It is interesting to note that it was seriously considered whether the meals should not be supplied free for all children attending the schools. The Council, however, came to the conclusion that, "in freeing the parents of all responsibility with regard to their children, and in accustoming them to evade their duties, they would be running the risk of weakening the family spirit, to the great detriment of the morality both of the children and of the parents."[588] It was, therefore, decided that free provision should be limited to necessitous children. At the same time it would be difficult to exclude children who were willing to pay for their meals, hence provision should be made for these too. Footnote 588: "Organisation des Cantines Scolaires a Paris," a manifold manuscript report issued by the Direction de l'Enseignement primaire, 3me bureau, 1912. The voluntary subscriptions which had supported the work before 1880 continued in theory to be the chief resource of the new _Cantines Scolaires_. These voluntary subscriptions rapidly decreased, being either withdrawn altogether or diverted to the other objects of the _Caisses_. At the same time both the number of meals provided and the proportion of free meals increased no less markedly. In 1880, the first year in which meals were provided under the new system, only 33 per cent. of the meals were supplied free (the remainder being paid for by the parents); in 1898 this proportion had nearly doubled, being 63 per cent. The municipal subsidy rose correspondingly, and in 1899 amounted to 1,017,000 francs. The Council took fright and appointed a Commission to consider the question, with the result that the grant was restricted to 1,000,000 francs.[589] This limit has been fairly strictly adhered to, for the grant amounts now to only 1,050,000 francs, though the proportion of free meals has continued slowly to increase.[590] Footnote 589: "The Cantines Scolaires of Paris," by Sir Charles Elliott, in the _Nineteenth Century_, May, 1906, pp. 835-6. Footnote 590: According to the latest figures 70 per cent. of the children for whom meals are provided receive them free.