Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-21

/ Why do married men leave home?
That they are doing 80 In larger num-
bers than ever there seems to be little
doubt One of the best Of the social
research authorities in the country,
Lillian Brandt, says desertion is in
creasing steadily. Last week In one Of
the magistrates courts Of this city, in q
single morning, thirty cases Of deser-
tlon were brought before the Judge.
Experts are. taking a great deal Of
trouble nowadays to discover Just what
II Is that makes such a large number
of men desert their families. They
have not gotten at all the reasons yet,
but they have recaptuated the causes
they have discovered, and the chief Is
the restlessness Of American life and
the ease in getting from place to place.
Men seem TO feel that, even If they do
go away. the women and children they
leave behind will manage to get along
somehow.
Within the past year the charity or
ganlzation has collected statistics Of
574 cases. distributed among twenty
five cities of the country, where men
have been deserters from their house,
holds. Along with these, the investi-
gators discovered seventeen cases in
which the wife had been the deserter-
barely per cent. Among the so to SIS
q week working people 1t is evident
that the wife sticks squarely to her
family. One hundred and seventy-nine
of these 574 cases which are recorded
came from New York, Philadelphia
contributing the next largest number,
eighty.
The 574 cases are simply typical,
however. They have nothing to do with
the total number of desertions through
out the country, the number of men
that actually leave their homes. The
reports of philanthropic societies as to
this are astounding. 1t looks as though
the statistics must be wrong. But
there the records are, and they tell how
the number of families deserted by the
head of the household form from to
13 per cent of the total number of fam
lilies in charge of these societies who
have applied for relief.
There is a well established "desertion
habit" These are the cases of chronic
deserters. The experts call them 'ln-
termittent husbands" They leave their
homes not once and to stay away for
good, but frequently wander back again
after a time. These men leave home
whenever more is required of them
than usual. A favorite time for fam
lily desertion is before or just after
the birth of a child. Another type Of
man slips away at the beginning of
winter; another disappears whenever
he loses his job; some desert their
wives upon any serious quarrel; others
when the demand is made of them that
they work more and loaf less.
A number of cases both curious and
turned up among these 574.
In the Mississippi valley, for example,
one worthy decamped for three weeks
upon the occasion of the birth of his
first child. Two years later, upon the
birth of his second, he disappeared
again, this time to be away nearly a
year. He came back and took up the
thread of his life as before, until the
time the third child was born. Then
he again fed, and though three years
have passed since then, he has not yet
Another man deserted his family nine |
years ago and has not been heard of
since, except in a most peculiar man
ner. Each Friday evening since he van
ished a messenger has come to the
wife with an envelope containing SO.
Not single Friday has been missed.
in the envelope. The most remarkable
feature of this case is that the wife
has been well satisfied and has asked
no questions of the messengers.
Those who have followed up the sub
ject say that the typical married man
who deserts his family Is not the kind
of a man to excite much admiration,
but he is generally fairly good looking. |
He is usually able-bo and young, a |
good workman when he wants to be, |
but seldom willing to exert himself |
selfish, especially fond of
his own comfort, and one who cuts a
decided figure with womenkind.
-
1t is not all the mans fault. The sta
tistical records prove that fully. The
who is deserted may be we'll
but she has been found to be
ignorant, unframed and without any
special faculty for making home. AS
a general thing she is deserted five or
six years after marriage, and it has
been found that some time previous to
that she has been pretty much the main
support of the family. This has decid-
edly left it's mark on her, and in many