The desertion bureau of a family social work society learned that a deserting man had expressed a desire long before he left his family to enlist in the Army.  Several letters were exchanged with the War Department, and the man was finally found to be with a company serving in the Canal Zone.  As he had made misrepresentations when he enlisted, the War Department was willing to transfer him from Panama to a camp within the limits of the city where the desertion had taken place and there discharge him.  This brought the absconder within the jurisdiction of the local courts and made it possible to arrest him as soon as he was outside the bounds of the camp.

It will repay the visitor to make not only a careful study of the deserting man’s employment history but also to learn something about the trade he follows.  A cloakmaker, for instance, who deserts in New York City is likely to be found in Cleveland, for these are the two centers of the cloak branch of the garment trade.  Certain seasonal occupations give the periodical deserter a great opportunity.  Among these are hop picking, berry picking, and lumbering.  The amusement parks near the large cities also furnish occupation for the seasonal deserter.  The case worker cannot be expected to have such knowledge at his finger-tips, but he can go to people who know about the fluctuations of particular trades—­to employers, union officials or fellow-workmen who may throw light on a deserter’s movements.  The story of Adolph R.[21] is an excellent illustration of the help that may be obtained from trades unions and from fellow-workmen.  A family welfare bureau in a western city writes: 

“In one instance a blacksmith’s union published the picture of the deserting man in its official journal and asked that information regarding him be sent to the local unit here.  This proved successful.  In another instance a union gave us access to its books and helped us to trace all the men of a given name listed there.  By this means we found the man we were looking for.  One man, a vaudeville performer, we traced through the Bill Board (a trade paper) by discovering the movements of the show with which he had been connected.”

Another society succeeded in getting a certain trade union to post a description and photograph of a missing man on its bulletin boards.  This aided in finding the man.  Fraternal orders may be; used in the same way, though for many reasons they cannot be so helpful as the trades unions.

Employment agencies should not be forgotten in seeking to trace a man through his industrial record.  The extension of the federal employment service, with free inter-city communication, should be of assistance in getting upon the track of deserters.

The co-operation of newspapers can be secured to good effect in tracing missing men.