Quotation of the Day…

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… is from pages 70-71 of Francis W. Hirst‘s 1927 book, Safeguarding and Protection:

There is no more alarming symptom in modern politics than the tendency of party leaders to bid against one another in the distribution of public favours, and of Ministers to use public funds for the distribution of bounties and favours to sectional interests. In these policies we sometimes see the unscrupulous demagogue seeking to catch votes, or to obtain contributions to a party fund. Sometimes this sort of philanthropy comes from those feelings of pity or charity which draw pennies from our pocket when we encounter the sturdy beggar or the persistent organ-grinder. Unfortunately, while private charity comes in pennies from the private pocket, the public charity of our openhanded, free and easy ministers flows in millions of pounds sterling from the public purse, and is reflected in heavy additions to taxation, in a rise of prices, and in a depreciation of the public credit.