Preparation for the establishment of COS:

The first of these prospectus is headed, "Society for the Prevention of Pauperism and Crime"; but in a circular issued in November 1868 the name has been changed to "The London Association for the Prevention of Pauperism and Crime". It enclosed a "Prospectus of the above Association, formed by the Committee appointed in Jun last at a meeting presided over by the Lord Bishop of London", stating that it was prepared by the following gentlemen: Geroge Parker Bidder, Major-General Cavenagh, Sir Walter Crofton, Francis Fuller, Septimus Hansard, James McClelland, D.Manning, B.M.Reichel, John Ruskin, H, Sollu, Captain Wake. The next five months were occupied in developing the policy which the society finally adopted.

Multipulicity and vagueness of the schemes:
[Dr.Stallar to Solly]: I wish I approve of No.2 [of the prospectuses]. It seems to me to propose to meddle with almost everything withoug the possibility of altering their course. You propose a new Social Science Association, and none of the people in Paragraph 2 will submit to any social authority whatever. Nobody wants to find employment for the labourers and nobody will. Are there not already hundreds of schools for education---all your projects are being urged by the Social Science Association. Lastly, donations and subscriptions are about the last thing wanted---the main thing being real workers and accumulated facts [SW: 19].
[HB]: Some of the members had been attracted mainly by a scheme for reforming the rough and criminal classes by getting them to work on waste lands; and one of the earliest prospectus is headed, Waste Labour and Waste Land. These members gradually fell away as the more practical members began to make their view predominate that they should confine themselves to what we may call the charity organisation side of the movement.
[Solly to the Council, 30 November]: [...] The one is an enterprise requiring large capital for the employment of labour on land; the other is an attempt to organise, simulate, and guide benevolent efforts. How is it possible to amalgamate the two?
["Land and Labour Party"]: the party attempted to capture the society, and on Dec. 8th it was actually determined that the attention of the Council should in the first be devoted to the establishment of an industrial farm for 300 boys in Surrey. But it was resolved on Dec 18th to confine the work of the association entirely to bringing influence to bear upon other societies. It was on this date also that the society took the name of "The Association for the Prevention of Pauperism and Crime in the Metropolis" [SW: 20].