However, after the industrial revolution, people lived in towns and workers did not receive enough income to pay for all their needs. With every increase of income disparity the need for welfare increases. Very few people choose actively to live off welfare, but instead require welfare in order to subsist, or at least with some degree of comfort.
With due respect, you may be a bit misguided here. The industrial revolution created MORE wealth, for MORE people. The very reason peasants came in from the fields to the cities was because the dirty factory job, miserable though it may be, provided a higher standard of living than did the fields. If that were not true, why would anyone move in the first place?
Further, income disparity will always occur due to simple math. If a rich man and poor man both increase their wealth 10%, the "gap" will still grow. So what? Both are still better off, and indeed as the income disparity rises, you find that those at the bottom still tend to be improving their lot in life. Case in point: a poor family in America has a car, two TV's, refrigeration, running water, soap, food, and an Xbox.
Claiming that people "need" welfare is disingenuous, because you cannot define what "need" means. Not to mention that is a disturbing and immoral act to steal from one man in order to be generous to another. If you wish to help those who are less fortunate than you, please do so with your own money, or convince others voluntarily to help. Don't steal property and then pretend to be charitable with it...