In A Christmas Carol, if the children, Ignorance and Want, belong to man, why do they cling to the Ghost of Christmas Present?

The
children of mankind, Ignorance and Want, are recent symptoms of the human condition and the
impoverished and ignorant economic society that had been recently created. Because of this, they
clung to the Ghost of the Present, as they lived in the present and were burgeoning in society
at that time.

Dickens is making a criticism of society and Scrooge (and
people like Scrooge) that the greed and pursuit of money have left others in squalid poverty in
recent years and that it has spread ignorance and a lack of education both in themselves and in
society at large. While Ignorance and Want have always been present and some of the worst
aspects of humanity, Dickens is saying that in the present, they are worse than they have ever
been.