SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading us notice such Books of the teak as ham net been reserved for moles in other forma The Manufacture of Paupers. (John Murray. 2s. 6d. net.)— Most of the twelve papers included in this volume first appeared in the Spectator. It will suffice, therefore, briefly to call attention to their publication in a collected form, and to summarise the contents. The special subjects dealt with are (1) the feeding of school-children; (2) outdoor relief and the old Poor Law ; (3) old-age pensions ; (4) the unemployed ; (5) shelters and refuges ; (6) the sumptuous workhouses and hospitals ; (7) sug- gestions for a better policy. One illustration of (6) the writer of this notice may supply out of his own experience. He dealt for some time with a Co-operative Society in a country town, largely patrouised by the artisan class. The home authorities objected that the articles "stocked" by the Society were not of the best quality. Accordingly he went back to a former source of supply. He thus had experience of two sets of prices, the Co-operative being distinctly lower than what may be called the shop prices. But the Poplar Inquiry brought out a third set considerably higher thsn the "shop." So there were three sets of prices, with qualities to correspond,—the highest was the work- house, for the consumption of the paupers ; the next was the "shop," for a middle-class household ; the lowest the Co-operative Store, for the artisan.
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