The notion that the individual was responsible for his poverty died hard among both private individuals and political leaders. As the nation seemed to move toward a permanent relief system, there was fear among politicians that such a system would create a permanent pool of people "on the dole". Relief had to be sufficiently adequate to substain the body but not so excessive as to destroy individual incentive. In times when jobs were scarce and relief carried a stigma, many attempted their own pitiful make-work projects, such as this group of men who tried to make a living peddling flowers on the streets of Vancouver. Unfortunately for them, street peddling without a licence (which they couldn't afford) was illegal. It also competed with "legitimate" permanent retail businesses. The cities, saddled with the unemployed, ironically found themselves forced to discourage individual efforts to create employment.
