The reformed Parliaments devoted themselves to certain long-
deferred and intensely practical reforms which were social and
economic in their nature, leaving the constitution alone for the
next twenty years. In these Parliaments and ministries for the
next forty years the Whig party usually had the upper hand. In
1834 Parliament revolutionized the system of public relief to the
needy which had existed for fifty years, to the extreme
demoralization of the poorer working-classes and the frustration
of really benevolent purpose. The old law had assumed that each
parish owed every native a living. A sliding scale was
accordingly provided by which, as the rate of wages declined, the
parish should pay to the workman enough to bring his receipts up
to the standard amount. Employers took advantage of this system
cut wages to a minimum, the parish making up the difference.
Another mischievous clause increased the pauper's dole in
proportion to the number of his children, with the direct result
of early and improvident marriages. To put it bluntly, children
were bred for the bounty. The number of persons receiving parish
aid was enormously increased. The self-respect of the poor was
destroyed, and the poor-rate became a burden of millions of
pounds annually upon the treasury. The act of 1834 put an end to
these abuses by restricting outdoor relief to the aged and
destitute, and requiring all other paupers to go to the union
workhouse. Within two years the poor-rate was diminished fully
one-third.