- 著者
-
関 源太郎
- 出版者
- The Japanese Society for the History of Economic Thought
- 雑誌
- 経済学史学会年報 (ISSN:04534786)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.42, no.42, pp.32-45, 2002 (Released:2010-08-05)
- 参考文献数
- 24
Between the late 18th and the early 19th century, the Scottish Society experienced rapid industrialization and urbanization which caused various kinds of urban problems. Glasgow, especially, was notorious as “the unhealthiest city in Britain”. Moreover, since the poor relief system of Glasgow was increasingly burdened by the increase of costs and prices due to the Napoleonic wars, economic distress and epidemic, it was seriously complained of. In 1819, Thomas Chalmers was appointed minister of St. John's in Glasgow and attempted, as the Evangelical clergy, a new experiment in poor relief. Most scholars have regarded the experiment as less than successful. Though their evaluations still have some validity, this paper is concerned with Chalmers' intention regarding poor relief in terms of theory and thought as well as practice. It will clarify the historical significance of Chalmers' views of poor relief through examination of the relation of his experiment to his theory and thought.Chalmers criticized the poor relief program of Glasgow for being complicated, and having a physical and mental distance between the recipients and the providers of relief. Thus he built up at his parish a poor relief system which was structurally and financially independent of any other organization. He expected that poor relief should be provided by the parish itself, and the morality of the poor be improved. Meanwhile, he identified the final cause of poverty as a tendency for a population to increase beyond the natural limit of food production. He pointed out that there were two sorts of measures to solve this problem: “an external remedy” and “an internal remedy.” He went on to assert that the former, for instance, a home colonization and an increase in the productivity of manufacturers, would be useless without the latter. “An internal remedy” meant that laborers should contemplate the futures of their families and defer marriage by excising their “prudence and principles from within.” At the same time he explained that whether labor wages were high or low would depend on labor supply which depended on the laborers' decision in turn. Thus he concluded that poor relief ultimately depended on the laborers' behavior. We can understand that the conclusion as such was interrelated with his experiment.Chalmers' theory, thought and practice were agreeable to the landlords who demanded the reduction of their burden of the poor relief and to the New Whigs who claimed the complete protection of property. However, his original intention consisted in the argument that the laborers had to transform themselves into the adequate actors in order to survive in the new industrial and urban society.