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350 the remedy of whatever abuses exist, and the inauguration of a well-organized administration; but in furnishing the instrument of this administration with the most successful modes of management; in studying and making known new methods, especially in the sphere of insanity and of disease, as well as of the protection of children; and in general in elevating poor-relief and charity to a higher stage. And as the bounds between public relief and private charity have never been completely defined, there enters, side by side with the activity of the government, a very active private propaganda waged by the great charitable societies, and also by societies confined to the several departments of charitable effort. Here belong the English Poor Law Conferences—an annual assembly of those who administer public relief, to take council on all questions to which poor-relief gives rise; and also the "Congrès national d'assistance publique et de bienfaisance privée" in France, and the "Congresso di beneficenza " in Italy. In Germany it is the German Association for Poor-Relief and Charity which, during its twenty-five years of existence, has in the most thorough manner discussed all questions that appertain here, and has exercised an extraordinary influence on state legislation, on the control of poor-relief in the cities, and on the development of private charity. In the United States, the National Conference of Charities and Correction and the State Conferences possess an equal importance. Very real service is also rendered by the Charity Organization Societies and the State Charities Aid Association. International congresses for poor-relief and charity have been repeatedly held, for the most part in connection with the world's expositions, such as in 1856 in Brussels, in 1857 in Frankfort on the Main, in 1862 in London, in 1889 and 1900 in Paris, etc. At the international congress held in Paris in 1900 it was decided, through the appointment of a standing committee, that an international congress should be convoked at intervals of five years. The next will take place in Milan in 1905.

In this connection there is still one point that deserves attention. The distinction between public and private poor-relief rests on the fact that the one is regulated by law, and the expense,