What is Scrooge's attitude towards having a responsibility to the poor in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens?

When two
gentlemen stop at Scrooge's offices early in Stave I of , one of them asks
Scrooge to make "some slight provision" for the "poor and destitute, who suffer
greatly at the present time." He adds there are thousands who are in need of just the
common comforts.

Scrooge gruffly asks the man if there are not any prisons,
or workhouses, and he is told that there are. Then Scrooge inquires if the Treadmill and the
Poor Law are yet in effect. Now, the two gentlemen begin to understand the innuendos of Scrooge,
so they tell him that those places do not furnish Christian cheer. They wish to buy some
meat...