case workers believe in reciprocity and treat their neighbor’s problem as their own.  “We heard that a man we were interested in was in the vicinity of a certain city, and in the effort to trace him wrote to the charity organization society in that place, but without success.  Several months later the charity organization society saw an item in a newspaper to the effect that the man had been interned as an enemy alien, and notified us. (This shows no cleverness on our part, but good work by the other society.)”

FOOTNOTES: 

[17] The National Desertion Bureau, 356 Second Avenue, New York, acts in a legal advisory capacity to Jewish organizations in matters of domestic relations; it also seeks out Jewish family deserters, with a view to assuring their rehabilitation or, failing this, their punishment.

[18] C.C.  Carstens, Proceedings of the Fifth New York State Conference of Charities and Correction, 1904, p. 196.

[19] See p. 65, footnote.

[20] This paragraph was submitted to the two agencies which furnished the illustrations.  Their replies are in part as follows: 

Agency A.—­“Your criticism ... is purely theoretical and has no basis in fact.  The deserter is a knowing violator of the law, and while he does not welcome it, he regards his arrest as only a question of time.  He is playing the game of ‘hide and seek,’ and he is applying every trick and subterfuge to avoid detection.  He is not disturbed if he has been caught in a police trap.  Our experience has been that in such cases where he has tried to outwit the police, and the police finally have ‘beaten him to the game,’ he compliments his captor.  This is a common characteristic of the criminal, a sort of negative bravado, When the deserter is arrested, all he can hope for and expect is a fair deal.”

What are some concrete suggestions, developed from the experience of case workers, as to how to proceed in searching for deserting men?  A full and careful talk with the wife is the first requisite, supplemented by equally thorough interviews with any near relatives who can be reached.  The case worker should be familiar with the Questionnaire on the Deserted Family in Mary E. Richmond’s Social Diagnosis.  A description and if possible a photograph of the man should be procured.  Where several out-of-town clues are to be followed, copies of the photograph can be cheaply made, and at least one bureau for dealing with desertion cases makes this part of its routine procedure.

Agency B.—­“I have seen very few individuals in the course of my experience who could not be brought to see the right viewpoint if they were intelligently approached, even though the probation officer had considerable to do with their arrest.  It is in my opinion not altogether important what occurs before the man’s arrest but how he is treated after he comes within the jurisdiction of the probation officials.”