and with fraternities? +How much are we thinking about cures for inebriates, +psychoanalysis, vocational guidance, recreation?"</p></blockquote> + +<p>Briefly, then, changes in the social worker's +attitude toward treatment have meant less +<a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>emphasis on punitive and repressive measures, +more consideration of the man's point of view, +less tendency to press court action, at least in +the beginning, fewer commitments of children, +a more liberal relief policy (partly as a preventive +of "forced reconciliations"), and lastly, +longer supervision after the man has resumed +support of his family.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Adapted from the writer's article on "Desertion and +Non-Support in Family Case Work," <i>The Annals of the +Academy of Political and Social Science</i>, May, 1918, p. 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Breed, Mary: Eleventh New York State Conference, +1910, p. 76.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV" /><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>IV</h2> + +<p class="center"><b>FINDING THE DESERTING HUSBAND</b></p> + + +<p>A few years ago a young Jewish woman reported +to the National Desertion Bureau<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> +that her husband had left her and their children.</p> + +<blockquote><p>The couple had never got on well, and the man seemed +to have been a melancholy and impractical fellow. The +usual methods of the Bureau brought no results in finding +the missing husband. Then the wife was more carefully +questioned, and urged to tell all that she could recall or +had heard about her husband's early life, his tastes and +peculiarities. Among other things the Bureau learned +that the man's father had died in America years ago, having +come here to make a home for the family left behind +in Russia. The boy had grown up in ignorance of the +place of his father's death and burial, and, as the eldest +son, he felt it his duty to find his father's grave. Filled +with this idea he came to America as soon as he was +<a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>grown and landed in New York, but his few poor clues +availed him little against the difficulties of poverty and a +new and complex environment. In the end he gave up +the search, married, and settled down on the east side. +After the sudden quarrel which led to his leaving home, +his wife thought it possible that his old obsession might +have reawakened. The Bureau, supplied with the clues +in question, had little difficulty in discovering the father's +burial place in St. Louis; and the cemetery authorities +promised to send word if the missing husband should +appear. Sure enough, a short time afterward he arrived, +and, after visiting the grave, returned, not unwillingly, +and took up his family duties again under the supervision +of a probation officer.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The flexibility of method and the readiness to +see and utilize new resources which are displayed +in the foregoing account are great assets +to the one who must institute search for a missing +husband and father.</p> + +<p>The thing that sets desertion cases apart in a +class of peculiar technical difficulty for the case +worker is not simply that the man is away +from his family. There is no man to deal with +in a widow's family, but widows' families present +comparatively simple problems. The deserter, +though absent, is still not only a potential but +<a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>also a real factor in the family situation. The +plans of the family are often made with one eye +to his return; he is the unseen but plainly felt +obstacle to much that the social worker wants +to accomplish. The children look forward to +his reappearance with dread or with joy (for +many deserters have a way with them, decidedly, +and are welcome visitors to their children). In +short, he is usually at the key point in the situation. +No plan can safely be made that leaves +him out, but—there's the rub!—you cannot include +him at once for he is not to be reached, +certainly not at the outset. The discovery of +the deserter's whereabouts is not only the first +but the most urgent of the problems that confront +the worker who tries to deal with a deserted +family. Unless he can be found the whole +plan rests upon shifting sand.</p> + +<p>A prompt and vigorous effort to find the +absentee is therefore a first requisite in dealing +with family desertion. Unfortunately, many +case workers, having started bravely and exhausted +the first crop of clues, become discouraged +and fall back on the supposition that the +<a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>man is permanently out of the scene, and that +it only remains to make plans for the family. +Numberless case histories attest the unwisdom +of this assumption. It is not making an extreme +statement to say that, as long as the family +remains under active care or until the missing +man is proved to be dead, the effort to find him +should not be abandoned. Mr. Carstens, in +discussing this point, says:</p> + +<blockquote><p>To carry on this search persistently is the great safeguard. +It is rare when in the course of a few months the +true state of affairs will not have been revealed, though it +may have been quite hidden at the start.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>This is not to say that time must be spent +unprofitably in going over the same ground, or +that out-of-town agencies must be badgered to +reinvestigate old clues. But the frame of mind +that pigeonholes the whole matter as having +been attended to must be shunned by the social +worker, who should be always on the alert for +new clues and prompt to follow them up. An +example of a vigorous and persistent search for +<a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>a deserter is taken from the files of the National +Desertion Bureau.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<blockquote><p>Adolph R. deserted his wife and their six little children +on September 1, 1912. He was traced to Philadelphia, +but had left there the day before the tidings reached New +York. Information was obtained from fellow-employes +which led to the belief that he had gone to Tampa, +Florida. Inquiry was directed to the rabbi in that city, +but again the information was disheartening, since it disclosed +the fact that once more R. had "left the day +before." The rabbi telegraphed that the deserter had +evidently gone to Lakewood, Florida, and that he could +be found in that place. Immediately the Bureau dispatched +a telegram to its representative there, only to +find that R. had merely passed through Lakewood en +route to Bartow, Florida. When the inquiry reached +Bartow it was learned that R. had left a few days before, +and that he was on his way to Memphis, Tennessee. The +Jewish Charities of Memphis made investigation at the +cigar factories of that city, but reported that no person +bearing the name of R. or resembling him had been seen +in their city. No further clue to his whereabouts could +be secured.</p> + +<p>Months later R. applied to the Jewish Charities of +Louisville for transportation to New York, making an +entirely false statement about his family.</p> + +<p>This statement was telegraphed to the Bureau and no +time was lost in securing a warrant. Louisville was noti<a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>fied +by wire to arrest, but again a telegram came: "Adolph +R. left city. Learned from Cigarmakers' Union headquarters +he went to Cincinnati. Wire Joe Rapp, 1316 +Walnut Street, Cincinnati Union Headquarters. Man +said he was going to Cincinnati or Indianapolis. Man +joined union Richmond, Va., November 19, 1911, and +reports to union in all cities." The Desertion Bureau +immediately telegraphed to Cincinnati and Indianapolis. +The United Jewish Charities of Cincinnati working together +with the labor union lost little time in effecting his +arrest.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Many theories about family desertion have +suffered a change in recent years. One of these +relates to the "collusive desertion." Social +workers in training used formerly to be taught +that the first place to look for the deserter +was around the corner, where he could slip +back into the house and partake of charitable +bounty or, at the very least, keep close watch +of his family and return if any serious danger +threatened them. Although the collusive desertion +seems to have been a frequent happening in +the past, there is almost unanimous testimony +from case workers at the present time that it +is not common. "I don't come across an instance +once a year," said one case worker.<a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a></p> + +<blockquote><p>Another, after searching her memory, recalled what +seemed to her one instance of real collusion. A woman, +pregnant and seeming to be in great destitution, applied +to a family social work society in a small city for help. +Careful search did not discover the man's whereabouts—he +seemed to have disappeared without leaving a trace, +and his wife professed ignorance. Some two weeks after +this the visitor, calling late, met a man on the stairs who +proved to be the missing husband. Times were hard and +he was out of a job, so he had taken to the attic of their +house, and had kept so strictly <i>incommunicado</i> that not +only the society but the neighbors had been deceived.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Out of twenty or more case workers in different +cities whose experience was sought on +this point, nearly all felt that the warnings +against possible collusion which used to be given +to young workers no longer needed to be emphasized. +Testimony in the other direction is, +however, advanced by the National Desertion +Bureau, which found that about 10 per cent of +the applications made in 1910 to the United +Hebrew Charities of New York for relief because +of desertion were collusive.</p> + +<p>It should be said, however, that one form of +collusion is common to the experience of case +workers—that of the wife who knows where her +<a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>husband is, or has a very good idea, but does +not want him to return and so keeps her knowledge +to herself. "In two of our regular allowance +families," writes the case supervisor of a +family agency, "we discovered—one quite incidentally, +one after the allowance had been discontinued +for other reasons—that the wife had +had reports regarding the man which we might +have followed up had we known of them earlier. +It could hardly be called collusion—it was mere +indifference." A probation officer writes:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"At the present time we have under investigation a +family where the man has been away from home for two +years and his whereabouts during the last year have been +known to his wife. He has been living in a suburb of the +city and working steadily during that time. The woman +has received adequate aid from public and private organizations. +She has been content to accept that rather than +notify the authorities and have her husband required to +meet the responsibility. The man on his part was aware +that his family was being supported, and while there was +no agreement between the parties regarding it, nevertheless +the arrangement apparently met with mutual +approval."</p></blockquote> + +<p>To guard against this and similar omissions +on the woman's part, more than one agency +<a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>which deals with family desertion requires the +deserted wife to sign an affidavit that she has +given all the information she possesses.</p> + +<p>Although in practice the possibility of a collusive +desertion is not the first and most important +thing to keep in mind, it is frequent +enough not to be entirely forgotten. And for +yet other reasons it is well to keep a watchful +eye upon the neighborhood in which the family +is living for reports about the man. Often obscure +impulses seem to bring him back; jealousy +of the wife or a desire to show himself in a +spirit of bravado, or even sometimes a fugitive +affection for the children he has abandoned may +cause him to appear in the neighborhood. "The +deserter, like the murderer, harks back to the +scene of his misdeeds" was the generalization of +one district secretary.</p> + +<p>Even when he does not appear in the flesh +the deserter may seek news of his family. "One +deserter was found through the Attendance +Department [of the public school system] to +which he wrote after a three years' absence ask<a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>ing +the address of one of the children of whom +he was especially fond."</p> + +<p>There is little in the literature of the subject +covering methods of discovering deserters, nor +do case workers generally appear to have developed +a special technique. The decided reaction +against detective methods which has been apparent +in the profession during later years may +help to explain this fact. Most social workers +feel a subconscious sense of injustice in having +to do this work at all, since it is properly a +function of the police. Prosecutors and police +officials generally take very little interest in +following up deserters, and have little idea of +giving any treatment to the deserter who has +been found other than arraignment and conviction. +It is difficult for the probation officer or +the family case worker to hold up the machinery +of the law, once it has been started, and to do +this long enough to find out whether some other +form of treatment best suits the case. For +these reasons the social worker usually prefers +to do or else is forced to do the work of the +<a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>detective in desertion cases up to the point +where arrest is in his judgment necessary.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A probation officer in D—— found that he could not +work through the local police in searching for a certain +deserter, because the missing man's political affiliations +made them friendly to him. The probation officer knew +in a general way that the man was likely to be in the city +of S—— in the same state, so he secured a warrant and +sent it with such slight clues as were at hand, to a probation +officer of that city who was successful in the +search. Avoiding the usual procedure, the warrant was +served by the police in S——. "Several instances of +this kind have occurred lately," writes the probation +officer at D——.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The necessity of doing the detective's work +raises at once the question of how far the social +worker can afford to adopt the detective's +methods. If reformation of the man is the end +sought it would seem an axiom that he must be +given from the first every reason to believe that +the social worker will play fair. "We are very +careful never to break a promise we have made +to a man," says an agency which deals with +many deserters. The same agency, as illustration +of its own methods in seeking deserting +<a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>men, instances the case of a man who was being +shielded by his sister, but was discovered by an +officer who scraped acquaintance with her little +boy and asked innocently, "Where's your uncle +Jack now?" In another case the officer learned +of a man's whereabouts through his relatives by +representing himself as a lawyer's clerk calling +about a legacy which had been left the man. +In still another case, reported by a different +agency, a man who had deserted his family was +known to be receiving mail through the general +delivery of another city. It was ascertained that +he was writing to a woman in his home town. +A letter was sent to him in care of General +Delivery asking him to meet the writer (who was +represented to be the young woman with whom +he was corresponding). The wife was sent to +that city and she and the local probation officer +met the man and served the warrant.</p> + +<p>There is, of course, something to be said in +favor of the use of such methods. The protection +of the weak and helpless may justify, in +certain circumstances, any subterfuge. But the +<i>detective</i> who arrests the criminal in ways like +<a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>these is seeking his punishment and nothing else. +There is no thought in that case of establishing +personal relations and effecting the long, slow +process of reformation. When social workers use +such methods it should be in the full realization +that they are foregoing any future advantage of +straight dealing with the man. To capture a +man by a trick is to declare war on him; and, +in his mind, the social worker and the policeman +then stand in the same place, "I'd have +him there to meet you," said a deserter's chum +to a woman visitor, "if I wasn't sure, in spite +of your straight talk, you'd have a bull waiting +behind a tree."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a></p> + +<p><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>If it is a first desertion, or if there is room for +doubt whether an accident may have befallen +the man, police and hospital records should be +looked up.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A woman with four children applied to a charity +organization society, saying her husband had disappeared. +There was a rumor that someone had seen him fall off the +dock while intoxicated, but no attempt had been made to +confirm this and the family was treated as a deserted +family for some months, until the man's body was found +in the river and identified.</p></blockquote> + +<p>If there have been previous desertions, it is +extremely important to secure their history. +The reasons that moved the man once are +likely to do so again, and he is apt to return +to his former haunts and be seen by former +friends and acquaintances.</p> + +<p>The deserting man, unless he elopes with another +woman, generally goes to some cheap +lodging house or, if of foreign birth, he may +seek out the quarter where those of his nationality +reside and become a lodger in a family in +which his native tongue is spoken. Hence, a +canvass of the lodging houses—armed with a +<a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>photograph if possible—is a desirable first step. +All of the social worker's casual acquaintance +with the foreign quarters of his city comes into +play in the search. If the man is in the city +some "landsmann," some "paesano" has seen +him, and knows where he is to be found. It +may even narrow down to finding the particular +house on the particular street where the immigrants +from a particular village in Sicily or +Galicia have their abode. The pool-rooms and +saloons of the district can often be made to +yield information, especially if a man visitor +can canvass them. In dealing in this way with +mere acquaintances of the man, it is usually not +necessary for the social worker to tell who he +himself is or to state the purpose of his inquiry. +In talking with relatives or close friends, however, +it is often best to lay all cards on the table +and convince one's listener first of all that the +man sought will have fair treatment and a +chance to state his side of the case before any +proceedings are begun against him.</p> + +<p>Even a relative who has never been seen may +sometimes be induced to act effectively.<a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a></p> + +<blockquote><p>A man who deserted his wife and family was reported +to have gone to his brother in another city. Nothing +definite was known of the brother except that he was a +telephone lineman. No address could be secured through +the company, but they agreed to forward a letter to this +relative. He never answered; shortly, however, the +deserter reappeared, having been persuaded to return +voluntarily by the brother to whom the letter had been +addressed.</p></blockquote> + +<p>During the war local draft boards were of the +greatest assistance in finding deserting men. +Election records too have been of real value in +the case of men who were voters. Passports +and immigration records may in some instances +yield information helpful in establishing whereabouts. +Where there is actually a warrant out +for the man's arrest, the active co-operation of +the postal authorities can sometimes be secured +in furnishing return addresses on envelopes delivered +to persons with whom the culprit is +known to be in correspondence.</p> + +<p>Problems of family desertion involving men +in service during the war were in the main +handled by the Red Cross Home Service. Before +the war, private case working agencies had +<a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>learned that the regular Army and the Navy +often seemed desirable havens to would-be +family deserters. The difficulties of finding +them there were great, owing to the fact that +they often enlisted as single men under an assumed +name. It has usually been possible to +gain excellent co-operation from the military +authorities if there are any clues whatever.</p> + +<blockquote><p>The desertion bureau of a family social work society +learned that a deserting man had expressed a desire long +before he left his family to enlist in the Army. Several +letters were exchanged with the War Department, and +the man was finally found to be with a company serving in +the Canal Zone. As he had made misrepresentations +when he enlisted, the War Department was willing to +transfer him from Panama to a camp within the limits of +the city where the desertion had taken place and there +discharge him. This brought the absconder within the +jurisdiction of the local courts and made it possible to +arrest him as soon as he was outside the bounds of the +camp.</p></blockquote> + +<p>It will repay the visitor to make not only a +careful study of the deserting man's employment +history but also to learn something about the +trade he follows. A cloakmaker, for instance, +<a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>who deserts in New York City is likely to be +found in Cleveland, for these are the two centers +of the cloak branch of the garment trade. Certain +seasonal occupations give the periodical deserter +a great opportunity. Among these are +hop picking, berry picking, and lumbering. The +amusement parks near the large cities also furnish +occupation for the seasonal deserter. The +case worker cannot be expected to have such +knowledge at his finger-tips, but he can go to +people who know about the fluctuations of particular +trades—to employers, union officials or +fellow-workmen who may throw light on a deserter's +movements. The story of Adolph R.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> is +an excellent illustration of the help that may be +obtained from trades unions and from fellow-workmen. +A family welfare bureau in a western +city writes:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"In one instance a blacksmith's union published the +picture of the deserting man in its official journal and +asked that information regarding him be sent to the local +unit here. This proved successful. In another instance +a union gave us access to its books and helped us to trace +<a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>all the men of a given name listed there. By this means +we found the man we were looking for. One man, a +vaudeville performer, we traced through the <i>Bill Board</i> +(a trade paper) by discovering the movements of the show +with which he had been connected."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Another society succeeded in getting a certain +trade union to post a description and photograph +of a missing man on its bulletin boards. +This aided in finding the man. Fraternal orders +may be; used in the same way, though for many +reasons they cannot be so helpful as the trades +unions.</p> + +<p>Employment agencies should not be forgotten +in seeking to trace a man through his industrial +record. The extension of the federal employment +service, with free inter-city communication, +should be of assistance in getting upon the +track of deserters.</p> + +<p>The co-operation of newspapers can be secured +to good effect in tracing missing men.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Herbert McCann, who had been doing railway construction +in Russia, returned to this country and disappeared +while en route from an eastern city to his home +in Canada. There was reason to think that he might +have left the train in an intoxicated condition at an +<a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>important junction point; and the family social agency of +that city was asked to trace him. No information was +secured from the police, lodging houses, employment +agencies, etc., and finally the following advertisement was +inserted in the local paper: "<i>Information Wanted</i>—Anyone +knowing the whereabouts of Herbert McCann, Montreal, +who returned from Russia in June, will confer a +favor upon his family by notifying Social Service Building, +34 Grand Street." Six days later a reply was +received from a man in a nearby town, and McCann was +found at work in a factory there.</p></blockquote> + +<p>More than upon any other method the National +Desertion Bureau depends on the publication +of pictures and short newspaper paragraphs. +As this Bureau deals entirely with +Jewish deserters, it works chiefly through the +Yiddish newspapers. Its "Gallery of Missing +Husbands" is a regular weekly feature in some +of the better known of these journals, and attracts +increasingly wide attention. The Bureau +estimates that 70 per cent of the deserters which +it finds are discovered through the publication +of pictures. It should be remembered, however, +that this Bureau is dealing with a selected +group, who know a great deal about one an<a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>other, +live closely together, follow in the main +only a few trades, and read only a limited number +of foreign-language newspapers. Whether +anything like the same results could be obtained +by the same methods applied to deserting husbands +of many different national and social +backgrounds is open to question.</p> + +<p>Since most deserters leave the city, if not the +state, the social worker who is dealing with the +family problem is often not the same person to +whom is delegated the task of finding the man. +This fact makes necessary the most careful and +sympathetic co-operation between the social +workers or agencies, which must work together +at long range upon the problem. In the case +of Herbert McCann, just cited, not less than +four family social work societies were concerned—three +in the United States and one in Canada. +This necessitated keeping in the closest touch, +by letter and telegram, so that each was informed +of the doings of the others. Such a +piece of work calls for a common body of experience +and technique among the workers concerned, +amounting almost to an unwritten under<a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>standing +as to how the work should be done. +Nothing makes more fascinating reading than +the record of a quick, touch-and-go investigation, +such as is presented in the finding of a +deserter conducted by skilled case workers who +are accustomed to work together. Much can, +under these circumstances, be taken for granted +or left to the discretion of the worker or agency +whose help is being sought. There are instances, +however, where no such common understanding +exists, and where the home-town agency +has to work through people with little social +training or with training of a type which definitely +unfits them properly to approach the deserting +man. It is a distressing experience to +know that a man has slipped through one's +fingers, been frightened off or alienated, by +poor work at the other end. Are there any +ways to reduce the number of these mischances?</p> + +<p>Even with the closest co-operation among case +workers of ability in different cities the results +are not always as favorable, for obvious reasons, +as if the person who knows the family were the +one to find and interview the man. More and +<a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>more it is realized that money and time spent +in going to nearby cities to do one's own investigating +is well spent. There used to be a feeling +on the part of the kindred society whose territory +was thus invaded that this action argued +lack of confidence in its work; but as the importance +of the personal contact has been more +widely recognized this feeling has disappeared. +It may be said that a worker who goes to a +strange city is handicapped by her lack of knowledge +of local conditions. This is of course true, +and it may easily be a question of how great an +advantage will be gained by the journey. The +worker from the man's home town can, however, +go far toward overcoming the handicap of unfamiliarity +with the place, as well as toward dispelling +any sense of injury in the mind of a professional +colleague, by calling first at the office of +the local agency and talking the problem over +thoroughly, consulting the map and getting what +hints the local agency may be able to furnish. +The first question to ask oneself, therefore, is +"Will it not be worth while to go myself?"</p> + +<p>If for geographical or other reasons this is +<a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>impracticable, the next thing that should receive +careful consideration is the type of letter to be +written. If the situation is very emergent (as +in the case of Adolph R. cited earlier), the request +may have to be sent by telegraph; but even in +a telegram it is possible to convey some detail. +To try to save money by confining oneself to +ten words is unwise. If time admits, a letter is +more desirable, and the principle of its construction +is as simple as the Golden Rule—give the +other person all the information you would like +to have if you were receiving the letter. Where +the correspondent is not a trained social worker, +very specific suggestions and directions should +be given as to how you wish the man dealt with +if found.</p> + +<p>There might also be laid down a Golden Rule +for recipients of requests from out-of-town that +missing men be traced. "Give the request right-of-way +over your regular work, and send back +as prompt and as full a reply as you would wish +yourself" might adequately cover the case. A +reply which contains a history of actual steps +taken as well as results gained, is more satis<a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>factory +than one which does not. Good case +workers believe in reciprocity and treat their +neighbor's problem as their own. "We heard +that a man we were interested in was in the +vicinity of a certain city, and in the effort to +trace him wrote to the charity organization +society in that place, but without success. Several +months later the charity organization +society saw an item in a newspaper to the effect +that the man had been interned as an enemy +alien, and notified us. (This shows no cleverness +on our part, but good work by the other +society.)"</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> The National Desertion Bureau, 356 Second Avenue, +New York, acts in a legal advisory capacity to Jewish +organizations in matters of domestic relations; it also +seeks out Jewish family deserters, with a view to assuring +their rehabilitation or, failing this, their punishment.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> C.C. Carstens, Proceedings of the Fifth New York +State Conference of Charities and Correction, 1904, p. 196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> See p. 65, footnote. +[Transcriber's Note: Footnote 17, above, in the e-book version]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> This paragraph was submitted to the two agencies +which furnished the illustrations. Their replies are in part +as follows: +</p><p> +<i>Agency A.</i>—"Your criticism ... is purely theoretical +and has no basis in fact. The deserter is a knowing +violator of the law, and while he does not welcome it, he +regards his arrest as only a question of time. He is playing +the game of 'hide and seek,' and he is applying every trick +and subterfuge to avoid detection. He is not disturbed if +he has been caught in a police trap. Our experience has +been that in such cases where he has tried to outwit the +police, and the police finally have 'beaten him to the game,' +he compliments his captor. This is a common characteristic +of the criminal, a sort of negative bravado, When the +deserter is arrested, all he can hope for and expect is a fair +deal." +</p><p> +What are some concrete suggestions, developed +from the experience of case workers, as to +how to proceed in searching for deserting men? +A full and careful talk with the wife is the first +requisite, supplemented by equally thorough +interviews with any near relatives who can be +reached. The case worker should be familiar +with the Questionnaire on the Deserted Family +in Mary E. Richmond's Social Diagnosis. A +description and if possible a photograph of the +man should be procured. Where several out-of-town +clues are to be followed, copies of the +photograph can be cheaply made, and at least +one bureau for dealing with desertion cases +makes this part of its routine procedure. +</p><p> +<i>Agency B.</i>—"I have seen very few individuals in the +course of my experience who could not be brought to see +the right viewpoint if they were intelligently approached, +even though the probation officer had considerable to do +with their arrest. It is in my opinion not altogether important +what occurs before the man's arrest but how he is +treated after he comes within the jurisdiction of the probation +officials."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <a href="#Page_69">See p. 69.</a></p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V" /><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>V</h2> + +<p class="center"><b>FURTHER ITEMS IN THE INVESTIGATION</b></p> + + +<p>It is evident that the need of finding the man +strongly influences the course of this type of +investigation, especially in the early stages. Are +there other considerations, however, that modify +the technique of inquiry into these desertion +cases?</p> + +<p>There is one crisis in the lives of deserted +families which is not duplicated in the history +of any other group suffering from social disability. +This crisis is the period of the first +desertion. "If we could learn what preceded +and what immediately followed the first desertion, +we should know much more than we do +now about how to deal with the problem," +said a case worker who has studied many court +records.</p> + +<p>The <i>number</i> of subsequent desertions may be +<a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>both interesting and significant, but the circumstances +attending them are not nearly so well +worth study as are those connected with the +critical first break. We should go back to that +spot and probe for causes. The common practice +of recording carefully what led up to a +chronic deserter's last desertion before his family +applied, and of passing over his earlier desertions +with a mere mention of their number and +dates, puts the emphasis in the wrong place.</p> + +<p>We must, however, go further back than the +first desertion for a working fund of knowledge. +The importance of knowing what were the influences +surrounding the man and woman in +childhood and youth has already been dwelt +upon and is so generally conceded as to need +no elaboration here. Of especial value also is +careful inquiry into the period of courtship, the +circumstances of the marriage, and the history +of the earlier married life. "We should seek to +know what first drew them together, as well as +what forced them apart," said a thoughtful district +secretary. The notorious unhappiness of +"forced marriages" leads case workers to scruti<a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>nize +the relation between the date of marriage +and the date of the birth of the first child. It +should be remembered, however, that not all +marriages which are entered into during pregnancy +are forced marriages. Studies of forced +marriages, so-called, have not always taken this +fact into consideration.</p> + +<p>The superintendent of a state department for +aid to widows made a study of the vital statistics +of 500 families chosen at random. She states +that "out of these 500 mothers 96, or 19.2 per +cent, had conceived out of wedlock—or rather +before wedlock—judging by the date of marriage +and that of the first child's birth. All +these women were hard working; several of +good standing in the neighborhood and the mothers +of large families of children." This group of +homes represents by no means an unstable segment +of the community, since in most instances +the couples had lived together in reasonable harmony +up to the time of the man's death. But +do the 96 represent forced marriages as ordinarily +thought of by the social worker? The +study just quoted has no facts bearing upon +<a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>this point. The likelihood is that a large number +of these marriages, termed forced, were in +reality not brought about by outside pressure at +all, but that the couple were intending to be +married at the time the pregnancy occurred and +that the circumstances were condoned by public +opinion in the community where the marriage +took place.</p> + +<p>The Chicago Juvenile Protective Association, +however, has made a study of 89 forced marriages +which were brought about in connection +with bastardy proceedings. In this study there +is no attempt to differentiate as to the <i>amount</i> +of unwillingness that had had to be overcome +on the part of either the man or the woman. +Fifty-three of the women said that the marriage +had been entered into willingly on their part. +Sixty of them stated that they were well treated +by their husbands, and only five complained of +abuse or unkindness. Out of the 89 marriages +brought about after proceedings were instituted +69 of the couples were still living together from +one to two years later, although 20, or nearly +<a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>one in five, had separated before the two-year +period was over.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<blockquote><p>A young woman with four small children was given +advice by an associated charities about her approaching +confinement, and no further inquiry was made at that +time. She was living apart from her husband, who was +contributing a small amount regularly. The income was +inadequate and it was decided to push the matter further. +Efforts to verify the marriage failed. Finally, a tactful +worker was able to learn that the ceremony had not +taken place until after the birth of the first three children, +that the couple had had sexual relations since the +woman was a girl of fifteen, and that her relatives had +never known the true state of affairs. The man's mother +finally interfered, and urged her son not to live with +his wife. After much careful work, and with the assistance +of a co-operating priest, a plan was worked out +which brought the couple together and induced them to +move away from the region in which the man's parents +lived.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A probation department tells of a case where, although +the man was unwilling to marry, a court marriage was +brought about; the man made his payments promptly +and observed the other conditions of his probation faithfully. +The woman, however, was indifferent to any efforts +to bring about a reconciliation. It was finally discovered +<a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>that she was immoral. The case culminated in the securing +of a divorce by the man, who was granted the custody +of the children.</p> + +<p>The same department submits a story where good +results were obtained in subsequently reconciling, after a +desertion, a couple whose marriage had been of the forced +description. The probation department arranged for the +couple to live apart in the early stage of probationary +treatment. A careful study was made of each of the +individuals, and in their sincere attachment a basis was +discovered for re-establishment of the home under the +supervision of the probation officer. Five years later the +man was found to be at work at the same position originally +obtained for him by the probation officer, his +salary had been increased, the family had grown in number +and were getting on extremely well.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Although the term "forced marriage" has +come to have the meaning given above, unions +can be really forced where there has been no sex +relation before marriage. In one unhappy marriage +which came finally to a court of domestic +relations, the wife was a weak and timid woman +who married her husband because of her fear +that he would carry out his threat and kill her +and himself if she refused him. Another, an +Italian girl, was married at fourteen by her +parents against her inclinations to a well-to-do +<a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>man, much older than she, who was a lodger in +the family. As she grew to womanhood their +incompatibility increased; finally, after four +children had been born, the family was broken +up and the children committed to institutions.</p> + +<p>There are compulsions and false motives, +operating to bring about marriages, which spring +from within not without; and the discovery of +any motive for the marriage except mutual inclination +has significance to the case worker. +Light was thrown on the troubles of one young +couple when the girl confessed that she had +married a youth for whom she had no particular +affection, in order to "spite" her relatives and +assert her right to do as she chose. And the +unfortunate young woman who married a street +evangelist in a fit of religious enthusiasm, and +because of his promise that they would travel +about the world saving souls together, had a +married life both short and stormy. The so-called +"slacker marriages" of the few months +preceding the first draft in 1917 illustrate this +point. The wreckage of these marriages is +<a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>already drifting in increasing amount to the +courts of domestic relations.</p> + +<p>One of the most important items in desertion +cases, and one far too often neglected, is the +verification of the marriage. Much seeming indifference +and confusion on this point is probably +caused by the quasi-legality in many states +of common law marriages. The case worker +should not forget, however, that a common law +union is often only a device on the part of one +or the other of the two to avoid prosecution for +bigamy. When it is established that the marriage +is a common law union, a strong suspicion +should be set up in the worker's mind that there +may be some legal barrier to a ceremony, and +careful inquiry should be directed along this +line. Not only does the verification of a marriage +give the worker a sound basis on which to +proceed to court action if necessary, but the copy +of the actual marriage record, where that can be +procured, gives much valuable information as to +dates, addresses, and names of relatives and witnesses. +A transcript of the record will usually +be furnished by the registrar of vital statistics +<a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>in the city where the marriage took place (if in +the United States) for a nominal fee of fifty +cents.</p> + +<p>It is much more difficult to verify marriages +which took place in other countries, and social +workers are often appalled by the prevalence of +the so-called "American marriage" among immigrant +deserters, who trust to our happy-go-lucky +methods for protection against a prosecution +for bigamy.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Such was the case of Orfeo Pelligrini, who came to this +country and took a new wife when his children in Italy +were nearly grown. His Italian family came to America +through their own efforts a few years later, and Orfeo +found that he had underestimated the character of his +eldest son, who traced his father, had him arrested and +taken to the city where his original family was living. +Orfeo, now forcibly reunited to the wife of his bosom, +walks softly under the threat of bigamy proceedings, +while the "American" wife refuses to take any action on +the ground that "he didn't go away from me of his own +wish, and why should I put him behind the bars?"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Of an altogether more simple mental make-up was the +Slovak laborer who brought his pregnant "American +wife" and two children to the district office of a charity +organization society, saying that the relatives in Europe +<a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>of Anna, his first wife, had sent Anna to this country, and +she was on the point of arriving. He added that, as +manifestly it was not possible to support two families on +his wages, he would like to provide for his second wife +through "the Charity."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A district secretary who has worked for many +years with Italians is authority for the statement +that marriages in Italy are always registered +at the man's legal residence, no matter +where the marriage took place. "Careful Italian +parents, if they cannot get reliable information +in other ways, write to the 'paese' of a suitor for +information in regard to his conjugal condition. +A marriage which takes place in America is customarily +registered with the consul for transmission +to the home town in Italy."</p> + +<p>In some countries of Latin America great confusion +may be caused by the fact that a marriage +performed in church is not legal in the eyes +of the state unless a second ceremony is gone +through before the civil authorities. A Guatemalan +woman, deserted in this country, had no +recourse in law because she had had only the +church ceremony in her country. Her claim to +<a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>the status of common law wife was invalidated +by the man's producing proof that he was already +married at the time the religious ceremony was +performed.</p> + +<p>Having established the fact that a legal marriage +has taken place, the case worker must keep +in mind the possibility that it may have been +later dissolved. It is not at all uncommon to +find that a deserter who has gone off with another +woman has started proceedings to get a +divorce by "publication." This can happen +when the two have gone to a state where such +unfair divorce procedure is permitted. Publication +in these cases takes place in local newspapers +which there is little or no chance of the +wife seeing; and she may later find herself a +divorced woman with no legal claim for support +for herself or children, and suffering under +charges of misconduct without having had a +chance of being heard. The National Desertion +Bureau found this proceeding so common an +abuse that it established a clearing bureau in +its central office, and its local representatives in +different parts of the country notify this bureau +<a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>as soon as any action for divorce is started by a +man with a Jewish name against a wife whose +"address is unknown."<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p>What are some of the other points at which +the investigation of cases of desertion may differ +from the technique generally accepted? The +superintendent of a desertion bureau, in answer +to this question, said that he emphasized "neighborhood +references" more than in the ordinary +case. Social workers have become very wary, +of course, of much inquiry among present neighbors; +but where the protection of the woman or +the children is involved it is often necessary to +procure the testimony of people who live nearby +or in the same house. A deserted family is +usually so much a center of neighborhood interest +or sympathy, or both, that it is easier than +in some other types of cases to secure information +from neighbors, tradesmen, and so on, without +augmenting neighborhood gossip.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>Probably the most difficult part of the necessary +information to be secured in desertion cases +is an adequate picture of the sex relationship +between man and wife. The part which sex +plays in the causation of desertion has been +touched upon in Chapter II.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> In getting the +information from the people concerned, the case +worker needs no elaborate equipment as a +psycho-analyst; but she should know enough +about sex psychology to recognize a pathological +problem when she meets it, and to be able to +call on the psycho-analyst or psychiatrist for +specialized service.</p> + +<p>The securing of an adequate picture of the +sex life of the couple may have to be delegated, +however, to some volunteer whose own sex, profession, +or marital experience makes him or her +a suitable person to secure it.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The majority of social case workers are unmarried +women under forty, and in this particular respect they +frequently find themselves handicapped by the natural +reluctance of the deserter to discuss his conceptions of the +marital relation in such a way as to be enlightening to +them, as well as by the chivalrous attitude which the +<a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>woman of the tenements often adopts toward her unmarried +visitor. The decisive statement, 'You have +never been married, so you can't understand,' often +proves at least a temporary barrier in dealing with +deserted wives, just as the similar statement, 'You have +never been a mother so you cannot know the feelings of +one,' is used to block her efforts in another direction. If +it is found impossible to carry on the necessary discussions +rationally and without too serious embarrassment, it is +often possible to call upon the socially-minded physician +or clergyman for help along this line."<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>To sum up, the interviews with the family +and the supplementary visits and letters of inquiry +should furnish the social worker if possible +with:</p> + +<p>1. A clear picture of the home in which the +two adult members of the family grew up, and +the factors in their early training which contributed +to their failure as husband or wife; or +which can be utilized as assets in the future +plan.</p> + +<p>2. A history of how the couple met; the +events of their courtship and marriage, including +<a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>sex relations prior to marriage with spouse or +others; also previous marriages. Records of +marriage, death of previous spouse, etc., are +very important and should be secured if in +existence.</p> + +<p>3. A picture of the family and its individual +members in their other social relationships—with +employers, medical agencies, teachers, their +church, their friends, their relatives. Knowledge +of their habits, tastes, and characteristics, with +special attention to period of first desertion. +Analysis of factors leading to the desertion.</p> + +<p>4. History of first reconciliation (unless the +present is the first break). History of subsequent +desertions. Court record, if any.</p> + +<p>A prerequisite to some of the above information +is an interview or interviews with the man. +Where this cannot be had as part of the first +investigation, the investigation should leave the +worker in possession of some good clues, at least, +to the man's whereabouts.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Bowen, Louise de K.: A Study of Bastardy Cases. +Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago, 1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> It is the policy of the Bureau, when such a case is discovered, +to help the wife get competent legal advice in the +city where action is being brought, and either to contest +the case or start a counter suit. Where necessary the +woman is sent on to appear in person.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <a href="#Page_37">See p. 37 sq.</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> J.C. Colcord in <i>The Annals of the American Academy +of Political and Social Science</i>, May, 1918, p. 97.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI" /><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>VI</h2> + +<p class="center"><b>THE DETAILS OF TREATMENT</b></p> + + +<p>As in all other problems faced by the case +worker, it is impossible to lay down general +rules for the treatment of desertion. There may +be general considerations, however, which it is +well to keep in mind, some of which have been +advanced in the last chapter.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>On questions of investigation there is closer +agreement among social workers than on questions +of treatment. Personal factors here play +a much larger part, and it may very well be +that two case workers who differ in personality +but are of equal ability, will choose very different +plans of treatment in a given case and yet each +bring it to a successful issue. It is with a good +<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>deal of hesitancy, therefore, that a case worker +ventures upon the discussion of anything so +flexible as treatment. In preparation for this +study many consultations were had with practising +social case workers in the fields of family +work, probation, medical-social service, and child +welfare. Differences of opinion were found and +this chapter will attempt to express the composite +opinion on how to treat the deserter and his +family in the different situations which confront +them.</p> + + +<p><b>1. Man's Whereabouts Unknown but Desertion of +Recent Date.</b>—It is better in this case to make no +very definite plans for the family. Emergent +plans, both as to relief and medical or other +care should, of course, be prompt and adequate. +Now is the time, if it can be done, to win the +confidence and co-operation of the wife. We +should, however, make no promises for the sake +of "buying" co-operation, and give no premature +advice either as to prosecution or reconciliation. +Everything possible should be done to strengthen +such ties with church, relatives, and friends as +<a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>may be helpful, but the social worker should be +slow to encourage the family to form new ties +with other social agencies at this time. She +should avoid the possibility of judging the +woman harshly in a period of stress, but be +watchful for signs of deterioration and resourceful +to combat them. This is the stage, of course, +when all energies should be bent toward finding +the man.</p> + +<p>In this as in the other situations about to be +discussed, the question of whether or not the +home should be broken up and the children +committed should be decided on other grounds +than on the desertion alone. Under many circumstances, +it is the best thing to do. The +woman, worn out with anxiety or abuse, may be +unequal to their physical care for the present; +or they may be running wild and in danger of +becoming delinquent. The mother may be +morally an unfit guardian, and the desertion +may furnish the long-sought opportunity to +interfere for the children's protection. Commitment +may have to be planned, and the +mother's consent won, to save the children from +<a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>the return of a brutal father, against whom she +cannot protect them. Or she may desire a +temporary commitment in order to give her +husband a severe lesson. The main consideration, +however, ought to be what is going, in +the long run, to be best for the children concerned.</p> + + +<p><b>2. Man's Whereabouts Unknown, Desertion of +Long Standing.</b>—A very different problem from +the preceding may be presented in the family +of a man who disappeared some time ago. Where +the desertion is bona fide and has persisted over +a period of years, it is often possible to treat +the family as if the man were dead, and, if other +circumstances make this advisable, to plan comprehensively +for the future. There is always the +chance, however, that, until the man's death is +established, he may turn up unexpectedly. If +living, he usually manages to hear now and +again about his family and is often able to find +them at will. A man who had neither seen nor +communicated with his family during the ten +years they had been maintained by a private +<a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>family agency, nevertheless sent promptly for +his wife and eldest son by a messenger who +knew exactly where to find them (although they +had moved in the interval several times), when +he lay dying of alcoholic excess in the city +hospital.</p> + +<p>The laws of many states contain a provision +that the marriage of a person who has completely +disappeared and not been heard from in a period +of years can be set aside by the proper authorities. +This makes legal the remarriage of the +spouse. In nearly all of the states divorce can +be obtained on the ground of long continued +desertion.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> The wisdom of advising such a divorce, +however, should receive careful individual +consideration, particularly in relation to the religious +faith of the client and the attitude of +that faith toward divorce.</p> + +<p><b>3. Man's Whereabouts Known; Man Unwilling to +Return or Support.</b>—Many types of deserting men +are included under this catch-all heading—the +<a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>so-called "justifiable deserter;" the man who +has fled to escape his creditors or is a fugitive +from justice; the man who has elected to try +life with another mate; the wandering hobo who +means to come back some sweet day but not +now; the cowardly pregnancy deserter; the low-grade +irresponsible—a motley crew. They are +grouped together here for convenience, since +they constitute those with whom coercive measures +have most often to be used.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A good example of the "justifiable deserter" is found +in the story of Williams.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> This man, when home conditions +became intolerable, tried to secure his children's +safety through the courts but did not obtain a hearing. +He left home feeling that he was fully justified. The +lame point in his self-defense was his failure to support +his children, and it took a court order to rectify this in +part.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Joseph Mellor is in a more logical situation in his +refusal to provide for his wife, since he is paying the +board of his child in a good institution. He makes no +charge against her character, but insists that her quarrelsome +and dictatorial disposition makes her impossible +to live with. She had haled him so many times into +<a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>court and lost him so many positions that Mellor, who +earns a good salary, will deal with her only through his +lawyer, who keeps his client's whereabouts secret and +will not trust the social worker interested even to the +extent of arranging an interview.</p></blockquote> + +<p>It is generally impossible in cases of such +deep-seated antagonism to make any plans looking +toward reconciliation. The "justifiable deserter" +can usually be reasoned with, and once +he understands and admits his responsibilities, +can often be made to live up to them without +judicial process.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A ship steward deserted his wife, who was both alcoholic +and paretic, taking with him his only child whom +he placed with his relatives. The woman was devoted +to the boy and broken in spirit because she was not allowed +to see him. The steward claimed, probably correctly, +that he was not responsible for the woman's +syphilitic condition. The following extract from the +record of the first interview with the man is quoted to +show the lines of argument which were effective with +him:</p> + +<p>"Man at District Office—Visitor started in immediately +with the subject in hand, thinking he was the +sort that would respond to absolutely direct dealing. +Explained to him that we had been given to understand +his wife was ill, not only from alcoholism but also +<a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>from other complications; that it was suspected there +might be some difficulty with her blood and that we had +been advised that her mental condition was not now as +strong as it had been previously. Explained to him that +he was absolutely responsible for his wife, for her support, +and for her care and protection, and that no matter +how far he traveled, his responsibility remained the same; +that he had assumed this when he married her. Said +that he felt no responsibility for her whatsoever, that +he had done all he ever would do for her and intended +to devote his efforts toward his child. Visitor explained +to him that woman's intemperance might perfectly well +be a disease over which it would be very difficult for +her to have control; that, moreover, if she were suffering +also from a blood condition, this should have treatment. +Explained that he would more nearly meet his +responsibilities were he to have her examined and send +her where she could procure the treatment required, even +if it meant commitment to an institution. At this +point man seemed more interested, particularly as visitor +told him that Arthur would grow up and would want +to know where his mother was and what had become of +her; and if man had left her sick and alone, at the +mercy of strangers, he would not be able to give an +adequate accounting to his son. Man's reaction was not +what visitor had expected—he would be glad to put her +away where she could not trouble him any more but he +did not intend to expend any more money. Said he was +under too heavy expenses with Arthur. Claimed he +was making $70 a month, and visitor forced him to add +<a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>that he got in addition his board and lodging on the +ship, so that he was under no expense except when on +shore leave. Visitor repeated that as a husband he was +required to pay for woman's care, that that was the +right thing to do; that one way he would be a husband +deserting his wife, liable to arrest for non-support and +desertion, and the other way a husband with a sick wife +for whom he was willing to provide the medical attention +and care that every sick person has a right to have. +He said if it was a question of a few dollars a week, he +supposed he would be willing to do it, and visitor felt +he really was willing to do the right thing if he only +could be assured that woman would not interfere with +Arthur. Said he would never let woman see the child, +but finally admitted, if she were not drunk and was in +the hospital and it would do any good, he supposed she +could."</p></blockquote> + +<p>With persistent or recalcitrant deserters as a +group, court action has very often to be invoked. +Procedure in this direction differs so +much in different communities that only general +observations can be offered here. If the +man has left his home but not the town and is +still within the jurisdiction of the local court, the +magistrate will usually issue a summons (which +in many cities the wife is expected to serve) +calling on the man to appear at court on the +<a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>date set for the hearing. If he fails to appear a +warrant for his arrest is issued. If he has left +the city but not the state, local courts may issue +warrants, which can be mailed to the city to +which the man has gone and served by the +police there; or an officer may be sent from the +home town with a warrant to arrest the man +and bring him back.</p> + +<p>Prior to his arraignment, the best court practice +calls for an investigation by the probation +officer, so that the judge may have substantiated +facts before him when the case comes up. +Whether this is done or not here is the time +and place for the social worker who already +knows the family to get his knowledge in usable +fashion before the court. How best to do this +varies greatly in different communities. Sometimes +the social worker is permitted to talk +the matter over with the judge personally, sometimes +with the probation officer, clerk or other +court official. Sometimes a written report is +required, to be attached to the probation officer's +report. Occasionally the social worker +gets no chance to be heard unless he is present +<a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>to testify in open court. In the last two contingencies, +care must be taken to safeguard information +given in confidence, even by the deserter. +Letters marked "confidential" should +not ordinarily be submitted in court except by +consent of the writer, as some judges hold that +material so submitted becomes a matter of +public record.</p> + +<p>The approach to the court, therefore, is governed +by local conditions. A very important +part of co-operation in any community is to +see that this channel is kept free from obstruction. +In general, the probation officer should +be the best friend of the other social workers, +since he knows their language. Indeed, many +social workers themselves combine the office of +probation officer with their other duties.</p> + +<p>After the institution of court proceedings the +outside social worker has usually little chance to +affect the disposition of the case. This is made +by the judge on the basis of the testimony he +elicits in court, and on that of any preliminary +investigation he may have caused to be made. +Disposition may be:<a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a></p> + +<blockquote><p>1. In rare instances, to dismiss the complaint altogether.</p> + +<p>2. To remand for a later hearing.</p> + +<p>3. To induce the woman to drop her complaint and +give the man another chance.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p>4. To place the man under court order to stay away +from home and pay his wife a stated amount weekly. +Custom differs in different places as to whether payment +shall be direct to the wife, through the probation officer +or clerk of court, or through public or private charities.</p> + +<p>5. To order the man to return home and contribute a +stated amount.</p> + +<p>6. To place on probation (together with either 4 or 5).</p> + +<p>7. Commitment—usually to jail or workhouse, and +for a period of not over six months. May be longer for +violation of probation or for aggravated offense.</p></blockquote> + +<p>When the deserting man has gone without +the borders of the state, there is the added +problem of securing his extradition, which is +often a difficult one. Wife desertion is in most +states only a misdemeanor (in New York it is +even less serious and constitutes in the eye of +the law only disorderly conduct). Since extradition +between states has to be acted upon by +the governors of the states, it is unusual (though +<a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>not impossible<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a>) to secure extradition for a misdemeanor. +The reluctance of the authorities is +understandable, however, when it is realized +that to extradite for wife desertion would be to +create a precedent for extradition for any sort +of misdemeanor. There is in most states a law +which makes the abandonment of a minor child +or children a felony, punishable by a long term +in state prison, and it is this law which is generally +invoked when the man has been traced +to another state. Complaint then has to be +made to the district (or county) attorney, the +matter taken before the grand jury and an indictment +secured before extradition papers can be +granted. The man, if captured, must usually +be tried in a higher court than the domestic +relations court; if convicted he is likely to be +more severely punished. Extradition means +expense to the state; it is usually difficult, +moreover, to get an active interest taken in +<a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>extraditing a family deserter who, to the legal +eye, has committed an offense neither against +the person nor against property, and cannot +therefore be a serious offender!</p> + +<p>If extradition for family desertion is difficult +between states, with other countries it is impossible, +as no treaties exist even with contiguous +countries like Canada and Mexico.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> By +special arrangement with the Canadian authorities, +states which touch the Canadian border can +sometimes obtain the person of a deserter without +actual extradition. Information is submitted +to the police of the Canadian town where +the man is known to be, who thereupon arrest +him as an "undesirable citizen" and arrange for +his deportation. The neighboring state is notified, +and an officer with a warrant meets the +Canadian officer and the prisoner at the boundary, +arresting the latter as soon as he sets foot +across the state line.</p> + +<p>The testimony of social workers is, in the main, +in favor of probation as against long prison sentence +for men of this type. "We have found a +<a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>shortened penitentiary sentence, with release on +probation, very successful in a number of instances." +"Sometimes the probation has been +more effective by its being a sort of double probation; +that is, having the case pending in +juvenile court as well as municipal or district +court. The fear of having his children permanently +taken from him if he again fails to +support them has, in one or two instances, had +much more effect with the deserter than the +threat of a prison sentence." "Probation works +very well and occasionally a prison sentence; +but probation is better." These statements +come from cities where probation work is well +organized. From another city where the probation +officers are notoriously overworked, comes +a pessimistic note: "The theory of probation is +fine, but the practice is poor because the officers +have entirely too much to do."</p> + +<p>Probation is simply case work with the added +"punch" of the law behind it; so that when it +is at all well done it should have the more lasting +results. Probation officers and other social +workers agree, however, that for certain deserters +<a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>of the complacent type, an unexpected prison +sentence is sometimes a very salutary dash of +cold water.</p> + +<blockquote><p>After having tried one or two short absences, ostensibly +to look for work and finding that nothing serious +happened to him, Andreas Gorokhoff walked out one +day and did not come back for five years. During that +time his wife's relatives and the community's family +agency took care of his family while he led the life of a +care-free vagabond. He was ready upon his return to +settle down again for a time; but the family agency and +the probation department thought differently, and succeeded +in having him sent to state prison for an indeterminate +sentence of not more than two years. He was +released on parole for good conduct, returned home, +went to work, and, during the four years which have +since elapsed, all has gone well.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Good results may, and probably more often +do, follow shorter prison sentences.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A man on probation for intemperance, broke it and +deserted. On account of the children's keen feeling +about the consequent disgrace, the wife made no move +until urged thereto by the social worker interested. Her +husband was then arrested in a nearby city and brought +back, much surprised at the firm stand his wife had +taken. He was sentenced to four months, served two, +and was released on parole. Since his return he has not +<a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>been drinking and has been contributing satisfactorily +toward the support of his family.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The first step taken by Harvey Brand when released +from the workhouse after a short prison sentence, was +to stop in at a furniture store and order a green plush +parlor "suit" on the instalment plan. Harvey had never +been conspicuously interested in his home before, and +the district secretary and her committee were aghast at +this new evidence of his irresponsibility. The green plush +was, however, the outward sign of an inner burgeoning, +and it warmed the heart of Mrs. Harvey as nothing else +could have done. From that time, Harvey, with judicious +encouragement over a few hard spots, has become +a good family man and a regular provider.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The particular problem involved in the treatment +of the family during the trial and imprisonment +of the deserter is that of encouraging +the woman to stick to her guns. If she withdraws +her complaint or secures his release before +his time is up, she not only convinces him of her +lack of firmness but the entry in the court +record seriously prejudices her case should she +make complaint there again. Unless the social +worker is convinced, therefore, that the sentence +has been unduly severe, the wife should be encouraged +in every way to let her husband serve +<a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>out his time. If a policy of relief has been +necessary, care should be taken that it be +adequate, so that economic pressure will not +induce her to ask for his release. If the home +has been broken up and the children committed, +the mother's loneliness and desire to have her +home back is likely to work in the same way. +The hope of making her husband kinder when +he returns often leads a woman to ask for his +release. The pressure of relatives and friends, +and sometimes of her church is likely to be +exerted in the same direction and unknown to +the social worker. Chaplains of correctional +institutions, interested entirely in the man and +with no knowledge of the family situation, are +also likely to appear in the case; and it is well +to acquaint them, in the beginning, of our interest +and our hope that no step will be taken +without a consultation. If it is hoped or expected +that the man will return to his home +after imprisonment, he should be earnestly cultivated +by the social worker while he is serving +his time. Visits and letters will go far toward +breaking down his resentment at the part the +<a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>worker is likely to have played in "putting him +behind the bars." Now is an excellent time to +introduce a man as volunteer visitor to the +prisoner, if he is to be off probation when released. +If imprisonment or: "stay-away probation" +does not have the desired effect of making +the deserter willing and anxious to return to his +family and take care of them, or if for any +reason return is permanently undesirable, the +advisability of obtaining a legal separation<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> +should be considered at this point. If, on the +other hand, the man evinces eagerness to return +home and support his family, he comes automatically +(though belatedly) into the class to be +considered in the next chapter.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> The Questionnaire on the Deserted Family (see p. 395 +sq. of Richmond's Social Diagnosis) has already been mentioned +as suggesting lines of investigation. It will also be +found useful at the stage of summing up knowledge gained +and seeing in what direction it points.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> The state of New York is an exception, as it grants +only limited divorce for desertion.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <a href="#Page_57">See p. 57.</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> <a href="#Page_132">See p. 132 sq.</a> concerning court reconciliations.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> See Baldwin, Wm. H.: "The Most Effective Methods +of Dealing with Cases of Desertion and Non-support," +<i>Journal American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology</i>, +November, 1917.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <a href="#Page_169">See p. 169 sq.</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <a href="#Page_127">See p. 127.</a></p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII" /><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>VII</h2> + +<p class="center"><b>THE DETAILS OF TREATMENT (Continued)</b></p> + + +<p>There remains a fourth classification under +treatment, of cases which demand even more +individualized care and therefore more extended +comment than those just considered.</p> + + +<p><b>4. Man's Whereabouts Known; Man Willing to +Return.</b>—Here the question to determine is +whether it is going to be a desirable thing for +the man to re-enter the home and, if so, when. +This does not always lie within the power of +the case worker to decide; the couple may and +often do resolve their differences for the time +being without reference to her opinion. But +she can often hasten, defer, or even prevent the +reconciliation. Careful consideration must be +given the elements involved: What causes probably +operated to bring about the rupture in +family relations? If there have been other de<a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>sertions +what does their history show? Is the +man's willingness to return a sign of real change +of heart and purpose, or is he merely afraid of +punishment? Are his habits such as to make +him a fit inmate of the home? Is he capable of +supporting the family? Can any adjustment of +temperaments be made which will lessen incompatibility? +Is the wife willing to have him return? +What are her motives? Has she enough +firmness of character to carry out a plan to +which she has agreed? These are only a few of +the questions to which the social worker needs +to know the answer, if the decision is to be a +wise one.</p> + +<p>If none of the elements is present in the home +out of which family life can be reconstructed, +if the man's self-indulgence and cruelty have +been proved beyond any doubt, or if affection +is dead or never existed, then the decision may +have to be that no reconciliation be attempted. +In many cases the question then is how best to +protect the woman and children against the +man's forcing his way upon them. Court intervention +is usually necessary here, if it has not +<a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>already taken place; and a first step is to have +the husband placed under a court order to give +separate support and to stay away from his +home.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> The wife should be armed with a warrant +for his arrest, which can be served by the +policeman on the beat if the man appears. Such +a man usually considers that his proprietorship +of the home and the family is not affected by his +absence or even by court orders, and when fortified +by liquor he is likely to force his entrance +into the home and perhaps do harm. The protection +of the warrant is not absolute; in such +cases as this it ought later to be reinforced by a +legal separation. Social workers avail themselves +of this resource far less than they should. It +controverts the principles of no religious sect +and gives all the protection of absolute divorce +(including the payment of alimony) to the +woman and children. To the children it is likely +to give more protection than divorce; for in the +event of the divorced husband's remarriage the +children of the second wife have prior rights over +those of the first, and legal separation makes this +<a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>impossible by preventing the remarriage of either +party. Proceedings for a legal separation cannot +usually be started if a man is on probation, +but may be while he is undergoing imprisonment. +It should be said that, after a separation, claims +for non-payment of alimony cannot, in many +states, be pressed in a court of domestic relations +but must go to a civil court. This is usually +more expensive and less satisfactory.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>Some social workers even advance the heretical +doctrine that support secured through the court +from a cruel and dangerous husband does not +make up for the harm he may do and the anxiety +he causes. If to force him into periodical payments +means that he will be continually excited +into seeking out and "beating up" his offending +wife, the support she is able to extort from him +comes high. It is sometimes necessary to move +a family to new quarters and actually help them +to hide from the pursuit of one of these insistent +<a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>gentry. Even if we have some doubt that the +wife's protestations of fear or aversion are genuine, +we should hardly take the risk of revealing +her address if she wishes it kept secret. This +precaution applies not only to the man but to +anyone whom we suspect of being interested on +his behalf. A district secretary continued to +refuse the address of his family to a dangerous +epileptic deserter who threatened the secretary's +life and, in the opinion of physicians who examined +him, was likely to carry out his threat.</p> + +<blockquote><p>The committee on difficult cases in a family social +agency voted to refuse to accept voluntary payments +from a thoroughly worthless deserter and transmit them +to his wife whose address he was seeking to learn, on the +theory that it was better for her and her children to be +entirely quit of him, and that nothing would make him +realize the finality of the decision more than to refuse +his money. The agency, it was felt, would be in better +position to protect the wife and children if it refused to +act as post office for the man.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The same consideration might apply in questions +of extradition. When the whereabouts of +a deserter of this type has been discovered in +another city a safe distance away, it may be +<a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>wiser to sacrifice the money he might be forced +to contribute than to have him brought within +arm's length of his wife and family.</p> + +<p>A prime difficulty in dealing with the undesirable +husband who is willing to come home is +often the attitude of the wife. Some of the +causes at work when a woman takes her husband +back have been discussed earlier.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> Unfortunately, +hopelessly bad husbands profit by them +as well as hopeful ones. The policy of niggardly +relief to a deserted wife has undoubtedly been +responsible for many of these unfortunate attempts +to patch up a life together. "She was +worn down by her efforts to keep the household +going, and, when the faint chance of her husband's +supporting her appeared, she took it" is +the explanation given by a case worker of one +unpromising reconciliation, and she goes on to +say of this and another similar story: "With +both of these it seems that enough money put +into the household to enable these mothers to +be with their children more and to keep up a +reasonable standard of health for themselves +<a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>might have resulted in their refusing to take +back their husbands.... Our records seem +to show that inadequate relief, making life fairly +hard for the deserted mother, does not tend to +keep the man from returning or others from +deserting."</p> + +<blockquote><p>The story of Mrs. Francis shows the effect of adequate +relief in strengthening her decision not to take her husband +back. He had been a chronic deserter for years, +had drank heavily, been foul-mouthed and abusive, while +failing to support the family when at home, so that Mrs. +Francis had only a little harder time when he was away. +His last desertion took place when she was near confinement. +Owing to her condition, the church and a family +agency co-operated in an unusually generous relief policy. +This was in a state which gave mother's aid to deserted +wives. After about a year this was secured for her, and +the health of woman and children was built up and the +home improved. Then Mr. Francis sent ambassadors in +the form of relatives, with whom Mrs. Francis refused to +treat. He later appeared himself, but she would not +consider taking him back. He escaped before he could +be brought into court. As he has now been gone over +two years, it seems that her stand is a genuine one.</p></blockquote> + +<p>On the other hand, when the man has been +found and interviewed, he may show signs of +<a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>repentance, and the earlier history, together +with the opinion which the social worker has +been able to form about the character of man +and woman may make it seem that a reconciliation +should be encouraged. A further question +then arises: Shall the man return to his home +at once or first undergo a probationary period?</p> + +<p>The quick reconciliation has been a feature +of the work in domestic relations courts from +the beginning of the movement. In connection +with some courts there are special officers whose +duty it is to prevail upon couples who come to +the court to patch up their differences and give +each other another trial. This would be an +admirable procedure if the couples to receive +such treatment were selected by a process of +careful investigation, and if probationary supervision +were continued long enough to ascertain +whether permanent results could be secured. As +it actually works out it is a little like expecting +a wound to heal "by first intention" when it +has not been cleaned out thoroughly, and when +no attention is being paid to subsequent dressings.<a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a></p> + +<blockquote><p>"The wholesale attempt to patch the tattered fabric +of family life in a series of hurried interviews held in the +court room, and without any information about the problem +except what can be gained from the two people concerned, +can hardly be of permanent value in most cases. +It is natural that case workers, keenly aware as they are +of the slow and difficult processes involved in character-rebuilding, +look askance at the court-made reconciliations. +With the best will in the world, the people who +attempt this delicate service very often have neither the +time nor the facts about the particular case in question +to give the skilful and devoted personal service necessary +to reconstruction. As a result many weak-willed wrong-doers +are encouraged to take a pledge of good conduct +which they will not, or cannot, keep; and other individuals +who feel themselves deeply wronged go away +with an additional sense of those wrongs having been +underestimated and of having received no redress. The +results are written in discouragement and in repeated +failures to live in harmony, each of which makes a permanent +solution more and more difficult. The case +worker to whom the results of the externally imposed +reconciliation come back again and again has reason to +be confirmed in a distrust of short-cut methods."<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A probation officer writes: "Superficial reconciliations +invariably result unsatisfactorily. In one case a recon<a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>ciliation +was effected before the husband was released on +probation. This was done apparently in the hope that +it would influence the court in the disposition of the case. +After a study of the situation had been made by the probation +officer, it was found that the wife was totally +incompetent as a housekeeper, that she possessed an +antagonistic disposition, had a violent temper, and that +no sincere attachment for each other existed between the +couple. Before any constructive measures could be carried +out by the probation officer to remedy this situation +they separated, and it was not possible thereafter to +adjust the differences with any degree of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"On another occasion a man who had a previous +prison record and had displayed criminal tendencies was +arrested for desertion. His wife, a feeble-minded woman +with one child, was being maintained at a private institution +at county expense. Through the efforts of the +district attorney a reconciliation was effected before the +case was disposed of in court, and the man was placed +on probation upon the recommendation of the prosecutor +without the usual preliminary investigation by the probation +department. The couple began to live together +contrary to the advice of the probation officer. About +two months later the man was arrested for committing +a series of burglaries and the woman was found to be +pregnant. Efforts which had been made by the probation +department to determine her mentality disclosed +her to be feeble-minded; later she was committed to a +custodial institution for feeble-minded women of +child-bearing age. The man was committed to a state prison."</p></blockquote> + +<p><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>However, when youth and high temper seem +to have caused the trouble and there is real +affection to build upon, a speedy resumption of +life together is usually the best thing.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A young woman with one baby said that her husband +had got drunk and threatened her with a knife. They +quarreled and he went to relatives in another city. +Neighbors testified how devoted the couple had been to +each other, describing the young man as handy about +the house though "lazy about finding work." He was +visited by the family social agency in the city to which +he had gone, and wrote a penitent letter asking to come +home. The wife agreed; the man immediately returned, +got work, and succeeded in overcoming his incipient bad +habits. The death of the baby soon after his return +seemed only to draw the couple more closely together. +The case was soon after closed; nothing has been heard +in the three years since to indicate that any further +trouble has developed.</p></blockquote> + +<p>A study recently made under the auspices of +the Philadelphia Court of Domestic Relations +seems to show somewhat better results from +court reconciliations than might have been expected. +One thousand and two couples who +were reconciled in court during the year 1916 +were visited from six to eighteen months later.<a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a> +Three hundred and ten had separated or had +had further differences which brought them to +court; 87 could not be found, and 605, or about +60 per cent, were found to be still living together, +though with a varying degree of marital happiness, +as the report somewhat drily states.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<p>It should be said that many of these families +were probably under the supervision of a probation +officer for a longer or shorter period after +the reconciliation took place. There is no statement +as to the number of repeated deserters +among the men, and we cannot estimate how +many of the 605 fell within the group which +might chance to have the proper basis for reconciliation.</p> + +<p>The practice of the Desertion Bureau maintained +by the New York Association for Improving +the Condition of the Poor is as a rule +not to advise reconciliations without a definite +preliminary period during which the man shall +contribute regularly and show that he means +business. "The kind of reconciliation that lasts +is the one that is effected with some difficulty +<a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>to the man," its secretary remarked. The same +probation department which furnished the stories +of hasty and unsuccessful reconciliations,<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> contributes +this remarkable account of the restoration +of a family through slow and careful character +rebuilding:</p> + +<blockquote><p>George Latham had shamefully neglected his wife and +children for several years. He drank to excess, gambled +considerably, and associated with women of loose character. +He came from good stock, however, and his early +training had been excellent. The differences between +man and wife seemed impossible to adjust. After the +man's release on probation, the co-operation of relatives +was secured and through the aid of his new found employer +efforts were made toward a reconciliation. The +man was gradually led away from his old harmful pursuits +and tendencies, these being replaced by wholesome +activities. He was induced to join a fraternal organization, +to take out insurance for his wife and child, was +encouraged to attend church regularly, and to open a +bank account. When his sincerity was appreciated by +the wife, she agreed to resume housekeeping. Under +the direction of the probation officer, new furniture was +purchased and the home re-established. This man today +holds a responsible position under the employer who +aided in his rehabilitation, and occupies a respected place +in the community.</p></blockquote> + +<p><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>Very many processes are indicated in such a +story. To bring about the conviction of wrong-doing, +to awaken desire and supply an incentive, +to keep the hope of attainment alive, to +encourage weakened nerves in a new and persistent +effort, and all the while to build and +strengthen and develop faculties and powers +that had been dormant and well-nigh destroyed, +is a task that demands a high order of skill and +resourcefulness.</p> + +<p>The story just told emphasizes the work which +was done with the husband. Equally careful +work had undoubtedly to be done with the wife +to carry her along with the plan. The period of +"stay-away probation" for the man is a difficult +time for the woman. Neighbors and friends +know that he is taking steps in the direction of +reformation, and often hold the attitude that it +is her duty to let bygones be bygones and receive +him again. The promptings of her own heart +are often in the same direction; and affection +not outlived combines with custom, religious +precept, and economic pressure to make it +almost impossible to hold to her decision. The +<a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>social worker can sometimes slip some of the +burden of the decision off the woman's shoulders +to her own by exacting a promise from the two +that they will not try living together until the +man has "shown what he can do" for a certain +definite time. The economic pressure can be +eased by a wise policy of relief; but most of all +such a woman needs continued encouragement +from a person whose judgment and kindliness +she has learned to trust. This is another good +point at which to introduce the right kind of +volunteer visitor, one who will already have +established friendly relations with both when the +time of readjustment comes, and who can help +bridge over that difficult period. In some cases +it might be possible and desirable to procure as +volunteer visitors to a couple whose marital relations +have come to shipwreck, another married +couple who have learned how to live together +successfully.</p> + +<p>The use of carefully chosen volunteers in +effecting reconciliations by the case work method +has been singularly little developed. In this +respect modern theory and practice have both +<a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>fallen behind.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> Especially is it an opportunity +to enlist the service of men, whom it is easy to +interest in a problem that seems to focus about +the man of the family. A man volunteer can +search for a deserter in places where a woman, +by being conspicuous, would defeat her own end. +"Located man by mingling with longshoremen +on the docks where he usually worked" could +hardly be the entry of a woman visitor. A man +can also be very useful in court cases, to counteract +the prejudice that sometimes exists in court +rooms against the testimony of social workers +who are women. In the more subtle processes +of winning the man's confidence and helping +him to regenerate his life and recover his home +there is no preponderance of testimony in favor +of the man visitor. Sex lines vanish here; +the good case worker, man or woman, volunteer +or professional, is the person needed.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the difficulty is not to deter the +<a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>wife from prematurely taking her husband back +but to induce her to relent when the proper +time comes.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Martin Long was intemperate, his wife was high-tempered; +her relatives advised her to leave him and he +deserted, leaving the relatives to provide for her and the +three children. He was away two years; then, becoming +homesick and wanting to re-establish his home if possible, +he returned. The wife caused his arrest when he +was seeking an interview with her. The probation officer +in whose care he was released became convinced of his +genuine sincerity and regret, but the wife, still on the +advice of her relatives, refused to see him. He persisted +in his hope of a reconciliation and made extraordinary +efforts during a winter of industrial depression, putting +his pride in his pocket and taking laborer's work, which +he had never done before. He finally got a good position +and saved money enough to begin housekeeping. The +probation officer kept in touch with the wife, first persuading +her to receive a letter from Mr. Long and answer +it through the probation office. He interested her in the +details of her husband's struggle, and finally, after a +whole year of probation and with the help of her pastor, +he induced her to return. The probation officer kept in +close touch with the family for some months and reports: +"Three years have elapsed since that time; the family +is now in a nearby city where they are living harmoniously +and in comfortable circumstances."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A case worker who is remarkable for her suc<a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>cess +in the treatment of estranged couples, when +asked how she did it answered laconically, +"talks and talks and talks." A study of her +case records, however, shows certain points that +recur again and again in her treatment.</p> + +<p>She encourages man and wife, separately, to +talk out their grievances thoroughly and get +everything out of their systems. She then proceeds +(with a lavish expenditure of time, as indicated +in her phrase) to convince each that she +is a friend, but an impartial friend. She does +not push for an immediate reconciliation, is +much more likely to recommend a temporary +separation until tempers cool down and the +true facts appear. She always advises strongly +against "argument" and "casting up" the past, +and tells the couple to come back to her if they +want to discuss their grievances further. Above +all, they are not to retail their troubles to relatives +and friends. If either or both are out of the +city during their separation she keeps in close +touch with them by letter. She is quick to +utilize their interest in their children as a means +of reawakening their interest in each other. The +<a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>following letters illustrate her method. The +first was written to a young man who was serving +a six months' sentence for desertion; the others +to the same young man after he had begun a +manful struggle to "come back," working in a +munitions plant in another state and later sending +money regularly to the wife, who still obdurately +refused to forgive him. (The letters are +part of a series of 27 which were written to him +during a ten months' period.)</p> + +<blockquote><p><i>My dear Mr. Andrews:</i></p> + +<p>I was ever so glad to get your letter this week and I +am sorry that no one has been over [to the workhouse] +to see you recently. I will surely be over within the +next two weeks. I know you are anxious and you should +have had a letter telling you about the children. They +are both all right now and the baby is out of the hospital.</p> + +<p>We have had a nice talk with your aunt and she is +very anxious to come over and see you. We will all get +together and try and plan what is the right thing to do +when you come out. I will arrange it so we can have a +little longer talk this time if possible.</p> + +<p>Very truly yours,</p> + +<p>DISTRICT SECRETARY.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><i>My dear Mr. Andrews:</i></p> + +<p>Your long letter has just arrived. I read it with a +great deal of interest and pleasure. It is fine to know +<a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>you have already arrived and have started out to make +good on your promises.</p> + +<p>I got your cards during the week, which brought the +news of your journey. Also on Tuesday morning came +your last letter, expressing your appreciation for all we +had tried to do for you and enclosing two more thrift +stamps for the children. I put these in their books.</p> + +<p>Yesterday I had a nice long letter from your father, +enclosing one for me to give to you. I am sending it +on just as it is. I was very much tempted to read it +but have not done so. The reason I was tempted was +that I know it must be full of happiness to think you +have made such a good start. At least that was the +tone of the letter he wrote to me.</p> + +<p>During the past years I have worked for this society +I have seen many people "come back" strong, and +always it has been because they had some big motive in +life and reason for making good. But I have seldom +known a fellow that had so many reasons why he should +make good. You have the confidence of your father and +your aunt. You have the children for whom you will +do right. You have Clara, whom you have wronged +and whom you will have to teach all over again to trust +you. Surely all these things added to your own firm will +to try and undo all the unhappiness you have given +people, ought to help you every day as you prove the +good stuff that is in you.</p> + +<p>I, of course, telephoned Clara of your starting off and +yesterday she came to the office and we had a long talk. +She is only sorry that you did not see the baby and says +<a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>she will be only too glad to have special pictures taken +of the children to send you. This was after I suggested +that she let me take a snapshot of them to send you.</p> + +<p>Be sure and write to your father and aunt often. +And please remember my last instructions, which were +to let me know fully about yourself. When you write, +tell me all about the camp life; how they arrange the +living; how long hours you have to work; what they +give you for recreation, etc. Pick out for your friends +men who can help you, not hinder you, in your good +determinations, and hope there will be at least one man +there in whom you can trust and to whom you can go +for advice.</p> + +<p>I will let you know about the children all the time. +Clara says Nellie [the small daughter] was expecting to +see you again. Don't worry, she will never forget you.</p> + +<p>With all good wishes,</p> + +<p>Sincerely yours,</p> +<p>DISTRICT SECRETARY.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><i>My dear Mr. Andrews:</i></p> + +<p>I received your long letter this morning and was very +glad to hear all the details of camp life. It is too bad +that your surroundings are not more comfortable, but I +am sure you can stick it out for awhile. If you can +raise yourself to be foreman, will you then have to live +in the same uncomfortable quarters? Although I don't +know the details, I should think it would be well if you +did sign up for the six months. It is too bad that your +throat is still hoarse.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>Thank you for letting me see your father's letter. +I am enclosing it. I hope you are keeping in touch with +him.</p> + +<p>You asked especially about Clara and whether she +asked for you. Of course she did, and she wants me to +say if there is anything you want to say to her you can +send the letter here and she will write you. She thinks +that your ambition and determination to make good is +fine, and she will try and help you in every way. She +has not been in this week and I have been very busy, +but I shall make it my business to see her early next +week, and if she has not had the pictures of the children +taken, I will get that attended to myself.</p> + +<p>So far as I can see there is absolutely nothing for you +to worry about from this end of the line. Clara is at +last, I think, as fully self-convinced as I am that you are +making a splendid effort, and she is perfectly willing to +be fair in waiting until you have a chance to get turned +around financially and in making first payment for the +children.</p> + +<p>Next week I am going to send you down a book to +read. It is one I have enjoyed myself, and perhaps some +evenings when you are not too tired you will get a chance +to glance over it. It is small and you can put it in your +pocket. Be very sure I have not forgotten the very satisfactory +talks we had and the splendid way you have +grimly started out to make good. If you can help the +Government do their work, even down there, give it a +good try out. Never mind the different nationalities +you have to mix with. You have already knocked +<a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>around the world so much that you can just consider +this another opportunity of getting to know a great +variety of people. You might even learn to talk Italian +and Greek! There is no experience in life we have to go +through but can be a source of great education to us. +You are sure to win out and get the respect of everybody, +your fellow-workmen as well as your superior +officers, if you continuously day in and day out simply +refuse to get discouraged and keep up your work and +do as you are told. Stick by.</p> + +<p>With all good wishes,</p> + +<p>Sincerely yours,</p> + +<p>DISTRICT SECRETARY.</p></blockquote> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>But when all is said and done, there are no +unbreakable rules about treatment. A form of +treatment is sometimes to do nothing at all.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Charles Morgan, a middle-aged machinist with a wife, +a comfortable home, and seven children (the two eldest +grown), picked up his tools and disappeared, after a +quarrel over his wife's extravagance. He had been earning +$50 a week in a shop where he had worked for eighteen +years and he would not endure having his wages +garnisheed for debt.</p> + +<p>An experienced case worker to whom furious Mrs. +Morgan made her complaint, decided, after studying +Mr. Morgan's record, that he ought not to be prosecuted, +and refused to be party to it. As he was a man of domestic +habits, search was made in a nearby city where he had +<a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>relatives. He was easily traced. Mr. Morgan was both +proud and reticent, so the case worker made no attempt +to approach him, but told the woman she must devise +some way to get him back, preferably to write him and +say she was sorry. This she refused to do and on her +own responsibility adopted the clumsy device of wiring +him that a favorite child was sick. This brought him +"on the run," and, being back, he stayed. <i>The case +worker has never seen Mr. M.</i>, nor has his wife been encouraged +to come any more to the office, although reports +have been received from time to time through the son +and daughter that things at home continue to go well.</p></blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <a href="#Page_179">See p. 179</a> regarding equity powers of the courts.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Massachusetts social workers succeeded in 1917 in +securing the passage of a law which permits the ordinary +non-support law to be invoked in case of the man's failure +to pay the amount ordered after a legal separation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <a href="#Page_13">See p. 13 sq.</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Colcord, J.C.: Article on "Desertion and Non-support." +<i>Annals of the American Academy of Political and +Social Science</i>, May, 1918, p. 95.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Philadelphia Municipal Court, Report for 1916, p. 64.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <a href="#Page_133">See p. 133.</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Miss Richmond, writing in 1895, says: "We would +rather have a hundred visitors, patient, intelligent and +resourceful, to deal with the married vagabonds of our +city, than the best law ever framed, if, in order to get such +a law, we must lose the visitors."</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII" /><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>VIII</h2> + +<p class="center"><b>THE HOME-STAYING NON-SUPPORTER</b></p> + + +<p>Many of the case workers consulted in gathering +material for this book urged that a +discussion of the treatment of the non-supporter +who had not deserted be included in its pages. +In so far as non-support is a pre-desertion symptom +and the non-supporter a potential deserter, +much that has been said applies also to him. +But are the two groups co-terminous, or do they +only partially overlap?</p> + +<p>The law makes little difference in its treatment +of the two, the fact of failure to support being +the chief ground of its interest.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Indeed, in +Massachusetts, the law under which deserters +<a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>are extradited for abandonment is habitually +spoken of as the "non-support law."</p> + +<p>No study of which the results are available +has been made to learn what difference, if any, +exists between the non-supporter who leaves +home and the one who does not. Miss Breed, +in making the point that the true analogy of the +deserted family is with the non-supported family +and not with the widow and her children, says: +"The deserting husband is at home the non-supporting +husband."<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<blockquote><p>A case reader of experience writes: "When I look +back over the many records I have read and studied, it +seems to me that it is very difficult to draw a line between +desertion and non-support cases, either in the kind of +problem they present, or in the treatment of them. Do +we know enough about non-supporters who later become +deserters; and isn't it possible that every non-support +case, certainly every beginning non-support case, is a +potential desertion case?"</p></blockquote> + +<p>There is no doubt that the two groups grade +imperceptibly into each other; but of the twenty +or more case workers who were consulted in the +<a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>preparation of this material, nearly all felt that +the out-and-out deserter, if he can be got hold +of, is more promising material to work with +than the man who sits about the home and lets +others maintain it. They all recognize a common +middle ground where the two groups merge +into each other; but they see decided differences +in the two "wings" so to speak, outside of this +common ground.</p> + +<p>Seen through their eyes, the non-supporter +has less courage, initiative and aggressiveness +than the deserter. "He is less deliberately +cruel—for at least he 'sticks around.'" He has +not the roving disposition, but is apt to be intemperate +and industrially inefficient as compared +with the deserter. Often the married +vagabond, as he has been called, is a "home-loving +man who simply shirks responsibility and +dislikes effort." He may "sometimes feel parental +responsibility even though he does not +support," and he is likely to have less physical +and mental stamina than the deserter. That +phrase in which the psychiatrists take refuge, +"constitutional inferiority," is more likely to +<a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>describe the stay-at-home than the wanderer. +However, one social worker (non-medical) says +"a mental twist more often enters into the problem +of the deserter than into that of the non-supporter, +from my experience."</p> + +<p>The head of a large probation department +writes: "Many of the deserters with whom we +have dealt were non-supporters before coming to +our attention. Among the men convicted of +abandonment, however, is a group which is +above the average in intelligence—skilled workers +or men in professional occupations."</p> + +<p>If this concurrence of observation is sound +the reason for the social worker's preference for +the deserter as material with which to work is +not far to seek. With the deserter as described, +the problem is chiefly to alter his point of view; +with the non-supporter it is, in addition, to +stiffen his will and to increase his capacity—a +far more complicated task.</p> + +<p>"The deserter is likely to have less justification +than the non-supporter," says an observer of +long experience. Studies which have been made +of the relative capacity of the wives of deserters +<a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>and of non-supporters seem to agree that the +latter have the weaker characters and are less +competent and successful workers. A comment +made upon one such study points out the impossibility +of sound conclusions, if both chronic +and incipient cases are included in the two +groups. The progressive demoralization in the +family of the "intermittent husband" makes +such a study of little value unless this distinction +is taken into account.</p> + +<p>The influence of ill-kept homes in the manufacture +of non-supporting husbands has been +widely recognized.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A drunkard's daughter, who had never known a decent +home, married a young man who soon began to +drink too. Luckily, the young couple were brought in +touch with a volunteer visitor who, on finding that the +wife possessed only two kitchen utensils, a teakettle and +a "frypan," and actually did not know the names of any +others, undertook to give her lessons in home management. +She proved teachable, and her husband stopped +drinking and braced up. Some years later the visitor +was able to report a well established home, although the +family refused to move out of the poor neighborhood in +which they lived because the husband had been elected +councilman for that district.</p></blockquote> + +<p><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>If the inefficient wife contributes her share to +this form of family breakdown so also does the +overefficient one. Many a non-supporter got +his first impulse in that direction when his wife +became a wage-earner in some domestic crisis. +"There's only one rule for women who want to +have decent homes for their children and themselves," +advised a wise neighbor. "If your husband +comes home crying, and says he can't find +any work, sit down on the other side of the fire +and cry until he <i>does</i>."<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + +<p>One case worker comments on the relation +that often exists between an inefficient husband +and an unusually competent wife, made up of a +motherly toleration on her side and a tacit acceptance +on his that he is not expected to be +the provider. "Sort of a landlady's husband" +was the apt description of one such man, the +speaker having in mind the "silent partner" +who does odd jobs around his wife's furnished-room +house. The lovable old rascal portrayed +<a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>by Frank Bacon in his play "Lightnin'" is +typical of this kind of husband.</p> + +<p>There is no ground for outside interference in +such an arrangement as long as both are satisfied +and the family as a unit is self-supporting. +It is often a serious problem to the case worker, +however, to know how to treat such a family +if the breadwinner-wife becomes incapacitated. +Such was the case when Mrs. Laflin fell ill with +tuberculosis. Her relatives described her husband +as "that little nonentity of a man." He +had no bad habits and was pathetically eager to +work, but though only a little over fifty he was +prematurely aged and incapable. The solution +had finally to be institutional care for the entire +family, Mrs. Laflin in a hospital for incurables, +Mr. Laflin in a home for the aged, and their +two young daughters, through the interest of +a former employer, in a good convent school. +"Uncomplicated" non-support, as in the case +of Mr. Laflin, is, however, rare in the experience +of the social worker.</p> + +<p>Out of a group of 51 non-supporters selected +at random from the records of the Buffalo<a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a> +Charity Organization Society in 1917, 46 showed +some serious moral fault other than non-support. +Alcoholism is probably the commonest of these +complications; and, as has been pointed out in +the previous chapter, is probably a primary cause +as well. It will be a matter of great interest to +social workers whether the "non-support rate" +is reduced after July 1, 1919. Grounds for hope +that it may be are found in the fact that some +remarkable results have been obtained by moving +alcoholic non-supporters and their families +from "wet" into "dry" territory.</p> + +<p>Another vice that has a direct relation to non-support +(much more direct than to desertion) is +gambling. The gambler carries no signs of his +vice upon his person as does the inebriate, and +it is therefore hard to detect. It undoubtedly +does not appear in social case records as frequently +as it should. Case workers should have +it in mind as a possible explanation, whenever +there is a marked discrepancy between what a +non-supporter earns and what he contributes to +the home.</p> + +<p>With the non-supporters rather than with the +<a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>deserters should be put the group of men whose +wives tire of supporting them and either put +them out or leave them. These men are often +not only morally, but mentally and physically, +so handicapped that there is nothing to be gained +by constantly pursuing and arresting them, although +some wives extract the sweets of revenge +from doing just this. Few courts of domestic +relations are without some wives as regular +patrons who pursue their husbands not for gain +but for sport. For the most part, however, the +wives of such men are philosophical. "I only +wash for meself now," said one of them.</p> + +<p>These men, and the unreclaimed deserters, +doubtless make up a large part of the floating +population of homeless men in our large cities. +How large a part it is impossible to say, for +they are likely to give assumed names and deny +the possession of families. Mrs. Solenberger<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> +has noted, however, that if they are asked, not +"Are you married?" but a less direct question +such as "Where is your wife now?" a story of +<a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>unfortunate married life will often be elicited. +Until we have some better method of inter-city +registration of homeless men, many of these who +otherwise might be identified and in suitable +cases brought back, will continue to slip through +our fingers.</p> + +<p>With non-support in an incipient stage,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> it is +sometimes possible to deal so suddenly and +effectively that the man is shocked into a better +realization of his responsibilities.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A young Irish rigger, with a capable wife and two +pretty babies, lost his job after a quarrel with his boss +rigger. He was a genial, popular chap, always "the life +of the party" in his circle; and his companions encouraged +him to feel that he was a much injured man. They +also helped him to fill his enforced leisure with too much +beer. When the family received a dispossess notice the +wife's patience was at an end, and acting on the advice +of a society engaged in family case work, she put the +furniture in storage and went to a shelter where she +could leave her children in the daytime, while she was +at work, and have them with her at night. The man +was told to shift for himself until he could get together +<a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>sufficient money to re-establish the home. The arrangement +continued for nearly two months, during which the +man lived in lodging houses, had an attack of stomach +trouble, and was altogether thoroughly miserable. Every +night he waited for a word with his wife on a corner +that she had to pass in coming from work. Finally, +when it seemed to the social worker and to the wife that +his lesson had gone far enough, the home was re-established, +with only a small amount of help from the society. +During the five years since that time, no recurrence of +the trouble has come to the attention of the agency interested.</p></blockquote> + +<p>This experiment was realized to be a ticklish +one, as a man less sincerely attached to his home +might have been turned into a vagabond by +such treatment.</p> + +<p>In general, it may be said that, as there is +less to work on constructively with the non-supporter, +court action has more often to be +invoked. If the non-supporter is a "chronic," +his path must not be allowed to be too easy. +"Sometimes you just have to keep pestering him" +was the way one social worker put it. A Red +Cross Home Service worker successfully shocked +one elderly non-supporter into going to work, as +described in one of the Red Cross publications:<a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a></p> + +<blockquote><p>"Well, Mr. Gage," I said, "I see you're not working +yet."</p> + +<p>"No, Mrs. Cox, the coal company promised to send +for me."</p> + +<p>"Well," I said, "I think you've been pretty fair with +that company. You've waited on it for three months +now. If I had the offer of another job I'd feel perfectly +free to take it, if I were you."</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "I think I should."</p> + +<p>"All right, I have a job for you," said I. "My husband +wants a man now at his garage, to clean automobiles. +The hours are from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., and you'll +earn $15 a week."</p> + +<p>His paper fell from his hands to the floor; his jaw +dropped, and he just looked at me. Then he tried to +crawl out of it and began to make excuses.</p> + +<p>"I haven't time to argue with you, Mr. Gage," I said. +"I'll keep the job open till seven o'clock tonight and +you can let me know then whether you'll take it or not."</p> + +<p>At seven he came to say he'd take the job.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>If in desertion cases the interest centers very +vividly about the absent man, in non-support +cases the reverse is likely to be true, because he +is often not very interesting per se, and because, +moreover, he is always on the spot and does +<a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>not have to be searched for. Familiarity certainly +breeds contempt for the non-supporter. +Consequently the social worker may easily fall +into the danger of disregarding the human factors +he presents, and either treating the family as if +he did not exist or expending no further effort +on him than to see that he "puts in" six months +of every year in jail if possible (since the law +usually secures to him the privilege of loafing +the other six). It is not safe, however, to regard +even the most leisurely of non-supporters as +beyond the possibility of awakening. One district +secretary who had thus given a man up +had the experience of seeing him transformed +into a steady worker after a few months of intensive +effort by a first-year student in a school +of social science, whose only equipment for the +job was personality and enthusiasm. So remarkable +are some of the reclamations that have +been brought about with seemingly hopeless non-supporters +that all possible measures should be +tried before giving one of them up.</p> + +<blockquote><p>His Scotch ancestry, a good wife, luck, and a friend +with insight and skill, pulled Aleck Gray out of that +<a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>bottomless pit, the gutter. Aleck had been a bookkeeper; +but he didn't get on well with his employers, lost his +job, got to drinking, and went so far downhill that his +wife had to take their two children and go home to her +people several hundred miles away. Aleck finally drifted +into a bureau for homeless men, where the agent became +interested in him and worked with him for six months, +getting him job after job, which he always lost through +drink or temper. He seemed incapable of taking directions +or working with other people. In all that time the +agent felt that he was getting no nearer the root of +Aleck's trouble, though he came back after each dismissal +and doggedly took whatever was offered. Finally, the +agent's patience wore thin, and when Aleck had been +more than usually dour and aggravating it went entirely +to pieces. Aleck listened to his outburst apparently unmoved; +then said, "Very well, if you want to know what +would make me stop drinking, I'll tell you. If I could +see any ray of hope that I was on the way to getting my +home and family back, I'd stop and stop quick." On the +agent's desk there happened to be a letter from a friend +who wanted a tenant farmer. He thrust it into Aleck's +hand saying, "There's your chance if you mean what +you say." The man's reply was to ask when he could +get a train. At the end of several weeks Aleck wrote +that he had not drunk a drop and was making good, +which was enthusiastically confirmed by his employer. +He begged the agent to intercede with his wife, and a +letter went to her which brought the telegraphic reply, +"Starting tomorrow."<a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a></p> + +<p>How they got through the first winter the agent never +knew exactly. But they pulled through and the next +year was easy, as country-born Aleck's skill came back. +Six years later, during which time the agent heard from +them once or twice a year, Aleck was still keeping +straight, the children were doing well in school, and the +family, prosperous and happy, had bought a farm of +their own in another state.</p></blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> The deserter who does not fail to support is usually +safe from punishment no matter how aggravated his +offense. A man living with his wife and five-year-old boy +in an eastern city eloped with another woman to a city in +the Middle West. The couple kidnapped the boy and +took him with them; and the distracted woman, bereft of +both her husband and child, had no recourse in any court, +since the father was continuing to provide for his son.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Proceedings of the New York State Conference of +Charities and Correction, 1910, p. 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Loane, M.: The Queen's Poor, p. 102. London, +Edward Arnold, 1905.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Solenberger, Alice Willard: One Thousand Homeless +Men, p. 22. New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 1911.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> For a consideration of possible lines of treatment for +the non-supporter and his family, the reader is referred to +Chapter VII, where is discussed the treatment of the deserter +who is willing to return.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Behind the Service Flag, pamphlet ARC 211, American +Red Cross, Department of Civilian Relief.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX" /><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>IX</h2> + +<p class="center"><b>NEXT STEPS IN CORRECTIVE TREATMENT</b></p> + + +<p>Any discussion of laws, their application, +and enforcement, must perforce be very +general, since the different states vary greatly in +laws governing desertion and in equipment for +their enforcement. Suggestions for a uniform +federal desertion law are not considered here; +the term "next steps" should be read as meaning +not plans in actual prospect but rather the +increase in legal facilities desirable from the +social worker's point of view. In communities +where no such facilities exist, social workers are +in a good position to collect illustrative material +and push for desirable changes in law and law +enforcement. Especially advantageous is the +position of the legal social agencies such as legal +aid societies and special bureaus and committees +for increasing the efficiency of the courts, many +<a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>of which are affiliated with or maintained by the +large family work societies.</p> + + +<p><b>1. Measures for the Discovery, Extradition or Deportation +of the Deserter.</b>—The nation-wide registration +of males between certain ages, under the +Selective Service Act, was widely utilized by +social workers in finding deserting men, with the +hearty co-operation usually of the draft boards. +This fact forms no argument for universal registration +as it was carried on in Germany before +the war; no system which meant such cumbersome +machinery or so much interference with +the freedom of the individual ought to be advocated +for a moment if it were solely for the purpose +of keeping track of the small percentage of +citizens who wish to evade their responsibilities, +marital and other. Even such a non-military +device as that which obligates every person to +register successive changes of address with the +postal authorities to facilitate delivery of mail +would be contrary to the American spirit and +easily evaded by people interested in concealing +their whereabouts, unless enforced with all the +<a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>rigor of the European police system. But +though we can advocate no system of manhood +registration, we can avail ourselves of the incidental +benefits of any that may be in force.</p> + +<p>The Federal Employment Service offers a +promising means of help in discovering the movements +of deserters whose trade and probable +destination are known. It should be entirely +possible to work out a system by which the +managers of the local employment bureaus +should be furnished with name, description, +copy of photograph, and so on, of a deserter +who is being sought, so that the man if recognized +could be traced or quickly apprehended if +a warrant is already in the hands of the local +police authorities. It may even be possible, +under the federal employment service, to develop +the long wished for national registration of casual +and migratory labor. Need for some such system +has been felt by all agencies trying to deal constructively +with vagrants and homeless men. +Little track can be kept not only of the individual +wanderer but of the ebb and flow of the +tides of "casual labor" without some system of +<a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>this sort. If employment bureaus were required +to forward to a central registry the names and +some identifying particulars of every non-resident +who applied for employment, the problem +of finding the deserter would be rendered ten +times easier than it is now.</p> + +<p>One present obstacle to this and other improvements +is the attitude of authorities—city, +state, and federal—toward wife desertion. We +have already mentioned the way in which the +task of tracing the deserter has been thrust +back upon the wife and the social worker, as if +he were not an offender against the community +as well as against his wife and children. Almost +as widespread is the reluctance of the proper +authorities to arrest the deserter and bring him +back after he has been found. A general atmosphere +of indifference and despair of accomplishing +anything worth while surrounds any attempt +to push the prosecution of a man who has taken +refuge outside the community. Hope for the +future lies in socializing the point of view of +court officials, police, and district attorneys—a +process in which the social worker must play a +<a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>large part. No chance should be lost to drive +home the social and economic waste involved, +by using the illustrative material which abounds +in the files of most case work agencies.</p> + +<p>The pernicious system by which the wife is +required to serve summons and warrant upon +the offending husband who is still in the same +city, should be done away with entirely. The +social agency, public or private, which has had +to support or assist the man's family ought to +be able to prefer a charge for non-support, and +to take out a summons or a warrant and serve +it without the wife's being present. The agency +should in this case protect itself by securing +from the wife a signed affidavit and authorization +to act in her behalf. It may seem unimportant +whether the wife makes such complaint in the +court or to a private society. The psychological +effect upon the man is, however, very different. +If his wife initiates the complaint in court, his +resentment is directed toward her—a fact which +renders reconciliation more difficult if this is later +attempted. In other cases, for the wife to make +the complaint puts her in actual physical danger +<a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>from the vindictive husband. If he is brought +into court on the complaint of a social agency, +part of that resentment at least is transferred to +the intrusive social worker, who is not usually +seriously troubled thereby and is far better able +to bear the weight of the husband's displeasure +than is his poor wife.</p> + +<p>The absence of any treaty with Great Britain +by which family deserters can be extradited to +or from Canada makes the Dominion a place of +refuge for many American evaders of family +responsibilities. The National Conference of +Charities and Correction,<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> at its meeting in +Cleveland in 1912, passed a resolution on the +need for such a treaty. As a result, largely +through the efforts of Mr. William H. Baldwin, +the treaty was signed and sent to the Senate +for ratification in December, 1916. It was referred +to the Committee on Foreign Relations, +where it met with objection and has remained +without action up to the present. The National +Conference of Jewish Charities, at its meeting +<a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>in Kansas City in May, 1918, sent urgent representations +to the Senate Committee, which it is +hoped may result in ratification after the pressure +of war-time legislation is relaxed.</p> + +<p>We should not stop when reciprocal extradition +with Canada has been secured; there is a +similar situation on our southern border in +states from which escape into Mexico is easy. +While American deserters are not likely to go +to other more remote countries than these two, +immigration into America from other countries +creates desertion problems in other places and +presents us with a class of undesirables with +whom it is difficult to deal under existing immigration +laws. In 1912 a report was submitted +to the Glasgow Parish Council showing the +alarming amount of dependency created in that +one city by the emigration to America and the +Colonies of men without their families, and who +subsequently drifted into the status of deserters. +This report makes the interesting suggestion +that no married man be permitted to emigrate +without his family unless he presents a "written +sanction of the Parish Council or other local +<a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>authority," and further, that he be bound, under +penalty of deportation, to report himself to +some authority in the country of his destination, +which would satisfy itself as to his conduct and +insure that he did his duty by wife and family.<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> +Such a provision would of course involve the +revision of our own immigration laws, making +wife and family desertion a crime thereunder.</p> + +<p>At present the law provides deportation only +within five years after entry, and for "persons +who have been convicted of or admit having +committed a felony or other crime or misdemeanor +involving moral turpitude," or who are +sentenced to a term of one year or more in this +country, within five years of entry, for such +crime (or who may suffer a second conviction +at any time after entry). This would clearly +cover bigamy committed within five years after +entry; whether it could be stretched to cover +lesser forms of marital irresponsibility remains +to be determined. (It should be remembered +<a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>that a man who brings in as his wife, or later +sends for, a woman to whom he is not married, +can be deported under quite other sections of +the immigration law.)</p> + +<p><b>2. Improvements in Court Procedure.</b>—A sore +point with the social worker is the often ridiculously +inadequate amounts that unwilling husbands +are put under court order to pay. They +accuse the courts, whether rightly or wrongly, +of considering first what part of the man's +alleged earnings will be needed for him to live +upon comfortably, and then of making the order +for whatever may be left over.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Onofrio Mancini was under court order to stay away +from home and pay his wife $6.00 a week for the support +of their two children, He drove a two-horse truck, and, +at that time, must have been earning not less than $16.00 +a week. Mrs. Mancini fell ill, whereupon Onofrio +promptly ceased all payments. The social agency interested +was permitted to make a complaint on producing +a doctors certificate that Mrs. Mancini could not +appear in court; but Onofrio, when he appeared, put up +such a hard luck tale of earning only $8.00 a week that +the judge, without investigation, cut the order down to +$4.00 a week and <i>ordered Onofrio to return home to live</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>A bulletin issued by the Seybert Institution +of Philadelphia gives a very interesting set of +diagrams showing the relation (or lack of relation) +between the amount of man's income, size +of family, and the court order issued in the +Philadelphia Municipal Court.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>This report gives a series of illustrations, +where glaring inconsistencies between the man's +earnings and the court order were observed by +visitors to the court. A sample of the reports +made by these visitors is as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Man earning $30 to $40 a week at ammunition factory. +Can earn $20 with no overtime. Has been sending +woman $10 a week but has threatened to leave town. +Judge said: 'You can't keep up $10 a week—how much +can you give?' Finally ordered $8 a week. Woman +said she couldn't live on that and Judge told her she +had to go to work herself then; that they should live +together anyway. Woman says she is unable to work—is +ill. When man stated he was giving $10 great consternation +seemed to take hold of the entire court force. He +<a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>did not say he couldn't pay $10; the judge simply told +him he couldn't keep that up."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The practice of assigning less than half the +man's weekly earnings to the wife and children +has been defended on the ground that if he is +forced to live too economically, he will disappear +and the family will be left with nothing. This +would seem to be a self-confession on the part +of the court that it cannot enforce its reasonable +requirements. It would appear that the first +thing to be considered is the minimum needs of +the wife and children, taking into consideration +whether the wife can be expected to contribute +anything toward her own support or whether +all her time is needed for her children. This +amount should be cut down only when there +is actually not enough left for the man to live +on; and his wife and children should not be +pinched for necessities in order that he may +have luxuries or indulge in vices. The habit +some judges have of accepting the man's own +statement on oath as to what his earnings are +is responsible for many unjust orders. A man +who does not want to contribute to his family's +<a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>support is almost sure to understate his earnings, +oath or no oath; and the confirmation of +his employer (or when the employer is suspected +of being in league with him, the inspection of +the employer's books by the probation officer) is +often needed. Probably the most difficult form +of evasion to combat is that of the man who +deliberately takes a lower salary than he is +capable of earning, so as to have less to give +his wife. Surprising as it may seem, this is a +common practice; but skilful probation work +can nevertheless find a remedy.</p> + +<p>In cases of suspended sentence, payments +ought always to be made through the court and +not handed by the man to his wife. It is better +to have the amount received and transmitted +by some bureau attached to the court, and so +managed that the man can send the money in +without "knocking off work" to bring it and +that the woman can receive it by mail. The +probation officer should not be bothered with +the actual handling of the money, but he should +be promptly notified of any delinquency in the +payments.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>Whether the man under court order is on +probation or not, the cessation of payments +should automatically reopen the case. At present, +in most courts, the order goes by default +until the wife comes in to make another charge. +This, through discouragement or fear of a beating +from the man, she often neglects; with the +result that the orders of the court mean little +in the eyes of the men, and that arrears, once +allowed to mount up, are never cleared off.</p> + +<p>This statement applies as well to long term +orders for separate support where the circumstances +are such that no reconciliation is contemplated. +These orders are now made for a +definite period of months, at the end of which +time the case drops unless the wife renews +charges. A case of this sort ought not to be +terminable without a reinvestigation and final +hearing in court. Indeed it would seem, in such +cases, that the children involved should have +at least as much protection as the children in +bastardy proceedings, and that the order should +be made to cover the term of years until the +oldest child becomes of working age.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>The most important step in advance with +regard to payments is undoubtedly the law +which has been tried with signal success in the +District of Columbia and in the states of Ohio +and Massachusetts, requiring men serving prison +sentences for non-support and abandonment to +be made to work, and a sum of money, representing +their earnings, to be turned over to their +families.</p> + +<p>In an interesting paper in the <i>Survey</i> for +November 20, 1909, entitled "Making the Deserter +Pay the Piper," Mr. William H. Baldwin +discusses in detail how this plan was made to +work successfully in the District of Columbia.</p> + +<p>The movement for special courts to consider +cases of juvenile delinquency and marital relations +has gained such headway that no word +needs to be said here in its favor. In communities +where the volume of court business permits +such courts to be separately organized, they are +generally accepted as the only means of handling +these matters. In smaller communities the need +may be met by setting aside regular sessions of +the magistrates' courts for this purpose.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>Juvenile courts and domestic relations courts +having proved a success separately, there is a +strong movement on foot to combine them into +one court, for which the name Family Court has +been proposed.</p> + +<p>A leader in this movement is Judge Hoffman +of the Family Court of Cincinnati, which he +describes thus:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The Court of Cincinnati was organized for the purpose +of dealing with the family as a unit and to ascertain +possibly the cause of its disruption. It has exclusive +jurisdiction in all divorce and alimony cases, and all +matters coming under the Juvenile Court Act. It also +has jurisdiction in cases of failure to provide. The ideal +court would include in connection with the foregoing +functions, adoption of children, the issuing of marriage +licenses, and bastardy cases."<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>One advantage of this plan is the economy +it effects in the time of probation officers. It is +generally admitted that in children's court cases +it is the parents rather than the children who +are really on probation; and with two courts +and two separate probation systems, we may +<a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>even have the anomaly of the same family being +under the care of two probation officers at once. +Specialization can no further go! Other leaders +in the domestic relations court movement see +little merit in the proposal for a one-part family +court. They think that, in the large cities at +least, the need would be better served by having +the domestic relations and juvenile courts under +one roof, but as two separate and distinct parts +of the same court. All are agreed, however, +that the powers of one or the other of the two +special courts should be enlarged to cover bastardy +cases, where this is not now done.</p> + +<p>The domestic relations court, whether separate +or as part of a family court, ought to have +equity powers, so that the usual rules of evidence +need not be so closely adhered to and +more latitude could be allowed the magistrate +in disposing of cases, not necessarily according +to ruling and precedent but according to the +social needs disclosed. A constitutional amendment +now pending in New York is a model for +this sort of legislation. It is in part as follows:<a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a></p> + +<blockquote><p>"The legislature may establish children's courts and +courts of domestic relations as separate courts or parts of +existing courts, or courts hereafter to be created, and +may confer upon them such equity and other jurisdiction +as may be necessary for the correction, protection, guardianship +and disposition of delinquent, neglected or dependent +minors, and for the punishment and correction +of adults responsible for or contributing to such delinquency, +neglect or dependency, and to compel the support +of a wife, child or poor relative by persons legally +chargeable therewith who abandon or neglect to support +any of them."<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>Many courts of domestic relations which now +exercise equity powers, such as ordering that a +man remain away from home or that a wife +allow her husband to see his children at stated +times, do so without actual legal warrant and +subject at any time to appeal of counsel. The +conferring of equity powers on courts of domestic +relations is a form of protection both to the +court and to its clients which social workers +should stand ready to work for.</p> + +<p>Juvenile courts have in the main outstripped +<a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>the domestic relations courts in the use of physicians +and psychiatrists. The best examples of +both these courts have, however, facilities for +the making of physical examinations and mental +tests, where necessary, before adjudication. +Judge Hoffman says that the fact that so many +cases in courts of domestic relations disclose abnormal +or perverted sex habits, makes important +the services of a psychiatrist accustomed to +diagnosing these conditions.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> + +<p>In most states the jurisdiction of the courts +of domestic relations should be extended and +co-ordinated. Few states escape some glaring +inconsistencies in the laws governing desertion +and abandonment. There is, for instance, much +confusion between states as to whether a woman +whose husband brings her to a strange city and +there deserts her must prosecute him in the city +where their home is or where the desertion took +place. Under certain circumstances the woman +is forced to travel to the city where her husband +has gone, and bring action against him there, +<a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>if the courts in that place will entertain a suit. +In New York state there is no law which covers +the case of a man who abandons his wife while +she is pregnant, if there is no other living child. +To constitute an extraditable crime there must +have been abandonment of a child <i>in esse</i> not +merely <i>in posse</i>.</p> + +<p>But no institution, however carefully established +by law, is any more effective than the +people who run it; and the usefulness of the +domestic relations court in any community depends +entirely upon the social-mindedness and +freedom from political entanglement of the +judge and the amount and quality of probation +service. From a social point of view, the latter +is more important than the former; for a bad +decision of the court can be mitigated by good +case work later on, while a poor probation +officer may nullify the effects of the wisest +judicial decision ever made.</p> + +<p>The importance of having enough probation +officers to handle the work of the court has +already been touched upon. An overworked +officer is perforce an inefficient officer. He has +<a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>usually to spend at least half his time in the +court and attending to the clerical end of his +job. From 50 to 60 cases is probably all that +one probation officer can be expected to handle +thoroughly at one time, if, as is to be hoped, +he is required to make careful preliminary investigations +to be presented to the judge <i>before</i> +the trial.</p> + +<p>In training and in equipment for the job, probation +officers should be the equals of case workers +in private agencies. Examinations for probation +officers ought to be conducted by social +workers of skill and high standards. A few +months of cramming at a civil service school, or +a few weeks of volunteer visiting with some case +working agency, should not suffice to enable +candidates to pass the examinations. The standards +should be high enough and the salaries +sufficiently attractive to draw into this field +people who have successfully completed their +apprenticeship in the art of case work. Only +then can the status of the probation officer be +raised to what it should be in the court itself. +The relation of the probation officer to the judge +<a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>ought to be exactly like the relation of the medical +social worker to the physician—that of a +person acting under his direction in a general +way, but with a special contribution to make to +the treatment of the case and with a recognized +standing as an expert in his own particular field.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Now changed to The National Conference of Social +Work.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Motion, J.R.: Wife and Family Desertion: Emigration +as a Contributory Cause. Glasgow Parish Council, +1912.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Handling of Cases by the Juvenile Court and Court of +Domestic Relations of the Philadelphia Municipal Court. +Bulletin 2, Bureau for Social Research, the Seybert Institution, +Philadelphia, 1918.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Hoffman, Charles W.: The Domestic Relations Court +and Divorce, <i>The Delinquent</i>, February, 1917.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> For a fuller discussion of equity powers see an article +by Judge C.F. Collins in the <i>Legal Aid Review</i> for January, +1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Hoffman, Charles W.: Domestic Relations Courts +and Divorce. <i>The Delinquent</i>, February, 1917.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X" /><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>X</h2> + +<p class="center"><b>NEXT STEPS IN PREVENTIVE TREATMENT</b></p> + + +<p>At this time of writing it is too soon after +the signing of the armistice to make predictions +as to what the Great War may do to marriage. +Whether desertion and divorce will increase +or decrease it is impossible to say, and +the experience of Europe is beside the mark. +The war will leave traces on this generation—no +doubt about that; but our losses have not +been heavy enough seriously to disturb the balance +of the sexes. The war, which has been +to the common people of our country a war of +service and ideals, has erased much that was +petty and selfish; it has also caused nervous +shocks and strains incalculable and unimagined. +Years from now we may be able to strike the +balance, but today this cannot be done. It is +impossible also to say whether the growing +<a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>irresponsibility that was generally recognized to +be threatening married life in the years before +the war is still operating with like effect, or +whether the full tide of emotion in which the +world has been lately submerged may have swept +at least a part of it away.</p> + +<p>We are dealing here, however, not so much +with modifications in the spirit of the times, as +with prevention in the individual case.</p> + +<p>One very fundamental claim can be made +concerning marital shipwrecks; namely, that +the way to prevent many of them would have +been to see that the marriage never was allowed +to take place. Marriage laws and their enforcement +form a whole subject in themselves which +is now receiving careful study, the results of +which should be available shortly.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> This fact +precludes any discussion of the subject here, +though the relation of our marriage laws to +marital discord is so obvious that some mention +of the matter is necessary.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>It was formerly the belief of students of +family desertion that the best way to prevent +desertions was to punish them quickly and +severely. It should be said that this plan has +never received a fair trial on a large scale, for +legal equipment has always lagged behind knowledge. +It may be true that just as a community +can, within limits, regulate its death rate by +what it is willing to pay, so it can by repressive +measures regulate its desertion rate. But measures +that keep the would-be deserter in the home +which constantly grows less of a home, simply +through fear of consequences if he left it, seem +hardly a desirable form of prevention from the +social point of view. It would be much better +to catch the disintegrating family in whatever +form of social drag-net could be devised, and +deal with it individually and constructively +along the lines which case work has laid down.</p> + +<p>Is it possible, however, to recognize a "pre-desertion +state?" And if so, what are the danger +signals? One case worker answers this question +sententiously: "Any influences which tend +to destroy family solidarity are possible signs of +<a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>desertion." Another writes: "We have sometimes +found it possible to recognize a 'pre-desertion +state' in the intermittent deserter, where +we know the conditions which previously led to +desertion, but I doubt whether we have very +often been able to note it in the case of first +desertions. In general, I should say a growing +carelessness or a growing despondency as to his +ability to care for his family are danger signals +in the man, of which it is well to keep track."</p> + +<p>The conditions listed in Chapter II as "contributory +factors" might in certain combinations +be decided danger signals of impending desertion. +Non-support itself is, indeed, one of the +most common of such signals, though a man +who has dealt with hundreds of desertion cases +maintained recently that the best and most +hopeful type of deserter is the one who supports +his family adequately up to the time of leaving +home.</p> + +<p>In the following case the items that led the +case worker to suspect an approaching desertion +are set down in the order stated by her. The +<a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>couple were Irish; the man had never deserted +before.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(1) He had spoken with eagerness of the wages that +were being earned in munition plants in a city a few +hours away—said he would like to go to some of those +munition places and see what he could make.</p> + +<p>(2) He was an intermittent drinker.</p> + +<p>(3) His work record was poor; employers said he was +irregular and unreliable.</p> + +<p>(4) Visitor felt he had never earned as much as he +was easily capable of earning and was rather indifferent +to the needs of his family.</p> + +<p>(5) The woman was willing to work—had applied for +day nursery care, but visitor had persuaded the nursery +not to accept the children.</p></blockquote> + +<p>After the visitor had stated the first two of +the above items she stopped, and did not add +the more significant three that followed until +reminded that many workmen who drank intermittently +were at that time thinking enviously +of munition factory wages; and that these +hardly constituted danger signals. The cumulative +effect of all five items cannot, however, be +denied.</p> + +<p>Another statement, similarly obtained, con<a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>cerns +a colored couple, married about two years +and with two children, the youngest less than a +month old. Man had been out of work and +family had gone to live with relatives.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(1) Man earns $20 a week but refuses to start housekeeping +again, although they are seriously overcrowded—seven +adults and five children in five rooms.</p> + +<p>(2) Woman says he makes her sleep on chairs so that +he can get better rest.</p> + +<p>(3) He is seeing a good deal of another woman, a +friend of the wife (wife's statement only).</p> + +<p>(4) Woman had applied for nursery care for both children +so that she might go to work.</p> + +<p>(5) It transpires that she lived with him before marriage, +and that the first child was a month old when the +marriage took place. He "holds it over her."</p> + +<p>(6) Man had been married before and divorced.</p> + +<p>(7) The family's habits of recreation are changed; +the man no longer "takes her out."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Such attempts to foretell the future are not +infallible, of course; but a listing process is a +valuable aid to diagnosis, and, by its help, a +situation may be uncovered which tends toward +complete family breakdown. This may be taken +in time and prevented; or, if separation is inevitable +it can be prepared for in advance, the +<a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>necessary legal arrangements can be made to +protect the family, and the anxiety, suspense, +and useless effort avoided which a sudden and +downright abandonment would cause.</p> + +<p>But the trouble is that the problem seldom +comes to the case worker until matters have +progressed farther than this. The real question +is—not how to recognize pre-desertion symptoms, +but how to get hold of families when +these symptoms are in the incipient stage.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hiram Myers, manager of the Desertion +Bureau of the New York Association for Improving +the Condition of the Poor, who has +made a close study of the subject, holds the +theory that the real period of stress in marital +adjustment comes not during the "critical first +year," about which we have been told so much, +but at a later period, which he sets roughly at +from the third to the fifth year after marriage. +By this time there are usually one or two babies, +the wife's girlish charm has gone, and the romance +of the first attraction has vanished, while +the steady force of conjugal affection which +should smooth their path through the years +<a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>ahead has not come to take its place. It is in +this middle period that longings for the delights +of his care-free youth begin to come back to a +man; if he ever had the wandering foot, it begins +again to twitch for the road; of else his +fancy is captured by some other girl not tied +down at home by children. It is at this time, +too, that endless discords and misunderstandings +arise—that the last bit of gilt crumbles off +the gingerbread.</p> + +<p>As a result of his observations, Mr. Myers +feels sure that the majority of first desertions +take place somewhere from the third to the fifth +year after marriage. Miss Brandt's<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> careful +statistical study of 574 deserted families shows +that in nearly 46 per cent of the families the +first desertion took place before the fifth year +of married life. Of course the jars that may +come in the earlier months of marriage are seldom +brought to the attention of social agencies, +as it is usually the presence of children in the +family and the consequent burden upon the +<a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>wife which make such agencies acquainted with +her.</p> + +<p>It is to be hoped that further study will be +made upon these points. It is well known and +accepted that the majority of first deserters are +young men; but if certain danger periods in +married life can be definitely recognized, many +new possibilities in prevention and treatment +will be opened up.</p> + +<p>A number of experiments and suggestions +have lately been made which may prove to be +the means of recognizing marital troubles early. +The probation department of the Chicago Court +of Domestic Relations some years ago established +a consultation bureau to which people might +come or be sent for advice on difficult matrimonial +situations, and without any court record +being made. The Department of Public Charities +of New York City maintains a similar bureau +which is, however, so closely connected with the +court that its clients make little distinction between +them.</p> + +<p>In addition to such conscious efforts to reach +out after marital tangles in the pre-court stage, +<a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>there has recently been an interesting though +accidental development in the city of Cleveland. +During the thrift campaign of 1918, several savings +banks of that city conceived the idea that +their depositors could be induced and helped to +save more money if the banks opened a bureau +for free advice to their patrons on household +management. This bureau is still in the experimental +stage but it has had an increasing clientele +so far. One thing that has astonished its management—but +which causes no surprise in the +mind of a social worker—has been the great +variety of problems other than those connected +with the family budget that have come to light +in the bureau's consultations. Particularly is +this true of marital discord centering about +money affairs.</p> + +<p>If such bureaus prove their usefulness there +is no reason why they might not be greatly extended, +and why other agencies than banks (insurance +companies, for example) might not be +eager thus to serve their customers. This opens +a new field for the home economist, but incidentally +it would appear that, in order to func<a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>tion +successfully, such bureaus would need to +have access to the services of agencies employing +highly skilled social case workers. It is conceivable +that, if there are developed in our large +cities consultation facilities under social auspices +for people who feel their marriages going wrong, +and want help and advice in righting them, such +bureaus as those described above would be excellent +"feeders" for this new form of social service.</p> + +<p>Family social agencies have been distinctly +backward in some of their approaches to the +fundamental problems of family life. The failure +of most of them, for instance, to study or seek +improvements in the laws governing marriage +or in their administration, is difficult of explanation. +Such a consultation service as that suggested +does, however, indicate a new point of +departure in dealing with marital relations +which would seem to fall distinctly within the +field of the family case work agencies. It is +time that these agencies began to find means +of dealing, not with the dependent family alone +but with the family in danger of becoming dependent—not +with the family broken and +<a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>estranged only, but with the one whose bonds, +even if cracking and ill-adjusted, still hold.</p> + +<p>Concretely, why should not family agencies +establish such consultation bureaus as have +just been mentioned, distinct from their regular +activities and hampered by no suggestion in +their title of association with problems of dependency? +Dr. William Healy of Boston ascribes +much of his success in getting the parents of +defective and backward children to bring them +voluntarily for examination to the fact that the +name of his organization (the Judge Baker +Foundation) conveys no hint of stigma or inferiority. +Here is a valuable lesson in right +publicity.</p> + +<p>A bureau of family advice such as has been suggested +should be under unimpeachable auspices +from the point of view of medicine and psychiatry; +it should have the services not only of +expert social workers and experts in household +management, but of doctors and psychiatrists +as well. If it could be run as a joint-stock enterprise, +in which courts and social agencies might +be equally interested, so much the better. Its +<a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>investigations should be searching enough to +discourage applications from curiosity-mongers; +but its services, like those of any clinic, should +be given for whatever the patient is able to pay. +Its relations, needless to say, should be entirely +confidential, and as privileged in the eyes of the +law as are those of doctor, lawyer, and priest.</p> + +<p>It may be objected that people guard their +marital infelicities too jealously and are too +loath to discuss them to come willingly to such +a place; that the idea involves a presumptuous +interference in the private lives of individuals. +But neurologists know that people in increasing +numbers feel the need, under conditions of modern +stress, for a safe outlet and a chance to discuss +their perplexities and find counsel.</p> + +<p>Fifty years ago the interest now taken by the +social and medical professions in the question +of whether mothers are rearing their infants +properly could not have been foreseen. The +establishment of baby health stations, or the +activities of the Children's Bureau, would have +been looked upon as unwarranted interference +between the child and its mother, whose natural +<a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>instincts could be depended upon to teach her +how to nourish it. This point of view is no +longer held; and the community's duty to take +an interest in the upbringing of its children is +never questioned. Is it not conceivable that, +before another half century has rolled around, +the community may take the same intelligent +interest in the conservation of the family, and +that definite efforts, which are now almost +entirely lacking, may be made to stabilize and +protect it?</p> + +<p>Educational propaganda would, of course, +have to be a definite part of the work of such +bureaus. By this is meant not such modern +specialties as "birth control," "sex hygiene," +<i>et al.</i>, though we may by that time have enough +authoritative information about sex psychology +in marriage to be able to afford some help along +these lines. Instruction in the <i>ethics</i> of married +life and parenthood is of even more fundamental +importance. The prevailing cynicism, the present +low concepts of marriage, should be vigorously +combatted by such an organization. Religious +instruction would be, of course, beyond its +<a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>scope; but it should be able to work sympathetically +with all creeds, supplementing their teachings +without seeking to duplicate them.</p> + +<p>The services of such a bureau could not, of +course, be forced upon anyone who did not wish +to avail himself or herself of them; but definite +though tactful efforts could be made to reach +all young couples (just as are now being made +to reach young mothers) with information as to +where advice could be obtained.</p> + +<p>No trustworthy figures exist as to the number +of families broken by desertion or divorce in the +United States, or as to the burden of actual dependency +caused. Courts, probation officers, +psychiatrists, and family case workers are all +dissatisfied with our efforts to patch up the +families which are already disintegrating. One +of the three groups mentioned is likely before +long to attempt some more dynamic attack +upon the problem in its inception. If any suggestions +herein contained find use in that program, +the labor of compiling them will have +been indeed well spent.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> See, for example, American Marriage Laws in their +Social Aspects—a preliminary study by the Russell Sage +Foundation, June, 1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Brandt, Lilian: 574 Deserters and their Families, p. +23. Charity Organization Society of New York, 1905.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX" /><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>INDEX</h2> + +<p> +Adolph R.: case story of, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br /> +<br /> +Age: relation of differences in, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +Agencies: N.Y. Charity Organization Society, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">National Desertion Bureau, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>. <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">United Hebrew Charities, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">co-operative methods, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-<a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinions on methods of arrest, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">N.Y. Association for Improving Condition of the Poor, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">social problems and consultation bureaus, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Alcoholism: statistics on, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">devastating effects of, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">case story of woman, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and justifiable deserters, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>-<a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relation to non-support, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>American Marriage Laws in their Social Aspects</i>, study by Russell Sage Foundation, <a href="#Page_186">186</a><br /> +<br /> +Apparent desertions: illustrated, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Baldwin, Wm. H., <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Bastardy Cases, A Study of</i> Louise de K. Bowen, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br /> +<br /> +Bastardy, see <i>Forced marriages</i><br /> +<br /> +<i>Behind the Service Flag</i>, Red Cross pamphlet, <a href="#Page_160">160</a><br /> +<br /> +Bigamy: and common law marriages, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">immigrant deserters, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bosanquet, Helen, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br /> +<br /> +Bowen, Louise de K., <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br /> +<br /> +Brand, Harvey: case story of, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br /> +<br /> +Brandt, Lilian, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a><br /> +<br /> +Breed, Mary, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +<br /> +Buffalo Charity Organization Society: non-support records, <a href="#Page_156">156</a><br /> +<br /> +Bureaus: National Desertion Bureau, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for consultation, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Court of Domestic Relations, Chicago, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Department of Public Charities, New York, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Children's Bureau, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of educational, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See also <i>Agencies</i></span><br /> +<br /> +Byington, Margaret F., <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Canada: extradition treaties sought, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br /> +<br /> +Carstens, C.C., <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br /> +<br /> +Case illustrations: of apparent desertion, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mental deficiency, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reconciliation through education, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incompatibility and the "other woman," <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interviewing the man essential, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">liberal relief policy, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agency co-operation, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accident case, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">traced through letter, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reconciliation after court marriage, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"American" marriages, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">justifiable desertion, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>-<a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">antagonism, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>-<a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prison sentences helpful, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adequate relief rids wife of chronic deserter, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adjustment impossible, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">real affection a basis of reconciliation, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rehabilitation of a deserter, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wife reluctant to return to man who reformed, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">non-support and ill-kept homes, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-establishing non-supporters' homes, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-<a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inadequate court orders, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Case work, see <i>Social workers</i><br /> +<br /> +Causal factors: analysis of study, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">motives and theories, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-<a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rationalization discussed, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">summary of statistics, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>-<a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">feeble-mindedness, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>-<a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">training and self-control, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nationality, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>-<a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religion, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">age, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">environment, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-<a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wrong basis of marriage, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">common law marriage, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ignorance, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incompetence, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wanderlust, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inadequate income, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">financial mismanagement, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">physical condition, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-<a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temperamental differences, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sex incompatibility, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vice and disease, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>-<a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relatives, interference of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>-<a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">racial studies, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>-<a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">community standards, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-<a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recreation, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">companions, influence of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shifting responsibility, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">underlying causes, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeking a working basis, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>-<a href="#Page_105">105</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Charitable relief: desertion in expectation of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mary Breed on, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">immigrant's interpretation of, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>-<a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See also <i>Collusion</i></span><br /> +<br /> +Chicago Court of Domestic Relations, bureau for marital advice, <a href="#Page_193">193</a><br /> +<br /> +Chicago Juvenile Protective Association: study of forced<br /> +marriages by, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>-<a href="#Page_95">95</a><br /> +<br /> +Children's Bureau, <a href="#Page_197">197</a><br /> +<br /> +Closing the case: extended treatment recommended, <a href="#Page_63">63</a><br /> +<br /> +Colcord, J.C., <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br /> +<br /> +Collins, C.F., <a href="#Page_180">180</a><br /> +<br /> +Collusion: infrequency of, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">case stories of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">statistics of National Desertion Bureau, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preventive measures, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>-<a href="#Page_80">80</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Common law marriages: legal protection under, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confusion of state laws, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Community ideals, see <i>Standards</i><br /> +<br /> +Companions: influence, and wanderlust, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>-<a href="#Page_48">48</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aid in finding deserters, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Co-operation of agencies, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>-<a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested methods of finding deserters, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">probation officers, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>-<a href="#Page_124">124</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Corrective treatment: legislative recommendations, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>-<a href="#Page_184">184</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">military systems aid in tracing deserters, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>-<a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">obstacles, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">serving a warrant or summons, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extradition treaties recommended, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dependency through emigration, report on, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deportation laws, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">court orders to pay, Seybert Institution report on, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>-<a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">special courts for juvenile delinquents, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Family Court of Cincinnati, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">domestic relations court, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>-<a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">probation officers, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>-<a href="#Page_184">184</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Court intervention: policy of treatment in past, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons, and laxity of laws, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>-<a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">social agency statistics, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a last resort, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>-<a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for persistent deserters, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>-<a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extradition, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>-<a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">probation, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">warrant served by wife, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effecting reconciliations, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>-<a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">domestic relation courts effect reconciliations, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">volunteers, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inadequacy of orders, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>-<a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for juvenile delinquents, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">domestic relations, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a> +Department of Public Charities, New York City, bureau of domestic relations, <a href="#Page_193">193</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Deserters and their Families,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lilian Brandt, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Desertion and Non-Support in Family Case Work.</i> Joanna C. Colcord, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br /> +<br /> +Detectives: methods objectionable, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br /> +<br /> +Disease: statistical analysis, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and psychiatry, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effects of physical debility, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">venereal disease, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alcoholism, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See also <i>Medical-Social work</i></span><br /> +<br /> +District of Columbia: non-support laws, <a href="#Page_177">177</a><br /> +<br /> +Divorce: relation to desertion, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not considered, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">administration of laws, and respect for, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by publication, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">clearing bureau for, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>-<a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for long continued desertion, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">legal separation to protect wife, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bureaus might prevent, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Domestic relations courts: to combine with juvenile, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Family Court of Cincinnati, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">equity powers for, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">amendment pending, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">facilities, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Domestic Relations Court and Divorce.</i> C.W. Hoffman, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a><br /> +<br /> +Donald, Patrick: case story of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> +<br /> +Drug addiction, see <i>Narcotics</i><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Early influences: and self-control, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_26">26</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">educational, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Economics: ratio of desertions in "hard times," <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">family finances, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">service bureaus, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Education: social studies of family life, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>-<a href="#Page_14">14</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early training and delinquency, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">background for failures, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>-<a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">destructive forces, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggestions for case workers, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Attendance Department traces deserters, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">non-support and inefficiency eliminated by, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">propaganda, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ellis, Havelock, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br /> +<br /> +Environment: and immigration, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-<a href="#Page_28">28</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">neighborhood standards, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Equity powers, of domestic relations courts, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a><br /> +<br /> +Eubank, E.E., <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /> +<br /> +Extradition: state problems, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>-<a href="#Page_119">119</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for dangerous men, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>-<a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">non-support law, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treaties essential, ratification pending, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">N.Y. state law, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Extravagance: family finances, <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i>Family as a Social and Educational Institution, The.</i> Willystine Goodsell, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> +<br /> +Family Court of Cincinnati, <a href="#Page_178">178</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Family Desertion.</i> Lilian Brandt, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Family Desertion, A Study of.</i> E.E. Eubank,<a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /> +<br /> +Family life: permanence of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>-<a href="#Page_15">15</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spiritual values of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consultation service to solve problems of, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Family, The.</i> Helen Bosanquet, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br /> +<br /> +Fear of bodily harm from dangerous deserters, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>-<a href="#Page_129">129</a><br /> +<br /> +Federal Employment Service, <a href="#Page_166">166</a><br /> +<br /> +Finding deserters, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">National Desertion Bureau, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urgency of finding the man, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</span><br /><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">C.C. Carstens quoted, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">example of, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">collusion, instances of, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">literature lacking, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">detective methods, illustration of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>-<a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggestions for, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-<a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">through military authorities, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>-<a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trade places, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-<a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">publications, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bulletin boards, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">employment agencies, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agency co-operation, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a></span><br /> +<br /> +First desertions: temporary character of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">medical-social work a preventive, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accident records aid in tracing, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">critical nature of, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">when apt to occur, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>-<a href="#Page_192">192</a></span><br /> +<br /> +First problem in desertion, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a><br /> +<br /> +Forced marriages: irregular unions, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">investigation of, and statistics, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>-<a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">study by Chicago Juvenile Protective Association, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">case illustrations, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>-<a href="#Page_96">96</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Forel, August, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br /> +<br /> +Francis, Mrs.: case story of, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br /> +<br /> +Frost, Robert, <a href="#Page_14">14</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Gambling: effect upon character, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relation to non-support, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Glasgow Parish Council, report on dependency, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>-<a href="#Page_171">171</a><br /> +<br /> +Goodsell, Willystine, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> +<br /> +Gorokhoff, Andreas: case story of, <a href="#Page_121">121</a><br /> +<br /> +Gray, Aleck: case story of, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-<a href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Hart, Bernard, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> +<br /> +Healy, Dr. William, <a href="#Page_196">196</a><br /> +<br /> +Heredity: psychopathic personality, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">feeble-mindedness, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">racial differences, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>-<a href="#Page_28">28</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hoffman, Charles W., <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Illustrations, see <i>Case illustrations</i><br /> +<br /> +Immorality, see <i>Sex factors</i><br /> +<br /> +Inadequate relief: legal separation, and the law, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wife's attitude, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illustrated, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">court orders, inconsistency of, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>-<a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recent legislation to correct, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See also <i>Non-support</i></span><br /> +<br /> +Income: economic issues, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wages and non-support, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-<a href="#Page_33">33</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Incompatibility: temperamental differences, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sex relations, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Industrial deficiency: in husband and wife, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">national registration to correct, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Insanity: study of defectives, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Insanity, The Psychology of.</i> Bernard Hart, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> +<br /> +Instability: forms of, mental and physical, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">factors that induce, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>-<a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>-<a href="#Page_49">49</a></span><br /> +<br /> +"Intermittent husbands," <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a><br /> +<br /> +Interviewing the man: importance of, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>-<a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">case story, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_61">61</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Italy: marriage registration in, <a href="#Page_100">100</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Judge Baker Foundation, of Boston, <a href="#Page_196">196</a><br /> +<br /> +Justifiable deserters: and alcoholism, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">case illustration, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">procedure with, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Justification: thirst for experience, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">process of rationalization, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">venereal disease and separation, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alcohol, and "justifiable deserters," <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Williams case illustrates, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and the non-supporter, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>-<a href="#Page_154">154</a></span><br /> +<br /><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a> +Juvenile courts: movement for special, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Juvenile Court Act, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">combine with domestic relation courts, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Family Court of Cincinnati, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">facilities, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Laflin, Mrs.: case story of, <a href="#Page_155">155</a><br /> +<br /> +Latham, George: case story of, <a href="#Page_137">137</a><br /> +<br /> +Legal separation to protect wife, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a href="#Page_129">129</a><br /> +<br /> +Legislation: irregular unions, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pioneering methods, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state aid to mothers, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">common law unions, legality of, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Italian, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divorce for permanent desertion, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for justifiable deserters, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>-<a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">court action for persistent deserters, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>-<a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extradition, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>-<a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">probation, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>-<a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">legal facilities to promote efficiency, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>-<a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">serving a warrant, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extradition treaties, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-<a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deportation, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">court procedure, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>-<a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">juvenile delinquency, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">domestic relations, and special courts, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>-<a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage laws, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Loane, M., <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br /> +<br /> +Long, Martin: case story of, <a href="#Page_141">141</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i>Making the Deserter Pay the Piper.</i> W.H. Baldwin, <a href="#Page_177">177</a><br /> +<br /> +Mancini, Onofrio: case story of, <a href="#Page_172">172</a><br /> +<br /> +Marital vagaries: possible reasons for, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br /> +<br /> +Marriage: spiritual values of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">homelier elements in, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>-<a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wrong bases of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">common law unions, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disparagement of ideals condemned, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-<a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">verification, and state legislation, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>-<a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">registration in Italy, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">American marriage laws, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></span><br /> +<br /> +McCann, Herbert: case story of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-<a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +<br /> +Medical-social work: preventing desertion, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">summary of case analyses, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">psychiatry and mental deficiency, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">physical debility, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"pregnancy desertion," <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-<a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sex incompatibility, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bureaus of advice recommended, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See also <i>Psychology</i></span><br /> +<br /> +Mellor, Joseph: case story of, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br /> +<br /> +Mentality: irresponsible agents, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-<a href="#Page_20">20</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">psychology of insanity, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">educational handicaps, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mexico: and extradition, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br /> +<br /> +Morgan, Charles: case story of, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_148">148</a><br /> +<br /> +Motion, J.R., <a href="#Page_171">171</a><br /> +<br /> +Myers, Hiram, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Narcotics: percentage of influence, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br /> +<br /> +Nationality: statistical facts about difference in, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>-<a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>-<a href="#Page_45">45</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">racial attitude, and percentages of deserters, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>-<a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">case problem, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jewish desertion bureau, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>-<a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br /> +<br /> +National Conference of Jewish Charities, seeks extradition treaty, <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br /> +<br /> +National Conference of Social Work, extradition treaty urged, <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br /> +<br /> +National Desertion Bureau, Jewish legal aid, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">story of tracing a deserter, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">collusive desertion cases, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">clearing bureau established, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>-<a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Neighborhood influence, see <i>Standards</i><br /> +<br /> +Newspapers, see <i>Publicity</i><br /> +<br /><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a><a href="#Page_206">206</a> +New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor: practice of Desertion Bureau, <a href="#Page_136">136</a><br /> +<br /> +New York Charity Organization Society: study of racial groups, and percentages, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>-<a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +New York State Conference of Charities and Correction, Proceedings, on non-supporters, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +<br /> +Non-supporters: as potential deserters, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>-<a href="#Page_163">163</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">legal treatment of, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>-<a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">analogous to deserters, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>-<a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characteristics, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wife's influence a factor, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>-<a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illustrations, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reclamation, illustrated, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-<a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approach to desertion, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>-<a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Non-support Law: in Massachusetts, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>-<a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Normal Family, The.</i> Margaret F. Byington, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>North of Boston.</i> Robert Frost, <a href="#Page_14">14</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i>One Thousand Homeless Men.</i> Alice W. Solenberger, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br /> +<br /> +Overindulgence: teaching self-control, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_26">26</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wage-earning wives, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Pelligrini, Orfeo: case story of, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br /> +<br /> +Permanence of family life, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>-<a href="#Page_15">15</a><br /> +<br /> +Permanent desertions, see <i>Divorce</i><br /> +<br /> +Philadelphia Court of Domestic Relations, report on reconciliations, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>-<a href="#Page_136">136</a><br /> +<br /> +Philadelphia Society for Organizing Charity: report of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br /> +<br /> +Photographs of deserters: society presents to wife, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tracing out-of-town clues, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Physical condition: ill health, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"difficulty" of pregnant women, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">maladjustments, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recreation essential, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recommendations, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a></span><br /> +<br /> +"Pregnancy desertion": how explained, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-<a href="#Page_35">35</a><br /> +<br /> +Preventive treatment: past opinions, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">non-support leading to desertion, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>-<a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for first desertions, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>-<a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bureaus for advice and consultation, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggestions for, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Probation: testimony of social workers, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_120">120</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and imprisonment, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-<a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">legal separation proceedings during, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">officers effect reconciliation, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illustrations, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>-<a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"stay-away" probation, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">economy plan for officers, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number and efficiency of officers, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>-<a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consultation bureau, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Provisional quality of desertions, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br /> +<br /> +Psychoanalysis: mental deficients, and heredity, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incompatibility and sex perversion, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See also <i>Sex factors</i></span><br /> +<br /> +Psychology: rationalization process, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mental defectives, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sex incompatibility, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">studies on, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">knowledge of, essential, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Publicity: photographs a medium of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agencies and newspapers, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divorce by "publication," <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illustration, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i>Queen's Poor, The.</i> M. Loane, <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br /> +<br /> +Questionnaires: liberal relief policy, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">searching for deserters, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment of desertion, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></span><br /> +<br /><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a> +<br /> +Ratio of desertions: economic factors, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-<a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> +<br /> +Reconciliation: factors that prompt, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>-<a href="#Page_14">14</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and the "other woman," <a href="#Page_40">40</a>-<a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">following court marriage, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>-<a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">after prison term, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-<a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">considerations involved, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>-<a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unwillingness of wife, illustrated, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criminal tendencies prevent, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">affection a safe basis of, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practice of N.Y. Association for Improving Condition of the Poor, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>-<a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">volunteer visitors helpful, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">case worker's success in effecting, illustrated, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-<a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bureaus to promote, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Recreation: why essential, <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br /> +<br /> +Red Cross Home Service, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a><br /> +<br /> +Relatives: interference of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>-<a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> +<br /> +Religion: differences in, a study of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +Repeated desertions: frequency of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"intermittent husbands," <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggestions for tracing the man, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relative nature of, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Responsibility: self-therapy illustrated, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deserters disclaim, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>-<a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">essentials of early training, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">education promotes, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and charitable relief, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wage-earning wives, and non-supporters, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Richmond, Mary E.: on volunteers in case work, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br /> +<br /> +Ridicule: of matrimony, by press and films, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-<a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Russell Sage Foundation, study, American marriage laws, <a href="#Page_186">186</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Selective Service Act, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br /> +<br /> +Sex factors: determine forgiveness, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>-<a href="#Page_14">14</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">statistical summary, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"pregnancy desertion," <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-<a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incompatibility, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">immorality, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">knowledge of sex psychology essential, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Sex in Relation to Society.</i> Havelock Ellis, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Sexual Question, The.</i> A. Forel, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br /> +<br /> +Seybert Institution, Philadelphia, on relation of income to court order, <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br /> +<br /> +Slacker marriages, <a href="#Page_97">97</a><br /> +<br /> +Social workers: opinions of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appreciative faculties of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">knowledge of sex relations imperative, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">diagnoses referred to specialists, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">undervalue recreation, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">questionnaires on treatment, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">detective methods, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agency co-operation, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sex problems, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">necessary information for, summarized, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">protection of legal separation, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successful case records, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-<a href="#Page_148">148</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Solenberger, Alice W., <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br /> +<br /> +Spiritual values: of family life, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>-<a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Standards: and temperamental differences, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">community concepts, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-<a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">neighborhood influence, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br /> +<br /> +State aid to mothers, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vital statistics, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Temporary desertions: report of Philadelphia Society, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">domestic crises and vagaries, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-<a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See also <i>Reconciliation</i></span><br /> +<br /> +Theories to explain desertion, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See also <i>Causal factors</i></span><br /> +<br /> +Treatment of desertion: policy, past and present, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_64">64</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">court intervention, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br /><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interviewing the man, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>-<a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relief to families, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinions of case workers, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">case story, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state aid, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">closing the case, time for, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changes in worker's attitudes, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">whereabouts known, willing to return, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>-<a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Philadelphia Court of Domestic Relations, study by, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>-<a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">N.Y. Association for Improving Condition of the Poor, practice of, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">family restoration illustrated, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">volunteers recommended, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wife relents, illustration of reconciliation, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">study of successful worker's records, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-<a href="#Page_148">148</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +United Hebrew Charities, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Vagaries: marital, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-<a href="#Page_35">35</a><br /> +<br /> +Venereal disease: relation to desertion, <a href="#Page_41">41</a><br /> +<br /> +Verification: of marriage, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>-<a href="#Page_99">99</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Italy, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Latin-American custom, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Volunteers: service valuable for effecting reconciliation, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_140">140</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Wanderlust: instability of temperament, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relation to desertion, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Warrant for arrest: protection afforded wife, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">system inadequate, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></span><br /> +<br /> +West, Alfred: case story of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Wife and Family Desertion: Emigration as a Contributory Cause.</i> J.R. Motion, <a href="#Page_171">171</a><br /> +<br /> +Wife who deserts, not considered, <a href="#Page_15">15</a><br /> +<br /> +Williams, Mrs. Clara: case story of, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br /> +</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a></p> +<h2>SOCIAL WORK SERIES</h2> + +<h3>EDITED BY MARY E. RICHMOND</h3> + +<div style="margin-left: 25%; margin-right: 25%;"> +<p>Many people have general views in these days +upon almost any matter which affects social +welfare; we all know how easily such views find +expression. On the other hand, only a few have +the patience and the insight to gather the specific +facts and find out what they mean. Still fewer—having +done so much as this—can explain the +meaning lucidly and in brief compass.</p> + +<p>It is the ambition of the Social Work Series to +embody, in the field of social service at least, the +message of a representative group of these few. +The first three volumes are as follows:</p> + +<p><b>Disasters</b> and the American Red Cross in Disaster +Relief. By J. Byron Deacon.</p> + +<p><b>Household Management.</b> By Florence Nesbitt.</p> + +<p><b>Broken Homes.</b> By Joanna C. Colcord.</p> + +<p>Price, Cloth, 75 cents each. +Other volumes in preparation.</p> + +<p>Write for announcements to be forwarded as +these books are issued.</p> + +<p><b>PUBLICATION DEPARTMENT, RUSSELL SAGE +FOUNDATION</b></p> + +<p><b>130 E. 22d ST., NEW YORK CITY</b></p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Broken Homes, by Joanna C. 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