Excerpt from Methods of Social Reform: Essays Critical and Constructive The State of the Poor has now established itself as a permanent controversy, and, before long, it may be thrust into the fore-front of practical politics. This consideration will, it is hoped, warrant the author in his desire to reissue, at the present time, and in book form, a selection from the contributions which he has made, during the last few years, to this vexed and important inquiry. Some of the papers contained in this volume were originally delivered as addresses at Poor Law Conferences, or at gatherings of a kindred nature. Others have been reprinted from the reviews in which they originally appeared. The paper on Poor Law Reform and that on Free versus Collective Bargaining are now printed for the first time. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.