ABSTRACT
Some individuals had taken advantage of the institution and had come to depend more on charity than on their own efforts; thus the bureaux had, in some measure, contributed to the perpetuation of the problem rather than to its removal. Steps were taken to prevent ne'er-do-wells from being a charge on society, and those unable to fend for themselves through no fault of their own were afforded some measure of security. From the establishment of Royal government in New France in 1663 until the Conquest in 1760 the basic premise, not merely of royal policy but of all the social institutions—indeed the basic premise upon which society in New France rested—was individual and collective responsibility for the needs of all. When, in 1691, the Intendant Champigny advocated the abandonment of price regulation, claiming that only freedom from restraint could create abundance and with it lower prices,3 Louis XIV and the people of New France overruled him.
