the community as well as against his wife and
children. Almost as widespread is the reluctance of the proper
authorities to arrest the deserter and bring him back after he has been
found. A general atmosphere of indifference and despair of accomplishing
anything worth while surrounds any attempt to push the prosecution of a
man who has taken refuge outside the community. Hope for the future lies
in socializing the point of view of court officials, police, and
district attorneys--a process in which the social worker must play a
large part. No chance should be lost to drive home the social and
economic waste involved, by using the illustrative material which
abounds in the files of most case work agencies.

The pernicious system by which the wife is required to serve summons and
warrant upon the offending husband who is still in the same city, should
be done away with entirely. The social agency, public or private, which
has had to support or assist the man's family ought to be able to prefer
a charge for non-support, and to take out a summons or a warrant and
serve it without the wife's being present. The agency should in this
case protect itself by securing from the wife a signed affidavit and
authorization to act in her behalf. It may seem unimportant whether the
wife makes such complaint in the court or to a private society. The
psychological effect upon the man is, however, very different. If his
wife initiates the complaint in court, his resentment is directed toward
her--a fact which renders reconciliation more difficult if this is later
attempted. In other cases, for the wife to make the complaint puts her
in actual physical danger from the vindictive husband. If he is brought
into court on the complaint of a social agency, part of that resentment
at least is transferred to the intrusive social worker, who is not
usually seriously troubled thereby and is far better able to bear the
weight of the husband's displeasure than is his poor wife.

The absence of any treaty with Great Britain by which family deserters
can be extradited to or from Canada makes the Dominion a place of refuge
for many American evaders of family responsibilities. The National
Conference of Charities and Correction,[46] at its meeting in Cleveland
in 1912, passed a resolution on the need for such a treaty. As a result,
largely through the efforts of Mr. William H. Baldwin, the treaty was
signed and sent to the Senate for ratification in Decemb