Damn unintended consequences! Gets you every time …
The author could also have mentioned the then-prevalent Malthusian doctrine that held that Ireland was inherently overcrowded, rather than overcrowded relative to the system of production they were forced to use. When Dickens has Scrooge say that the poor should hurry up and die, so as to lessen the surplus population, he is reflecting that ideology. The same sentiment was expressed frequently three years later in regard to Ireland, holding that the only real solution was to encourage most of the population to emigrate.
That reminds me a little bit of the water use controversy in central California. http://www.thebusinessjournal.com/agriculture/9412-palin-decries-water-restrictions-at-calif-college-
Damn unintended consequences! Gets you every time …
The author could also have mentioned the then-prevalent Malthusian doctrine that held that Ireland was inherently overcrowded, rather than overcrowded relative to the system of production they were forced to use. When Dickens has Scrooge say that the poor should hurry up and die, so as to lessen the surplus population, he is reflecting that ideology. The same sentiment was expressed frequently three years later in regard to Ireland, holding that the only real solution was to encourage most of the population to emigrate.