In Swift's hilarious article about the practical benefits of eating poor children, he is actually highlighting the government's poor treatment of the lower class, and society's cold indifference towards the poor. Subliminally he is suggesting "Hey, noone is helping these poor families anyway, you might as well be eating their flesh!" So he wryly proposes just that: Eating the meat of underprivileged babies, and then using their skin to make boots! Needless to say, his suggestion was not serious. His dark, dry humor was ahead of it's time, in poking fun at the corruption and poverty that was thriving in his country at the time. In fact, that was the only thing thriving. In a twisted sense, his solution is logical. He shows that such action would not only feed families, but eliminate poverty and boost the economy! Our moral indignation towards such a prospect simply underlines Swift's real point. It's wrong to allow children to suffer, and ignore their struggling families. This sort of humor is continued today in the form of The Colbert Report, the Onion News Network, and other satirical mock-journalism. 
