s in private agencies. Examinations for
probation officers ought to be conducted by social workers of skill and
high standards. A few months of cramming at a civil service school, or a
few weeks of volunteer visiting with some case working agency, should
not suffice to enable candidates to pass the examinations. The standards
should be high enough and the salaries sufficiently attractive to draw
into this field people who have successfully completed their
apprenticeship in the art of case work. Only then can the status of the
probation officer be raised to what it should be in the court itself.
The relation of the probation officer to the judge ought to be exactly
like the relation of the medical social worker to the physician--that of
a person acting under his direction in a general way, but with a special
contribution to make to the treatment of the case and with a recognized
standing as an expert in his own particular field.

FOOTNOTES:

[46] Now changed to The National Conference of Social Work.

[47] Motion, J.R.: Wife and Family Desertion: Emigration as a
Contributory Cause. Glasgow Parish Council, 1912.

[48] Handling of Cases by the Juvenile Court and Court of Domestic
Relations of the Philadelphia Municipal Court. Bulletin 2, Bureau for
Social Research, the Seybert Institution, Philadelphia, 1918.

[49] Hoffman, Charles W.: The Domestic Relations Court and Divorce, _The
Delinquent_, February, 1917.

[50] For a fuller discussion of equity powers see an article by Judge
C.F. Collins in the _Legal Aid Review_ for January, 1919.

[51] Hoffman, Charles W.: Domestic Relations Courts and Divorce. _The
Delinquent_, February, 1917.

X

NEXT STEPS IN PREVENTIVE TREATMENT

At this time of writing it is too soon after the signing of the
armistice to make predictions as to what the Great War may do to
marriage. Whether desertion and divorce will increase or decrease it is
impossible to say, and the experience of Europe is beside the mark. The
war will leave traces on this generation--no doubt about that; but our
losses have not been heavy enough seriously to disturb the balance of
the sexes. The war, which has been to the common people of our country a
war of service and ideals, has erased much that was petty and selfish;
it has also caused nervous shocks and strains incalculable and
unimagined. Years from now we may be able to strike the balance, but
today this cannot be done. It is impossible also to s