in the Union where they exist they have been protested against by
organized groups of intelligent women. But their protests have been
received with apathy, and, in some instances, with contempt by
legislators. Only last year a determined fight was made by the women of
California for a law giving them equal guardianship of their children.
The women's bill was lost in the California Legislature, and lost by a
large majority.

What arguments did the California legislators use against the proposed
measure? Identically the same that were made in Massachusetts and New
York a quarter of a century ago. If women had the guardianship of their
children, would anything prevent them from taking the children and
leaving home? What would become of the sanctity of the home, with its
lawful head shorn of his paternal dignity? In California a husband is
head of the family in very fact, or at least a law of the State says so.

At one time the law which made the husband the head of the home
guaranteed to the family support by the husband. It does not do that
now. There are laws on the statute books of many States obliging the
wife to support her husband if he is disabled, and the children, if the
husband defaults. There are no laws compelling the husband to support
his wife. The husband is under an assumed obligation to support his
family, but there exists no means of forcing him to do his duty. Family
desertion has become one of the commonest and one of the most baffling
of modern social problems. Everybody is appalled by its prevalence, but
nobody seems to know what to do about it. The Legal Aid Society of New
York City reports about three new cases of family desertion for every
day in the year. Other agencies in other cities report a state of
affairs quite as serious.