The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1916-02-25
Why Men Leave Their
Wives !?
By Otto McFeely

father, are rapidly becoming one
of the greatest problems in this
country, according to Judge Henry
Neil, father of the Mothers Pen
sion System for abolishing child
poverty Judge Neil will appeal
to congress and to the legislative
bodies of this and all other states
to consider the deserted mother
and her children.
When the husband and fa' her
deserts he leaves behind chi d pow
erty. which IN the opinion of Judge
Neil is the greatest blot on modem
civilization. He has obtained moth
ers pensions for widows in twenty
six states, but deserted women and
their children are still left in pow
erty.
MANY well meaning citizens, 5"
he seid in discussing the deserted
families, fear that the pension
system will encourage desertions.
My experience in hundreds of pow
erty stricken families, in courts,
lails and asylums of all kinds, has
convinced me that such is not the
case. The men who de- ert will not
be kept at home by the fear that
their wives and children will suffer.
Many charity experts and others
say that the deserted mother and
children should be left in poverty,
their punishment being used to re-
form the bad father. They ask us
to Withhold the pension from the
woman until the man is reformed
and made to do his daty.
80 often has this bad father
been used against mothers pen
sions that l have devoted consid-
cradle time to strdy of the prob
lem. Out Of hundred Of cases /
have formulated a classification of
the causes of desertions, which l
give in the order of tie Importance
as follows
L W wages (making family
home impossible
Unemployment Creating from
the hard working man discour-
raged loafer
Bad housing Dwelling SO small
thpt the men can find no room for
his leisure hours and he is forced
to 60 out except when eating cr
sleeping.)
Whiskey usually resorted to as
a result of the preceding causes.
Arrest and Imprisonment OF low
paid wage workers on charges OF
failure to supp 1T their families
Interference of charity visitors
in the affairs of low paid work
man.
Feeling of disgrace because he
has had to accept charity
Prison and military or naval ex-
perience which taught habits nm
fitting man for home life
Conduct of wife.
In the opinion of Judge Neil low
wages are the fundamental cause,
all other causes given above coming
directly out of insufficient income,
or are aggravated by this poverty
work. Among we'll paid crafts
men, the desertions are few. De.
sertions increase as the wages &C
down.
eff wage workers had income
sufficient to provide decent house
and other necessities, says Judge
| Neil, there would be few deser
tions. But low wages forces the
family into little rat-trap habita
tons
1T Is unnatural for men to leave
their own offspring and when Z
large number of men are commit
ting this unnatural act we mus
conclude that there is some strong
compulsion | have found thi'
compulsion and as long as low
wages continue we will have de
sertions and all the courts and jail
in the world will not reform th'
situation.
The use of the Mothers Pen
sion system in twenty-six state
has had wonderful results, cour
. officials reporting a hundred pc
cent efficiency in reducing juvenil,
crime and delinquency and conse