impossible to say, and the experience of Europe is beside the mark. The
war will leave traces on this generation--no doubt about that; but our
losses have not been heavy enough seriously to disturb the balance of
the sexes. The war, which has been to the common people of our country a
war of service and ideals, has erased much that was petty and selfish;
it has also caused nervous shocks and strains incalculable and
unimagined. Years from now we may be able to strike the balance, but
today this cannot be done. It is impossible also to say whether the
growing irresponsibility that was generally recognized to be
threatening married life in the years before the war is still operating
with like effect, or whether the full tide of emotion in which the world
has been lately submerged may have swept at least a part of it away.

We are dealing here, however, not so much with modifications in the
spirit of the times, as with prevention in the individual case.

One very fundamental claim can be made concerning marital shipwrecks;
namely, that the way to prevent many of them would have been to see that
the marriage never was allowed to take place. Marriage laws and their
enforcement form a whole subject in themselves which is now receiving
careful study, the results of which should be available shortly.[52]
This fact precludes any discussion of the subject here, though the
relation of our marriage laws to marital discord is so obvious that some
mention of the matter is necessary.

It was formerly the belief of students of family desertion that the
best way to prevent desertions was to punish them quickly and severely.
It should be said that this plan has never received a fair trial on a
large scale, for legal equipment has always lagged behind knowledge. It
may be true that just as a community can, within limits, regulate its