|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 15
The flexibility of method and the readiness to see and utilize new
resources which are displayed in the foregoing account are great assets
to the one who must institute search for a missing husband and father.
The thing that sets desertion cases apart in a class of peculiar
technical difficulty for the case worker is not simply that the man is
away from his family. There is no man to deal with in a widow's family,
but widows' families present comparatively simple problems. The
deserter, though absent, is still not only a potential but also a real
factor in the family situation. The plans of the family are often made
with one eye to his return; he is the unseen but plainly felt obstacle
to much that the social worker wants to accomplish. The children look
forward to his reappearance with dread or with joy (for many deserters
have a way with them, decidedly, and are welcome visitors to their
children). In short, he is usually at the key point in the situation. No
plan can safely be made that leaves him out, but--there's the rub!--you
cannot include him at once for he is not to be reached, certainly not at
the outset. The discovery of the deserter's whereabouts is not only the
first but the most urgent of the problems that confront the worker who
tries to deal with a deserted family. Unless he can be found the whole
plan rests upon shifting sand.
A prompt and vigorous effort to find the absentee is therefore a first
requisite in dealing with family desertion. Unfortunately, many case
workers, having started bravely and exhausted the first crop of clues,
become discouraged and fall back on the supposition that the man is
permanently out of the scene, and that it only remains to make plans for
the family. Numberless case histories attest the unwisdom of this
assumption. It is not making an extreme statement to say that, as long
as the family remains under active care or until the missing man is
proved to be dead, the effort to find him should not be abandoned. Mr.
Carstens, in discussing this point, says:
To carry on this search persistently is the great safeguard. It is
rare when in the course of a few months the true state of affairs
will not have been revealed, though it may have been quite hidden at
the start.[18]
This is not to say that time must be spent unprofitably in going over
the same ground, or that out-of-town agencies must be badgered to
reinvestigate old clues. But the frame of mind that pigeonholes the
whole matter as having been attended to must be shunned by the social
worker, who should be always on the alert for new clues and prompt to
follow them up. An example of a vigorous and persistent search for a
deserter is taken from the files of the National Desertion Bureau.[19]
Adolph R. deserted his wife and their six little children on
September 1, 1912. He was traced to Philadelphia, but had left there
the day before the tidings reached New York. Information was
obtained from fellow-employes which led to the belief that he had
gone to Tampa, Florida. Inquiry was directed to the rabbi in that
city, but again the information was disheartening, since it
disclosed the fact that once more R. had "left the day before." The
rabbi telegraphed that the deserter had evidently gone to Lakewood,
Florida, and that he could be found in that place. Immediately the
Bureau dispatched a telegram to its representative there, only to
find that R. had merely passed through Lakewood en route to Bartow,
Florida. When the inquiry reached Bartow it was learned that R. had
left a few days before, and that he was on his way to Memphis,
Tennessee. The Jewish Charities of Memphis made investigation at the
cigar factories of that city, but reported that no person bearing
the name of R. or resembling him had been seen in their city. No
further clue to his whereabouts could be secured.
Months later R. applied to the Jewish Charities of Louisville for
transportation to New York, making an entirely false statement about
his family.
This statement was telegraphed to the Bureau and no time was lost in
securing a warrant. Louisville was notified by wire to arrest, but
again a telegram came: "Adolph R. left city. Learned from
Cigarmakers' Union headquarters he went to Cincinnati. Wire Joe
Rapp, 1316 Walnut Street, Cincinnati Union Headquarters. Man said he
was going to Cincinnati or Indianapolis. Man joined union Richmond,
Va., November 19, 1911, and reports to union in all cities." The
Desertion Bureau immediately telegraphed to Cincinnati and
Indianapolis. The United Jewish Charities of Cincinnati working
together with the labor union lost little time in effecting his
arrest.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|