No more arduous and unpleasant task has been faced with
greater ability and success. They found a union bankrupt and demoralized ; the wilful idlers set on a level with the genuine unemployed, and both encouraged to prefer a parasitic life to self-support. Every honest and self-respecting worker was discouraged. The " lesser eligibility " of a life of dependence was a principle flouted by the former elected guardians, with the results known to every student of the Poor Law. The productive industries of the union were leaving it, unable to exist where rates strangled them. The district was " gliding down stream and cutting its throat," living on borrowed money, with no prospect of repayment and a dwindling prospect of being able to borrow more.. On the very brink of chaos the " appointed " guardians saved it economically and industrially, and, above all, they brought back self-respect when demoralization was rapidly becoming complete.
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