The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1905-04-16
Men Who Haze Families
Dependent on Charity
Associated Charities Gathers Statistics REGARD.
ing Wife Desertions-Laws in Other States
and Proposed Remedy.

Men who desert wives and leave chill
dren dependent upon public charities
are to be gone after In vigorous fashion
by the Associated Charities.
The latter has been gathering aramu-
milton in the shape of an exhaustive and
interesting study of Family Describes.
and Non-support Laws, which includes
a review Of all the legislation in the
United States on the subject of wife
desertion.
William H. Baldwin member of the
board of managers of the Associated
Charities. has spent months OF Volun-
tary labor and several hundred dollars
from his private purse for the compile
ton and printing Of this valuable In
quiry
This study begins with a review of
the number Of deserted wives assisted
by the Associated Charities during the
last nine years In this time, by add
ing the number of deserted families aid
ed each year, Mr. Baldwin secures a
total of 1903 fa miles who have required
charitable assistance because their prop
.er supporter had run away from his re-
sponsibility.
Remedy Is Proposed.
The later pages Of the report suggest
model law which provides for the pun
ishment of the man who deserts his
family. 1t is proposed to bring him TO
! public trial and to sentence him 10 a
term of hard labor In the workhouse,
suspending sentence in most cases, upon
Z contribute
reasonable sum regularly to the sup
port of his wife and children. The pro-
posed law provides that the court may
order the man to pay this money to
some approved guardian or organization
through whom il can be expended wise
~ for the support of his family The
most important feature of the new legis-
Iation advocated Is the provision of
means for bringing back the deserving
husband who may have gone into Vir-
gfnia, Maryland, or some other juris-
diction outside of the District of CO.
lumbia.
At present men who leave their fam
lilies are not brought back through force
of legislation. Some States are meeting
this difficulty by making desertion a
felony; it is thereby recognized as an ex-
traditable offense.
Mr.. Baldwin has made the important
discovery that extradition can also be
secured for misdemeanors, and he has
secured definite written pledges from
the governors OF several different States
saying they will be glad to return de-
sorting husbands whom the authorities
of Washington desire to prosecute.
Titles of Chapters.
The general character of the exhaus-
tive study made by Mr.. Baldwin may
be judged from the titles of some of
the leading paragraphs. The one ex-
planning why Desertion is Increasing
is followed by a paragraph explaining
that the offense Is due TO moral. not
physical defects.
1t is learned that out of 234 cases an
alyzed by the Associated Charities. Of
Boston, 50 per cent were skilled workers
and 10 per cent clerks or in special oecu~
pations. leaving only 40 per cent I'M
skilled laborers, and there was, as rule,
no inability to furnish support.
The deserted families were not large
and in nearly one-ffth of the cases
there were no children under fourteen
years of age. while in all the other
instances the children averaged less
than three to n family. The discovery
that desertion is due to moral delln-
quency rather than to industrial
causes, leads Mr. Baldwin to the con-
cIusion that il should be treated as
CT criminal offense," and that society
has an economic interest in the mat
ter"
Mr. Baldwin by communicating with