"THE SLIPPERY SLOPE"
The principle of "acceleration" has been referred to in a former chapter. The expression used by Dr Chalmers hardly requires explanation, but it may be well to cite his own words: " Every known charity for the relief of indigence," he says, "multiplies its objects … it tells, and with great practical certainty, upon all their habits of indulgence and expense … and hence it is that a public charity necessarily creates more poverty than it provides for; that a feeling of pressure or deficiency haunts every footstep of its operations; and that the evil which it tries to overtake swells and magnifies upon all its advances." This is only to say that the forces that make for public relief acquire additional momentum as they travel. The principle has been illustrated historically: it may be well to trace its effects in our present social economy.
And first with regard to expenditure, though this is by no means the most important aspect of the question. If the social question could be solved by public expenditure no one would ever wish to economise, but otherwise we can only view with great alarm the enormous increase in recent years. A quarter of a century ago the total public expenditure for relief of all kinds was about eight millions; it is now approximately thirty millions. Relief under the Poor Law has nearly
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