factory and arrangements could be made to have her dismissed in the care of any one whom he would designate. At the end of a week the patient was dismissed in the care of a woman who had consented to room and board her, the old friend agreeing to supply the funds. This is probably only a temporary arrangement, but the fact is established that she is physically and mentally unable to be selfsupporting and it may be reasonably expected that no further effort will be made in that direction in a community having a well organized confidential exchange. DANGER TO SELF OR COMMUNITY This case was referred to us by a legal society whose representative stated over the telephone that a patient was in their office much excited, declaring he could not hold a position because wherever he worked his enemies followed him and made his employers discharge him; that recently he had been in the Bridewell, having been sent there through the work of his enemies and no fault of his own. This patient reported at our office and proved to be an Egyptian, 30 years old, who had been in the United States eight years and who had for some years followed the occupation of ship steward or house man. He was able to make himself understood in many languages but unable to read or write, had never attended school and had no relatives in this country. He thought one sister still lived in Paris but had not heard from her for years. All of his other immediate relatives were dead, one brother having been killed in the Boer war. He had been naturalized while living in New York, had held positions in different cities of the United States and had apparently never stayed a great while in any one position but had been more than one year in Illinois. As he was out of a position and needed work, he was emp oyed as janitor in our office while an investigation of his statements was being made. He was found to be a very good worker but inclined to be sullen and easily offended. The fact was brought out that he had been employed in one family in Chicago for six months. Numerous statements which he made in regard to this family were found to be without foundation, and as he was persuaded to talk more freely of his troubles it was discovered that he felt this family, particularly the mistress of the household, was responsible for all of his difficulties, and that he had made up his mind that it would be necessary to take her life if he was to have any more peace of mind. With these facts established he was examined by a specialist who issued a certificate for his commitment to the psychopathic hospital where he was persuaded to go by one of our field workers. Later he was committed to a state hospital for the insane, where he is now under care and treatment. AFTER CARE This was a young woman, 37 years of age, born in the United States, who had a high school education. Her history was one of considerable instability during her childhood and early womanhood and she was committed to the state hospital in maniac state. Paroled during the first year of hospital residence, she was returned within a few weeks in a highly excited condition and had been in the hospital ten years with no history of any mental abnormality after the first year. She was very agreeable, anxious to be helpful and did excellent needle work. Her relatives were persuaded to give her a trial outside of the institution when given assurance that they could have the help of a specially trained social worker. She was furnished employment in needle work and later was given training in certain special classes in work for which she seemed to have a liking. At first frequent visits were made to both relatives and patient in order to reassure them. The patient has had no recurrence of her mental difficulty and has been self-supporting for the past six years except during two very severe physical illnesses during which time she was cared for in a general hospital. Both relatives and patient have relied for advice upon the social service worker. Case work in mental hygiene, then, is of benefit to the individual and, in coöperation with other agencies, to the family and to the community. But it has another and even more far-reaching function-for the records honestly made with proper regard for "the value of evidence" are an important contribution to the research worker in the mental field where so much still remains to be ascertained as to the causes of certain forms of mental disease and methods for prevention. THE FATHERLESS FAMILY BY HELEN GLENN TYSON, State Supervisor, Mother's Assistance Fund of Pennsylvania. Before the movement for mothers' pension legislation spread over the United States after 1911, there were two general forms of I administering relief to fatherless families. The first was through A private agencies, many of which have for more than a decade realized that the only constructive solution of the poverty problem presented by the fatherless family is a regular allowance on which the widow can depend to free her from worry and overwork and enable her to give her children real home care. The other form of administering aid was through the public agency for outdoor relief. Under B the old Poor Laws, meager allowances had always been granted to widows, but never on any adequate basis; nor had the public officials administering this relief formulated any policies as to standards of family life to be required in the families aided, nor defined the quality of service to the children that could reasonably be demanded from the mother. While a few states have developed their mothers' pensions system simply through an extension and re-interpretation of the old outdoor relief laws, the general form of the new public administration of relief has been through the courts. This seemingly chance development was probably due to the fact that in a number of states the courts still have jurisdiction over dependent children and that one of the best-known Juvenile Court judges in the country was the first to make an effort to have the jurisdiction of this court extended over such dependent families. Then, too, there was the greatest distrust and dissatisfaction with the old outdoor relief agencies among those interested in public welfare, and it seemed to be the easiest solution to divorce them entirely from the new administration of this form of aid. The states that have recently passed mothers' pension legislation, however, have realized how unsatisfactory administration of relief through the court is apt to be, and recent mothers' pension laws-notably those of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey-have created an en tirely new piece of administrative machinery based on the plan of county organization, but with state supervision or control. These efforts to separate this group of dependent families for special treatment reveal a new realization that the community as a whole is largely to blame for the ills that afflict individuals, and a growing conviction that from the point of view of self-interest alone, the state must assume greater responsibility for the welfare of its children. In 1909 the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws of England recommended unanimously that the old poor law machinery be abandoned and a new public assistance authority be created. This year, 1918, in the midst of England's most costly war, this plan has been actually carried out and the new plan comprehends all forms of relief and special provision for dependents and defectives.1 Our new Mothers' Assistance legislation, haphazard and unstandardized though these efforts to meet the needs of fatherless families through public action have seemed, has nevertheless these significant effects: definite opportunity is offered to the state to discover the causes of the untimely deaths of the fathers, at the very time of their greatest usefulness to society, industry and the family; also, the chance is given to estimate the cost to the state of preventable deaths of the breadwinner and the loss entailed by the subsequent dependency of the helpless family.2 With these facts" as a basis for further action mothers' pension legislation should soon be taken over as an integral part of the larger and more constructive plan for social insurance. Yet even under such a system of state organization a certain number of young fathers will continue to die untimely deaths, leaving their families unprotected by any form of insurance and in need of organized assistance. When the average individual hears the term "widow" if he does not think of the fictitious person named to obstruct any economic reform, there instantly flashes into his mind a type picture of the "poor widow" of sentimentalism: a frail, hard-working devoted 1 Bruno Lasker, "The Death Blow to England's Poor Law," The Survey, Feb. 23, 1918, pp. 563-564. 2 Report of Special Inquiry Relative to Dependent Families in Massachusetts Receiving Mothers' Aid, 1913-17, Senate No. 244, pp. 77-141. Final section of report on work of Mother's Assistance Fund in Pennsylvania, pamphlet of State Board of Education, in press. See also, Commons, J. R., and Andrews, J. B., "Principles of Labor Legislation," pp. 406-409. mother, bending over a wash-tub and surrounded by a large group of hungry children. While there are no more innocent and pitiful sufferers from our unorganized social system than the widow and orphan, social workers know that there are as many kinds of widows as there are kinds of women. At one end of the line is the capable mother who will make any sacrifice to keep her children with her and rear them in decency and comfort; at the other, the weak or vicious b woman who will exploit, neglect or abandon her children on the slightest pretext. For the purposes of this paper the family with adequate financial resources is not considered; nor is the one where deterioration in the values of family life (whether due to environmental causes or individual defect) has compelled the breaking up of the family to save the individuals that compose it. The following discussion is limited to those fatherless families, where, with adequate income, the children bid fair to become normal useful citizens under their mother's care. a Whether relief to a fatherless family is administered through a public or a private medium, there are certain prerequisites of as- 2 sistance which all agencies endeavoring to follow modern methods of social service have established. Investigation should not stopas all too frequently in the past,-with the proof of the fact and a degree of need of the family, A full consideration of the financial & resources available in the way of help from relatives, property or money owned by the widow, her own or her children's ability to contribute without harm to the support of the family is of course essential. But the value of the family life measured through a con- C sideration of the mother's mental, moral, and physical fitness, to bring up her children must also be determined by investigation. Assistance should not be given in families where the mother is mentally unsound or defective, morally weak, or physically unable to give the children decent home care. Finally, investigation should show the basis of a plan for the future welfare of the family After the decision to grant assistance is made, the social case treatment of the family should be organized about this plan. In any family the elements of normal life are disrupted by the 3 death of the breadwinner. His loss is more than the loss of a pay а envelope. At this stage of the social and economic development of woman the removal of the father of the family is apt to have a |