Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1906-08-05
Favorite Time for the cowardly Act
is Just After the Honeymoon or
Following the Birth Of Child
Not All of THE Women are Above
ReProach Another Cause.

married man played an important
role with u young unmarried woman.
there arises, again, TO the Judge. the
attorneys and, as we'll, to the lay
man, the everpresent question: Why
do married men desert their wives.
children and homes?
One of the best of social research
authorities of the country. Lillian
brandt. declared. in the New York
Press, few days ago, that desertion
was increasing steadily. Even this
statement Is correct, as evidenced
in Minneapolis. where, within the
PAST fortnight, five cases for divorce
have been filed with the clerk OF the
district court, all OF which were
brought OH the grounds OF desertion.
Experts are taking great deal of
trouble nowadays to discover just
what it is that makes such a large
number of men desert their families.
They have not arrived at all the rea.
sons yet, but they have recapituated
the causes they have discovered. aud
the chief Is the restlessnss of Amer
lean life and the ease In going from
one place to another. Men seem to
feel that even ii they go away the
women and children they leave be.
hind will manage to get along some.
how.
Many Families Deserted.
In loo
ed Charities has collected statistics
OF 574 cases, distributed among TWEEN
ty'rve cities of the country, where
men have been deserters from their
homes. Along with these the inysti-
gator discovered seventeen cases in
which the wife had been the deser-
ter barely per cent. Among the
~ and SIS per week people 1t is eY-
1dent that the wife sticks squarely
TO her family.
The STA cases mentioned above are
merely typical, however. They have
nothing to do with the total number
OF assertions throughout the country
OF the number. OF men, who actually
leave their households.
Cast Themselves Upon Charity.
Occasionally" declares 'Mr Sol
enberger OF the Associated Charities,
"a homeless man.. asking for help
mere. admits that he has q wife and
family living in, some other place.
II the truth could be known about
the floating population in any city,
1t would be found that many OF the
apparently unattached men who I'll
the free lodgings and make up the
bread lines are really deserving hus-
bands. who create a double problem
by leaving their families dependent
ct home and casting themselves on
charity in some other place.
During 1905, we had 1876 cases OF
the husband leaving his wife and
family, and, outside Of this number,
we had reported 100 cases of sepa.
ration. making total. of 236 cases"
Grows to be Habit.
There is well.established "deser.
ton habit" These are the cases, If
chronic deserters. The experts call
them intermittent 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
family desertion is before or
Just after the birth OF a
child. Another type of man slips
away at the beginning of winter; an
other disappears whenever he loses
his job; some desert their wives IN.
on any serious quarrel; others when
the demand is made of them tina:
they work more and loaf less.
A number OF cases, both curious
and interesting, 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 the
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