In short, you offered a premium for the encouragement of idleness, and you should not now wonder that it has had its effect in the increase of poverty. Repeal that law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. Saint Monday and Saint Tuesday will soon cease to be holidays. Six days shalt thou labor, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves then could done by dividing all your estates among them."
- Benjamin Franklin (1772)
BF is describing the failure of the welfare system to provide for people under the conditions of poverty. In this passage he underlines three conditions that create or infest poverty which being morality, redistribution of wealth, and dependency.
BF observed the relation between the amount of provisions, being law, that are in favor of the poor to the increasing amount of poverty; more laws there are to help the poor the more poor there will be. Laws to benefit the poor generally involve the redistribution of wealth which in reality is nothing more than the government stealing your property and giving it to the poor or for the poor to benefit from. If the governments creates a tax that the wealthy must pay then the wealthy will have that much less to invest into capital of a type of business. Possibly before the new tax code, our wealthy man was about to invest money into a farm business that was in desperate need of capital for a purchase of a new tractor. Say for a moment there was no new tax and our wealthy man invested into the farmers much need capital. The farmer, with his new tractor, was able to cut down his harvest twice as fast and as a result he doubled his production. Since the farmer was able to lower the cost of production we was able to sell more of his food and therefore lowering the price of food! This action would help the poor because food is now at a lower cost providing the poor to purchase food and having the chance to save some money!
To tired to discuss morality and dependency but you get the picture!