standards, -- these great social institutions I would not
overthrow if I could. No revolutionists could overthrow
them if they would. When I seek, with absolute frank-
ness, and a very earnest desire to see things as they are, the
causes of misery here in the city of New York, I have no
more intention of challenging the basis of our society, of
our industry, of our civilization, than the physician in-
tends to challenge the laws of anatomy and physiology
when he looks upon disease. I seek but to express vividly
and concretely, as we social workers find them, the condi-
tions which appear to us naturally and inevitably favor-
able to the perpetuation and increase of human misery.
If there shall emerge from the gloomy picture the brighter
outlines of a social programme that satisfies our sense
of justice, so much the better.

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