on Raymond of Columbus; Mrs.
Helen Glenn Tyson of Pittsburgh; Mr. Arthur Towne of Brooklyn; Mr. E.J.
Cooley, Mr. Charles Zunser, Mr. Hiram Myers, and Miss Mary B. Sayles of
New York. Many others not here mentioned were untiring in answering
questions and furnishing needed information.

MARY E. RICHMOND
_Editor of the Social Work Series_
NEW YORK, May, 1919.

CONTENTS

PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION 7
II. WHY DO MEN DESERT THEIR FAMILIES? 17
III. CHANGES OF EMPHASIS IN TREATMENT 50
IV. FINDING THE DESERTING HUSBAND 65
V. FURTHER ITEMS IN THE INVESTIGATION 91
VI. THE DETAILS OF TREATMENT 106
VII. THE DETAILS OF TREATMENT (_Continued_) 125
VIII. THE HOME-STAYING NON-SUPPORTER 149
IX. NEXT STEPS IN CORRECTIVE TREATMENT 164
X. NEXT STEPS IN PREVENTIVE TREATMENT 185
INDEX 201

BROKEN HOMES

I

INTRODUCTION

It has frequently been said that desertion is the poor man's divorce
but, like many epigrams, this one hardly stands the test of experience.
When examined closely it is neither illuminating nor, if the testimony
of social case workers can be accepted, is it true. It is true, of
course, that many of the causes of domestic infelicity which lead to
divorce among the well-to-do may bring about desertion among the less
fortunate, but the deserting man does not, as a rule, consider his
absences from home as anything so final and definite as divorce.

In a study of desertion made by the Philadelphia Society for Organizing
Charity in 1902,[1] it was found that 87 per cent of the men studied
had deserted more than once. The combined experience of social workers
goes to show that a comparatively small number of first deserters make
so complete a break in their marital relations that they are never heard
from again, and that an even smaller number actually start new families
elsewhere, although no statistical proof of this last statement is
available. One social worker of experience says that in her judgment
desertion, instead of being a poor man's divorce, comes nearer to being
a poor man's vacation.

A man who had always been a good husband and father was discharged
from hospital after a long and exhausting illness and returne