‘Human beings should help one another, and the more so in proportion to the urgency of the need,’ he said. ‘None needs help so urgently as one who is starving.’ This required a kind of embryonic welfare state – the provision of government help to those in genuine need. It was not to be too generous, or else people would lose their initiative to work. Recipients should not get as much as they would by having a job. But they had to receive enough to cover essential costs.
