The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-05-07
MENDlNG BROKEN FAMILIES

Washington Makes the Wife Desertel
 Pay the Piper-Puts Him on Pro.
 bation and TurLs His Wages Over
 to the Juvenile Court for His Fam
 iy-If He's Very Bad It Makes Him
 Work In the Park and Pays His
 Wife for His Labor.
 William H. Baldwin. Washington, D. c.
 Exclusive Service the Survey Press
 Bureau.)
 Experience under the family de- sertion and non support law in Wash ingtOn, D. C., has proved that 1t is possible to bring deserting husbands to time and make them support their families, however much they want to skip out and leave wives and children to shift for themselves.
 Punishment in itself profits nobody. The law aims not to punish but to secure support. The man decides whether he will work in confinement Or out of it, and Judge Wm. H. De- Lacy, of the Juvenile Court, sees that he does work in one way if he will not in the other. The Judge is a good tinker, and has mended so many II he can do, and the men know, too.
 When a man brought up for non- support promises to furnish it he is put on probation, and ordered to pay specified amount from his wages each Saturday night at the police sta- tion nearest his home. The sergeant turns the money over to the Juvenile Court, and then the wife gets it in full on Monday morning. her pay day. The money is pretty Safe here and the plan heads off many a Saturday night spree. The man is kept at work, which is a mighty good thing of it. self, and the family is kept together.
 Men who are not willing to furnish support under this arrangement, and those who default in payment Or de- sert a second time, are promptly sent to the workhouse. There they are made up into gangs and put to work in Rock Creek Park. where President Roosevelt used to take his afternoon gallop. They have hard days work in the open air, with good food, and for this the law requires the govern ment to pay 50 cents a day to the wives, as for any government em- ployee. The work in the Park would cost s1.50 a day if not done by pri- soners, so s1.O0 is left to pay for boarding and guarding the men, after the wages have been taken out. Con- y this purpose, thereby setting a good example to State Legislatures and City Councils.
 It pays to do so. A man who can get out at any time will not work long in this way Last year only one man out of nine had to be sent to the wprkhouse, and he got out after an average of six weeks. The government paid s2,340 for work, but the men outside earned $3S 319.65, which was collected by the police and paid to the families through the Juvenile Court This made total return of $40, ,659.55 on an investment of $2,500. Pretty good business, that!
 Beyond the money value of the la bor, however is the moral effect of the work and its compensation on the man in his relations to his fam fly. Instead of escaping the punish ment which he deserves and so failing to realize, that he has done wrong, the issue is squarely made and the veals his conduct to him in it's true character. Many men have reformed after this experience, and it is due in large part to the compensation pro- vided that the Judge is able to in f1ict the punishment without hesitation where he thinks it necessary.
 Judge DeLacy's execution of the law is effective because it is certain Family desertion is a misdemeanor Or a felony in almost every state and is punishable with hard labor in many. But to punish the man in jail, the judge must also punish his wife and by cutting off his wages. Thnt rnenns in many cases that the wife must go to work or accept help from a charitable society or the city.
 The Washington law does away with all that. In the 3 years and months during which the law has been in operation the amount paid to prisoners by the government is $3,876.00, while the amount collected from them the Juvenile Court is s90 865.S4. This proves the success of the plan, and it ought to be generally adopted.