The rising pressure by the local poor law authorities to limit expenditure on the old was paralleled from the 1870s by a growing tide of opinion favouring a national system of pensions to deal more generously and comprehensively with the problem of old age poverty. Opponents of state pensions advocated self-help and pointed to the disincentive effects of state nannying; supporters suggested that a national pension system would be more likely to encourage thrift if pensions were given widely and without the penalties associated with the poor law. There was some division among supporters on whether national pensions should be contributory like Bismarck's scheme in Germany or financed from general taxation. Gradually the supporters of state pensions gained political ground. Middleclass social reformers pointed to the extent of poverty in old age shown by social surveys, and politicians were increasingly conscious of the potential popularity of a more humane system of pensioning among the working classes. The labour movement, initially hesitant about old age pensions, switched to supporting them by the first decade of the twentieth century, and this may have been one factor propelling the Liberal government of 1906 toward a national scheme.