The British government's abandonment of the laissez-faire approach was instigated by a number of reasons which led to this transformation in attitude. Laissez-faire translates from French to mean "let it be" or in English terminology to "leave alone". In practice, this perspective meant that the government did not interfere either positively or negatively in people's lives. The belief was that if a person was impoverished he was responsible for it and it was due to his personal mistake, for example gambling, alcoholism, idleness or simply his inability to manage his finances. If the main wage earner in a family died, it would cause extreme poverty for the family. This was seen as an inevitable but unfortunate part of society by the upper classes. In the late 20th century the government (under the Liberals) was believed to have two roles: to maintain law and order and to prevent the invasion of Britain. There were no child benefits, pensions or unemployment benefits available, which meant that, once in poverty, it was the individual's responsibility to get out of the situation without government help. This however changed, through the reforms of the Liberal government which was heavily influenced by the polls conducted by Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree, the Boer War and the shocking vision of working class health which provided, from the attitudes of the 'new' Liberals, 'national efficiency ', the German model and the rise of the Labor Party. The inadequacy of the Poor Law was made clear by the options the poor chose to pursue. Under the Poor Law, when a person became destitute they had to go to the "poorhouse", a place that offered food and shelter but the "collectivist" approach was used instead. The shocking health problems raised by the Boer War and medical checks in schools demonstrated that social reform was evidently necessary to maintain national efficiency. The investigations carried out clearly indicated that the problem of poverty would not be solved on its own and that action was necessary. As the electorate grew, the working classes were more influential than they had been in the past and so political parties were forced to try to accommodate their needs. The Labor Party would be the obvious choice for the working classes, and the Liberals and Conservatives knew they had to change their strategies to gain favor with that class. The liberal reforms of the early 20th century marked a turning point for social reform. In the end, it was all these reasons that the laissez-faire attitude was abandoned.