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."

[21] See p. 69.

V

FURTHER ITEMS IN THE INVESTIGATION

It is evident that the need of finding the man strongly influences the
course of this type of investigation, especially in the early stages.
Are there other considerations, however, that modify the technique of
inquiry into these desertion cases?

There is one crisis in the lives of deserted families which is not
duplicated in the history of any other group suffering from social
disability. This crisis is the period of the first desertion. "If we
could learn what preceded and what immediately followed the first
desertion, we should know much more than we do now about how to deal
with the problem," said a case worker who has studied many court
records.

The _number_ of subsequent desertions may be both interesting and
significant, but the circumstances attending them are not nearly so well
worth study as are those connected with the critical first break. We
should go back to that spot and probe for causes. The common practice of
recording carefully what led up to a chronic deserter's last desertion
before his family applied, and of passing over his earlier desertions
with a mere mention of their number and dates, puts the emphasis in the
wrong place.

We must, however, go further back than the first desertion for a working
fund of knowledge. The importance of knowing what were the influences
surrounding the man and woman in childhood and youth has already been
dwelt upon and is so generally conceded as to need no elaboration here.
Of especial value also is careful inquiry into the period of courtship,
the circumstances of the marriage, and the history of the earlier
married life. "We should seek to know what first drew them together, as
well as what forced them apart," said a thoughtful district secretary.
The notorious unhappiness of "forced marriages" leads case workers to
scrutinize the relation between the date of marriage and the date of
the birth of the first child. It should be remembered, however, that not
all marriages which are entered into during pregnancy are forced
marriages. Studies of forced marriages, so-called, have not always