Before 1569 no effectual system of poor relief had been established, but many experiments had been made. At the beginning of the century a serious problem was before the Government. The social changes of the time had resulted in the formation of crowds of vagrants, and the greater complexity of economic conditions made the position of the workfolk more unstable. Even in ordinary times, therefore, the vagabonds were a constant plague to the peaceful citizen, and when corn was dear or work was slack the greater number of the inhabitants of particular districts, being without resources, joined in riots or rose in insurrections. There were then no Friendly Societies or workmen's clubs, and no casual wards or workhouses. Years of scarcity were therefore always times of disorder and the peace of the whole country was threatened. Assistance given by means of private charity, monasteries and hospitals failed to relieve the distress or to remedy the evil. Force was tried; thieves were hanged and vagabonds were whipped. But, even as early as 1515, Sir Thomas More saw that the root of the evil was much deeper, "Neither ther is any punishment so horrible, that it can kepe them from stealynge, which have no other craft, whereby to get their living[124]." [124] More's _Utopia_, p. 28. Pitt Press edition. Even before 1569 the statutes had appointed authorities both for the collection of funds and for the distribution of relief, and had made contributions to the poor compulsory. But, on the whole, the practice of London and certain other towns was in advance of the regulations of the statutes; the main feature of the period is the municipal organisation of poor relief. London in 1547 and Ipswich in 1557 had made regulations for levying compulsory payments for the poor, long before any statute had authorised the exaction of compulsory payments for this purpose. Nor is this the only matter in which the regulations of the towns seem to suggest the provisions of the statutes. Before the 22 Hen. VIII. had ordered vagabonds to be whipped at the cart's tail, London vagabonds had been so treated; before the 27 Hen. VIII. had ordered the collection of alms for the poor on Sunday by municipal and parochial authority, that method had been adopted in London. London, Cambridge, and Ipswich had, before 1569, built up an elaborate organisation for dealing with the poor, an organisation that seemed complete, but failed because it was municipal and not national. The history of the legislation of the time thus shows that the Tudor Poor Laws did not, like modern Factory Acts, initiate regulations never before enforced. On the contrary, the provisions of these statutes reveal the beginnings of the national system, following the same line of development as that which had already been reached by many particular towns. [Sidenote: 2. Advantages of the municipal system of relief.]