Chapter III: Section 26: The main principle to be observed everywhere in (2)

The following passage, at the conclusion of M. Meyen’s report, gives a short summary of the poor laws of Mecklenburg: (p. 424.)

Every inhabitant is obliged to pay certain poor rates, with
the exception of military men, up to a certain rank, students,
clerks in counting-houses and shops, assistant artisans and
servants.

When the crown lands are let, there is always a clause in the
contract, to regulate what the farmer, the dairy farmer, the
smith and the shepherd, are to give. A day labourer pays 8_d._
yearly.

The inhabitants of higher situation and public officers pay
voluntarily. They ought to pay one per cent. of their income.
If any one pays too little, the overseers of the poor rates
can oblige him to pay more. The overseers are chosen by the
inhabitants of the district.

In the towns all inhabitants pay a voluntary subscription; it
ought to be one per cent. of their income. If they pay too
little, the overseers can demand more. The overseers are chosen
by the magistrate.

With respect to estates belonging to private individuals, the
subsistence of the poor falls entirely to the charge of the
proprietor, who is entitled to levy a trifling tax from all
the inhabitants of the estate, equal to a simple contribution
amounting to 8_d._ for a day labourer per annum, and 4_d._ for
a maid servant. Few proprietors, however, levy such a tax.

Every one has a legal claim to assistance, and there are to be
distinguished,

1st. Able-bodied persons. Work and a dwelling _must_ be
provided for them; the former at the usual rate, in order not
to render them quite destitute, if through chicane work should
be denied to them.

2d. People, impotent through age, must perform such work as
they are capable of, and so much must be given to them that
they can live upon it, besides a dwelling and fuel.

PRUSSIA.

There is some difficulty in reconciling Mr. Abercrombie’s report and Mr. Gibsone’s. The following is Mr. Abercrombie’s statement: (pp. 425, 426.)

Throughout the whole kingdom of Prussia, the funds for the
maintenance and support of the poor are raised from private
charity. No law exists enabling either the government of the
country, or the subordinate provincial regencies, to raise
funds explicitly appropriated for the provision of the poor,
and it is only when private charity does not suffice for the
exigencies of the moment, that the government, or the regency,
advance money for that purpose. But to enable them to do so,
the amount must be taken from those funds which had been
destined for other purposes, such as, for improvements in
paving, lighting, or for the public buildings of a town, or for
the construction of roads, or other public works.

In Prussia, each town, and each commune, is obliged to take
charge of the poor that may happen to reside within them; and
consequently there is no passing from one parish to another, or
refusal to maintain an individual because he belongs to another
parish.

In each town there is a deputation (called armen-direction)
or society for the poor, who undertake the collection and
distribution of funds raised by charity. In small towns, of
under 3,500 inhabitants, exclusive of military, this society is
composed of the burgomaster, together with the town deputies
(forming the town senate) and burghers chosen from the various
quarters of the town.

In large and middle-sized towns, including from 3,500 to 10,000
inhabitants, exclusive of military, to the afore-mentioned
individuals is always added the syndic (or town accomptant),
and if necessary, another magistrate. Clergymen and doctors
are likewise included in the society; and where the police of
the place has a separate jurisdiction from the magistrate, the
president of the police has always a seat as a member of the
society.

Under this armen-direction the care of the poor is confided
to different sub-committees formed of the burghers, and for
this purpose the town is divided into poor districts (or
armenbezirke). In small and middle-sized towns, these districts
are again divided into sub-districts, containing not above
1,000, or less than 400 souls. In large towns the sub-districts
are to comprise not above 1,500, or less than 1,000 souls; and
in these last towns several sub-districts may, if requisite, be
united into one poor district or armenbezirke.

From each armenbezirke must be elected one or more of the
town deputies, or burghers, according to necessity, for the
management of the affairs of the poor; and it is also required
that at least one of those elected should be a member of
the society for the poor (or armen-direction), and these
individuals are required to find out and verify the condition
of the poor of their own district.

The direction of the affairs of the poor is therefore, as thus
established, confided entirely to the burghers of the town,
and the provision of the funds rests upon the charity and
benevolence of the inhabitants.

As regards hospitals and public charities, one or more of the
members of the armen-direction undertake to watch that the
funds are expended according to the provisions made by the
founders.

In the villages, the direction of the funds for the poor is
confided to the mayor (or schûltze), assisted by individuals
chosen for that purpose from amongst the principal inhabitants
of the commune.

This body is accountable to the councillor of the district (or
land rath), who is in like manner under the jurisdiction of the
provincial regency, and the whole is under the inspection of
the 1st section of the home department.

I have now specified the authorities who control the
maintenance for the poor, and who are likewise charged with the
care of administering to their wants.

_As regards the manner of obtaining the necessary funds,
everything is done by donations and private charity. Each house
proprietor, each inhabitant of a floor or apartment, is in his
turn visited by some of the members of the sub-committee of
the armenbezirke, who, in return for the donation, deliver a
receipt for the amount._

_The donations from residents are generally monthly, and vary
in amount according to the number of individuals in the family,
or to the feelings of generosity of the donor. No rate or
calculated fixed table exists, regulating the sum to be given
by each individual or head of a family._

Each town being governed by its own particular laws and customs
with regard to the management of its poor, and each from
accidental circumstances differing from its neighbour, it is
impossible to particularize any other general principle that
is followed, than the establishments of the armen-direction,
and of the sub-committees; which detailed information I have
extracted as above from the Städte Ordnüng, or town laws, as
revised in 1831.

As regards the practical working of this system, I have no
hesitation in affirming, that it is found universally to
succeed; that the effect upon the comfort, character, and
condition of the inhabitants, is, first, to afford speedy and
sufficient means of relief when necessary; that it prevents
in a great degree false applications, inasmuch as that the
districts being small, the really needy are more easily
discovered; and secondly, that as no tax is fixed for the
maintenance of the poor, it renders all classes more willing
and anxious to assist, according to their respective means, in
sustaining the funds required for the support of the poor. (p.
426.)

On the other hand, the following is the statement of Mr. Gibsone: (pp. 460, 461, 463, 464.)

In general it is the duty of the police authority in every
community, where any person in distress may come, to render him
the needful assistance for the moment, which must be repaid,

_a_) by the provincial pauper fund, if the person be a
foreigner, or have no domicile; or,

_b_) by the community, or owner of the estate (called the
dominium), he belongs to, if a native of the country.

_Destitute Able-bodied._

Every pretended needy person is duly examined by a medical
man, whether he be bodily and mentally able to maintain
himself (it is the same with families) by work, and in this
case he is required by the police to do so, and to conduct
himself properly. Any one who does not, is sent to the
poor-and-workhouse (the work is compulsive) of the province,
where he is taught to earn a livelihood. If the distress be
temporary, the proprietor of the estate (called the dominium),
or the community in which the indigent person has acquired
a settlement, is bound to afford the requisite relief; yet
having the right to claim restitution, upon the assisted person
becoming able to make it. When this is not the case, and the
relief has been afforded by a community, the members of it must
bear the expense, if in a town, out of its general funds; if
in the country, in the proportions they pay the land-tax to
the king, called war-contribution. The support is rendered in
giving a dwelling, (with a garden, if in the country), fuel,
salt, money, &c., wholly or partly, sometimes by boarding the
pauper, according to the necessity of the case.

There is in every province a poor-and-workhouse (the work
compulsive), for receiving the following persons:

_a_) such as have indeed a fixed place of abode in the country,
yet seek their livelihood by begging, although able to work;

_b_) actual paupers, who receive a fixed maintenance or
aid from communities, benevolent institutions, &c., yet,
notwithstanding, wander about the country begging;

_c_) invalid soldiers, found begging, as every soldier who has
been rendered invalid in war enjoys a pension from the state (a
very small one);

_d_) travelling handicraftsmen, as none are permitted to travel
in their profession who have not the means of subsistence, or
are above 30 years old;

_e_) foreign vagabonds, until they can be transported over the
borders;

_f_) those who have been punished for crime, in the fortress
or house of correction, and after expiration of their term of
punishment, are unable to show how they can earn an honest
livelihood;

_g_) such as by particular sentences are, or by future laws may
be, declared subjects for the compulsive workhouse.

It is left to every proprietor of an estate (called the
dominium), to every town and village community, to provide and
select, at their option, a livelihood for those individuals,
having a settlement under their jurisdiction, who cannot
procure such for themselves. _Should a proprietor of an estate,
or a community, not fulfil this obligation, it is compelled to
do so, but which seldom is necessary._

It is to be observed, that when, from bad crops, inundations,
&c., a general scarcity occurs in particular parts of the
country, works of public utility, such as turnpike-roads,
drains, and the like, are ordered by government, in order to
afford the inhabitants the means of subsistence, which work is
paid for with money, grain, salt, or other articles, as most
suitable, according to circumstances.

_No person, able-bodied or capable of earning a livelihood, has
a legal claim for support, but he can only, when misfortune
befals him, receive a temporary aid in the way of an advance._
For further answers to this question, see the preceding answers.

All children capable of going to school are obliged to attend
it. Those whose parents are unable to pay the expense,
must be sent thither at the cost of the community to which
they belong, which must also do the needful for clothing,
feeding, educating, and apprenticing them. Such children also
frequently receive assistance from private benevolent societies
and individuals.

_Impotent through Age._

In the towns, the community must provide for all the absolute
wants of the poor out of the municipal funds, and in every town
a board is established for directing the management of these
affairs.

In the country, the proprietors of the estates, or the village
authorities, must provide for these wants, for which, in
the latter case, the members of the village community must
contribute in the proportions as they pay the taxes to the
king, say the land-tax, called war contribution.

In Dantzig, the poor, besides being placed in the poor-house,
or, otherwise assisted, receive alms at their homes from a
charitable society of the citizens, whose funds arise partly
from private contributions, and partly from an annual supply
out of the municipal funds. From this society about 1000
persons yearly receive support (about one-third males and
two-thirds females), but not above about 3_s._ to 4_s._, and
not under 1_s._ monthly, for the time the support is required.
In winter, when severe, they get also firing, partly in
fir-wood, but chiefly in turf. The sum thus disbursed is now
considerably less than before, from the control on the part of
the magistracy being much stricter. The whole annual expense of
the society is about 1200_l._ sterling.

_Sick._

The law prescribes that every town and every village community
must support its own members when in distress, provided there
be no relations able to do so, and the owners of estates are
under a similar obligation; hence the sick stand under the same
regulations as the impotent through age.

_Effects of the foregoing Institutions._

The regulations for the support of paupers operate beneficially
on industry. Every proprietor of an estate, every community
of a town or village has unquestionably the most correct
knowledge of the bodily condition, of the moral conduct, of the
expertness, of the capability to earn a livelihood in whole
or in part, and of the pecuniary circumstances of the needy
persons under their jurisdiction, whom they are bound to
support, as well as of the circumstances of their relatives.
The pauper knows that aid must always be given when necessary,
_and he applies to the proper authority for it, when not duly
afforded_; while he is, on the other hand, deterred from
making exorbitant claims by his situation being so thoroughly
known in every respect, and from ungrounded demands not being
complied with. In general, therefore, neither the party called
upon for assistance, nor that requiring it, inclines to let
the authority interpose, but an amicable arrangement usually
takes place between them, according to existing circumstances.
The pauper must perform what service or work he can for those
who assist him, or for himself, towards contributing to his
own support as far as in his power; while those rendering
assistance can seek only in themselves the means to do so, of
course in the least expensive and most suitable manner. The
paupers are employed at various kinds of work and service,
accordingly as such is wanted and as they are able to perform
it, and this as well for their supporters, privately, as in the
public workhouses.

It is, in general, to be observed that the right of settlement
of individuals is established in the following manner:--

If any person acquires the right of citizenship in a town,
or a possession (house or lying-ground) in the country, or
if he is permitted by the local authority to form a regular
domicile by becoming a householder, he then is considered as an
expressly accepted member of the community, and the obligation
to support him, when reduced to want, immediately commences. So
soon, therefore, as any person shows an intention to settle,
or to become a householder, in a place, it is the business of
the community, or of those interested, to ascertain, through
the medium of the proper local authority, whether or not the
emigrant possesses sufficient means to maintain himself there.
Should this not be the case, and he is evidently unable to
earn a livelihood, then must the support of the individual
(or family) be borne by the community where he has previously
dwelt, and it is not advisable to permit the change of
domicile. Thence is the rule justified, that upon any person
being regularly received as member of a community, with the
express consent of its magistracy, that community becomes
bound to render him support, when his situation requires it.
Minors belong to the community in which their parents were
settled, even after the death of these. With regard to other
inhabitants, only that town or village community is bound to
maintain a pauper where he last contributed to its public
burthens.

A person who is of age, and has resided three succeeding years
in a place (for instance, as servant,) acquires by that the
right of settlement, but which he again loses by leaving the
place for one year. Privileged corporations, that possess a
particular poor-fund, or raise among themselves, pursuant to
their laws, the means to provide for their needy members, are
specially bound to maintain them.

In conformity with the rules before stated, must also the
wives, widows, and destitute children of paupers be supported
by the communities or corporations, or the owners of the
estates.

Paupers for whom communities, corporations, proprietors of
estates, or relatives are not bound to provide, according to
the foregoing rules, or when these are unable to do so, have
to be maintained in provincial poor and workhouses. These are
established at the expense of government, and supported by
contributions from the whole province.

We are inclined to suspect that the practice corresponds with Mr. Abercrombie’s account, and the general law with Mr. Gibsone’s, and that the pauper possesses a legal right to assistance, though that right is seldom enforced, because the impotent are voluntarily provided for, and the able-bodied would probably be sent to a penal workhouse. It is probable indeed that the law itself is vague as respects the relief of the able-bodied. The difficulty in framing a poor-law, of either expressly admitting or expressly rejecting their claim, is such that almost all who have legislated on the subject have left their legal right undecided. Mr. Gibsone’s statement, that no person able-bodied _or_ capable of earning a livelihood has a legal claim for support, is inconsistent with his general account of the law, unless we change _or_ into _and_.

SAXONY.

But little information has been received from Saxony.

Some of the modes in which relief is administered appear, as they are nakedly stated in the Report, to be liable to great abuse. We are told that persons receive from the parishes to which they belong assistance in proportion to their inability to maintain themselves; that a sum is fixed as necessary to support a man, and that if he cannot earn the whole, the difference is given to him as relief; and that with respect to lodging, the parish interferes in cases where ejectment takes place on account of non-payment of house-rent, and guarantees payment for a short time to those who agree to receive the houseless (p. 479). These customs, as they are mentioned, resemble the worst forms of English mal-administration,--allowance and payment of rent.

Mr. Forbes, however, states that more relief than is strictly necessary is never given; and that it has been the steady determination of every government to render the situation of those receiving parochial relief too irksome for it to proceed from any other than the merest necessity. It is probable, therefore, that a strict administration prevents the customs which have been mentioned from being sufficiently prevalent to produce what have been their consequences with us.

WURTEMBERG.

The information respecting Wurtemberg is remarkably full and precise, having been collected with great care by Sir Edward Disbrowe and Mr. Wellesley, assisted by the provincial authorities and the government.

The kingdom of Wurtemberg consists of about 8000 square English miles, inhabited by 1,578,000 persons, being about 200 persons to a square mile. It is divided into 64 bailiwicks, which are subdivided into civil communities or parishes, containing each not less than 500 individuals. Each parish constitutes a separate corporation, and the parishes in each bailiwick also constitute one superior corporation.

A large proportion of the parishes appears to possess a fund called _pium corpus_, arising partly from voluntary contribution and other casual receipts, but principally from funds which previously to the Reformation had been employed for the purposes of the Roman Catholic worship, and instead of being confiscated by the government, as was the case in England, were directed to be employed for charitable purposes.

Many of them also have almshouses, or, as they are called in the Reports, hospitals for the residence of the poor, and other endowments for their use; and almost all possess an estate called an allemand, which is the joint property of the persons for the time being having bürgerrecht, or the right of citizenship in the parish, and is, together with the _pium corpus_ and endowments, the primary fund for the relief of the poor. Subject to the claims of the poor, the allemand is divided among the bürghers, without reference to their wealth or their wants, but apparently in equal proportion to each head of a family, and enjoyed in severalty, but inalienably, either for life or for a shorter period.

Sir E. Disbrowe states (p. 485) that the government of the parish is vested in the mayor and a certain number of counsellors for life (who appear to be appointed by the government), and an equal number of representatives chosen by the bürghers, half of whom go out by rotation every second year.

About nine-tenths of the population appear to be bürghers; the remainder are called beisitzers or settled non-freemen, and differ from the bürghers by having no claim on the allemand, or vote in the election of the parochial authorities.

Bürgerrecht is obtained by inheritance, or by purchase at a sum regulated by law, but varying according to the allemand and the population of each parish.

It is lost by emigration or misconduct. 1st, A person who has lost his bürgerrecht is entitled to purchase that right in the parish in which he formerly possessed it: a person who never possessed that right is entitled to purchase it; 2dly, In the parish in which he spent the last five years. In default of this claim, 3dly, in the parish in which he obtained his marriage license. 4thly, If unmarried, in the parish in which he was born; or 5thly, if he have none of these claims, in the parish to which the police thinks fit to assign him. If he cannot or will not pay the requisite purchase-money, he is bound by payment of half the previous sum to constitute himself a beisitzer, and has similar claims to admission as a beisitzer. If he cannot pay this sum he is assigned by the police to a parish, as a beisitzer, without payment.

Having given this outline of the mode in which the population is distributed, we proceed to state, from the report furnished by the government, the degree and mode in which the poor are relieved. (Pages 524, 525, 537, 538, 539, 540, 541, 542, 543, 547.)

39. He who cannot derive the necessaries of life either from
his property, his labour, or his trade, nor be supported by
his nearest relations and other persons bound to it by private
right, has a claim on the support of the (political or civil)
_community_ in which he has the right of a burgher or of a
beisitzer.

In times of particular distress, not only those who are
absolutely poor, but those also who are indeed not without
property, but, by the unfavourable circumstances of the times,
are rendered incapable of providing the necessaries of life
for themselves and their children, have a right to require,
from the communities of which they are members, the necessary
support. Thus, in the year of scarcity in 1817, the spiritual
and temporal overseers of the communities were expressly made
responsible by the government, that none of those who were
confided to their superintendence and care should be exposed
to suffer want; with the threat, that if, for want of care on
the part of the overseers, any person should perish, the guilty
should be prosecuted with all the rigour of the law.

If a person belonging to one or more communities has need of
public support, the share to be borne by each is determined
by the government authorities, having respect to the merely
personal or family connexion with the several communities.

Each of the three religious persuasions prevailing in the
kingdom has the full enjoyment of its poor fund. Poor members
of the community, however, who belong to a religious persuasion
different to that which prevails in the place, cannot be denied
the necessary relief from the poor fund of the place, on
account of the difference of religion.

_Of the Bailiwick Corporations._

40. If a community has so many poor, or is so limited in its
resources, that it is not in a condition properly to support
its poor, the _other communities of the bailiwick, particularly
the towns, so far as they are better able, and have few or no
poor_, are bound by the law to assist such a poor community
with their alms. A general obligation of the bailiwick
corporation to assist those communities of the bailiwicks
which are not able to afford the necessary assistance to their
poor inhabitants, is not ordained by the laws, unless such
assistance is to the interest of the bailiwick corporation as
such.

In the year 1817, however, the bailiwick corporations were
enjoined, so long as the dearth lasted, and with reference
to old laws, in case single communities should be unable
sufficiently to provide for all the inhabitants, to give them
credit so far as to answer either partly or entirely for the
debt, but always with the reservation of repayment by the
receivers of the aid. And with respect to the support of the
poor, which are assigned to a community, it is expressly
ordered, that if the assignment is founded on one of the titles
to a right of settlement enumerated under 1, 2, and 3[6],
the community against which the right is established is to
bear only one-third, and the whole of the bailiwick the other
two-thirds; but if the assignment is founded on one of the
other titles, the whole bailiwick has to take upon itself this
support. The expense which is hereby incurred by a bailiwick,
constitutes an object of what is called _amtsvergleichung_, and
is imposed on the whole old and now rateable _cadastre_ of the
bailiwick.

_Of the Duty of the State._

41. The public Exchequer affords, partly on account of the
previous sequestration of the church property, and of some
other funds and revenues destined for pious and charitable
purposes, and partly without any such special legal ground,
contributions for the foundation and support of various public
beneficent institutions, and it sometimes assists single
bailiwicks, communities, and individuals in particular cases,
by contributions for charitable purposes. But a general
obligation of the public Exchequer to intervene, in case of the
inability of the communities or bailiwicks, is no where enacted
in the laws of Wurtemberg, and is also not recognised by the
government, because too great liberality on its part, and the
grant of a distinct head of expenditure for this purpose, as
in general the transferring of local burthens to the public
exchequer, might lead to very extensive consequences, and might
gradually give rise to always increasing claims, which, in the
impossibility of ranging single cases under general points of
view, it might not be always possible successfully to meet.

_Amount of Relief to the Poor._

42. What is _necessary_ for a poor person or a poor family,
and how much such a person or family may require for their
_necessary support_, is not expressed in the laws of
Wurtemberg; on the contrary, the answer to this question is
left to the judgment of the magistrate in every particular
case. In fact, it is not well susceptible of a general answer,
because the wants of men are so very different, according
to their constitutions and inclinations, and the means of
satisfying these wants depend too much on personal, local, and
temporary circumstances.

_Support and Employment of the Adult Poor._

[Sidenote: Relief of the able-bodied out-doors.]

75. With respect to the adult poor, it is enacted by our oldest
laws, that such grown-up poor who would willingly work, but
cannot find employment, _shall_, as far as possible, _have
means found them by the magistrates_ to earn a livelihood by
their labour; but that lazy idlers who are strong and healthy
_shall be compelled to work_; and, according to a recent
ordinance, the able-bodied who claim support from the public
funds are bound to take any work for which they have adequate
strength, whether it be public or private, which is assigned
to them by the local overseers, receiving for it proportionate
moderate wages. If they refuse to do the work assigned them,
and cannot allege that they can earn something by other work,
or produce some other excuse, the overseer is authorized to
employ towards them means of compulsion.

According to old laws, poor persons who still have a house and
lands, or at least some little portions of land, and who have
suffered by failure of the crops, frost, &c., or who cannot sow
their lands, or are unable to dispose of them without great
loss, but are still able to work, and have hopes of retrieving
their losses in the harvest and autumn, shall be assisted by
the communities, which, according as the case may be, shall
lend to them from the public fund a sufficient sum, to be
repaid as they may be able to do it in course of time, or shall
at least give security for them.

The laws also order that in public works which the communities
have executed by daily labourers, able-bodied poor who have a
claim to support from the public funds shall be employed in
preference. In places where the hospitals have lands of their
own, and farm them on their own account, poor persons are also
employed in preference, at suitable wages.

Not only in the year of scarcity, 1817, and subsequently,
many adult poor have been employed at suitable wages on the
public account in other hard work, such as forest labours,
planting trees, cultivating waste lands, turf-digging, working
in the quarries, lime-pits, or excavating for antiquities,
pulling down old buildings, cutting down avenues of old trees,
levelling ground, laying out new public walks or churchyards,
draining marshes, cleaning common sewers and streets, working
at bridges, roads, and canals, &c.

79. According to the ancient laws, the communities are bound
to advance money on loan according to the ability of the
poor fund, and to the circumstances of the persons, to poor
mechanics who cannot begin or carry on their trade, without
assistance, which sum they are to repay as they may be able to
do in time.

81. But the indirect support of the poor by employment and
loans has, however, its limits.

The extraordinary expense incurred in 1817, for _public
works_, was indeed justified at that time by the extraordinary
distress; but for the constant prosecution of such works, there
would be wanting, in most places, occasion and opportunity, and
at all events the necessary means; nor could the communities
well be expected, merely for the sake of employing the poor,
to have such works done by them if they are not absolutely
necessary, or at least urgently required at the moment, or if
they could be performed at a cheaper rate by contract or by
statute labour.

In many places there is not always an opportunity to obtain
work for daily wages, with private persons, especially in
winter, and for women and children; or at least the wages at
different times of the year, and for many kinds of work, are
too small to support a family, and when public institutions for
giving employment are in question, great prudence is necessary,
that while one person is provided with work and wages, another
may not find the source of gain interrupted or cut off by which
he has hitherto obtained a livelihood without the assistance of
the magistrates.

But when due attention is paid to these very important
considerations, it is extremely difficult, in Wurtemberg at
least, to find means of employing the poor capable of work, by
the intervention of the magistrates, when they are themselves
not able to obtain suitable employment, and this difficulty
must increase from year to year, in which the number and extent
of the public institutions for employing children increase, and
as the employment of the prisoners in the penal establishments
(police and workhouses, and houses of correction) is extended.

On this account, there are indeed in the capital, and in
some other places, where for the sake of the moral gain a
small pecuniary sacrifice is not regarded, particular public
establishments for employing the adult poor in spinning, and
other such work; but they nowhere extend to a whole bailiwick.
Wherever they still exist, though the poor in them are not
fed and clothed, but only employed, their support requires
considerable annual aid from public funds; and in most places
the establishments formerly opened for the employment of the
adult poor have been entirely broken up, with the exception of
a part of the inhabitants of the poor-houses (s. 91).

Consequently, and especially till the new institutions for the
better education of the youthful poor shall have been able
to produce their entire effect, there will still remain in
Wurtemberg a very considerable number, not only of poor unable
or unwilling to work, but also of such as are both able and
willing, who cannot be supported otherwise than directly.

82. In many places the local poor are, with this view, allowed
_themselves to collect_ gifts in money, food, &c. from the
wealthier inhabitants of the place; but in most of these
places this kind of collecting of such gifts is limited to
the houses of certain of the richer inhabitants, who have
given them express permission to do so, and to fixed days and
hours, and it is likewise subject to the superintendence of
the police: but as a general rule, the poor are prohibited
from personal collecting of gifts, even in their own place
of residence. On the other hand, those poor persons in whose
cases the above-described indirect means of relief are not
applicable, or not sufficient for their necessary support,
regularly receive everywhere out of the _public funds of the
community to which they belong_, and under different names,
such as alms, gratuity, pension, board, &c., partly weekly,
monthly, quarterly, or annually, partly without any fixed time,
as need may be, gifts according to the wants of the individuals
relieved, and the ability of the community, sometimes amounting
to only one or a few florins, sometimes to 20, 50, 70, and even
100 and more florins, for each person or family in a year.
With respect to the extent of these gifts, there is nowhere
any general, legal ordinance; but the question, how much is
requisite for the necessary support of each individual or of
each family, remains entirely for the consideration of the
authorities which have to give the relief.

[Sidenote: In-door relief.]

67. Adult poor who, on account of their great age, or of
weakness, infirmity, and sickness of body or mind, or on
account of immoral conduct, cannot be left to themselves, and
who have no relations legally bound and able to superintend
and take care of them, and who consequently would not be
sufficiently relieved merely by a present in money or in kind,
are even now, especially in small towns, taken in by all the
members of the community in their turn, from house to house,
by the day or by the week, or else put out to board in a fixed
private house at the expense of the local funds.

But as nobody readily determines to admit such persons to
his table and his house, particularly persons affected with
the itch and other contagious disorders; and as even the
most careful selection of such private boarding-houses, with
the best superintendence which is possible in such cases,
frequently answers neither the expectations of those who
provide such accommodation, nor the wants of those intended
to be provided, it is very fortunate that, partly so far back
as the 14th and 15th centuries,--partly in modern and very
recent times, almost in every large and small town, and even
in some villages,--partly by particular endowments for the
purpose,--partly at the expense of the local funds, a distinct
public poor-house, or even several such poor-houses, have been
built, or purchased, or taken from debtors in lieu of payment,
which were not precisely intended to provide for persons of the
above description, but rather to receive foreign vagabonds,
and also for fear of the leprosy, plague, or cholera; which
establishments, founded under various denominations, such as
poor-house, beggars’-house, hospital, lazaretto, infirmary,
leprosy-house, cholera-house, &c., &c., now that the entrance
of foreign vagrants is prevented, and the fear of plague,
leprosy, and cholera is past, can be made use of for the
reception of the native poor belonging to the above classes.

Many of these houses can, indeed, accommodate only 10, 20, 30,
or 40 persons, but many of them are calculated for a hundred or
several hundred persons.

Formerly it was usual to receive also poor children, with or
without their parents, into these houses, but latterly the
children are otherwise disposed of, and only _married persons,
without children_, or single adult poor, are admitted, who for
the most part are, as far as possible, kept separate according
to their sex, and partly according to other circumstances,
especially as prescribed by existing ordinances. Separate
rooms for insane and sick persons, particularly for those
who have the venereal disease and the itch, are fitted up in
these poor-houses, so as to answer, as much as possible, this
particular object; and in some cases separate buildings are
allotted for this purpose.

90. In many of these poor-houses, those who are admitted into
them have only free lodging and firing, and sometimes clothing;
and to provide for their other wants, a weekly, monthly, or
annual allowance in money or in kind.

In others, they are directly provided with every thing; that
is, they have in the house free lodging, candles, firing,
bedding, clothes, food, and in case of sickness, medical care,
medicine, and attendance. In general, in this case, each of
the two sexes, or a great number of such persons, nearly of
the same class, have a _common sleeping-room_, and a _common
eating_ and _working-room_. Sometimes however only two, three,
or four poor persons together, and often even individual poor
have their separate rooms.

In the common sleeping-rooms, every person has his separate
bed, generally feather beds, such as are usually found in poor
independent families.

The clothing is mostly warmer and stronger, but not so
good-looking and more old-fashioned than that of the poorer
independent citizens.

The food consists, generally, in the morning of soup, at noon
a farinaceous dish and vegetables, and once, twice, rarely
three times in the week, of a quarter or half a pound of meat;
in the evening of soup, together with milk or potatoes. There
are, however, poor-houses where they get no breakfast in the
morning; at dinner only farinaceous food or vegetables (not
both together), and once a week only, or even but a few times
in the year, on certain holidays, or even not at all, meat,
and in the evening nothing but _soup_.[7] When this diet is
furnished by contract, 5, 5½, 6, 7, 8 to 8½ kreutzer daily per
head are at present paid for it; besides which, however, the
contractor mostly has lodging and firing gratis, and the use of
a garden.

Besides this, every person receives in most of these houses,
3, 3½, 4, 5, 6, and even 7 pounds of bread weekly, and in some
places a few kreutzer every week for snuff; wine is given only
where there are special endowments for that purpose, mostly on
certain holidays. The sick have better and lighter food and
wine, as the physician thinks fit to prescribe in every case.

In some of these houses, more, and in others less, care is
taken that the inmates of them do not unnecessarily go out,
and that those who are able to do some work are not idle. Some
hospitals have lands which they keep in their own hands, and
in this case the inmates are employed as much as possible in
assisting in the agricultural operations. Where there is no
land, they must at least prepare the necessary firewood, carry
wood and water, help in washing, cooking, and other domestic
employments; they must spin, wind yarn, knit, sew, make clothes
and shoes for the house, &c. In some poor-houses they are also
employed in making wooden pegs for shoemakers and tilers,
matches, &c.

On the whole, however, the employment of these people in the
poor-houses does not produce much.

_In the year 1817, and during the dearth which prevailed at
that time, an old law which had fallen into desuetude was
revived; according to which, the rich and opulent who, after
having been previously applied to for voluntary contributions,
should not come forward in a manner suitable to their property,
are to be taxed by the magistrates in a sum conformable to
their income, and according to all the circumstances of their
situation._

The comparative situation of the pauper and the independent labourer is thus stated at the conclusion of the Government Report:--

If we now compare the situation of one of the poorest of the
Wurtemberg poor who support themselves independently by their
labour without external aid (_see_ § 40.), with that of one of
the more favoured of the Wurtemberg poor who lives by public
charity, for instance, the inmate of an hospital, and even of
a prison, it might certainly appear that the condition of the
latter is preferable to that of the former.

In fact, we often see such hospital inmates, and even
prisoners, attain the most advanced age, while many a poor
day-labourer and artisan sinks at a much earlier age under the
weight of his cares and the want of necessaries. In fact, many
an inmate of an hospital, and many a prisoner, even with bodily
infirmities and sufferings, still seems to find his condition
quite comfortable, and shows himself thankful for the good
which he enjoys, while many a day-labourer or artisan, in the
enjoyment of good bodily health, feels himself miserable, and
curses his existence; in fact, many a one seeks admission into
the hospital who would be very well able to provide himself
with necessaries by his work at home. In fact, the man often
separates from his wife, or the wife from her husband, or from
the children, to be received into the hospital. In fact, many
a one does not economize, but squanders what he has, and does
not work in order to earn something, because he thinks that
he always has the right of being received into the hospital
as a last resource. _In fact, in many places where there are
rich hospitals and other foundations, the number of the poor
is proportionably greater than in places where less is done
for their support. In fact, many a one continues to beg and to
steal, who has already been frequently imprisoned for these
offences, because he finds his situation in the workhouse very
tolerable in comparison with the laborious life of a poor man
at liberty._

However, the situation of the inmates of an hospital, even
of those which are the most liberal to their inmates, is by
no means so enviable as from the above comparison it might
seem to be. Frequently their residence is embittered by their
being obliged to live together with rude, quarrelsome, mad,
silly, and disgusting persons. Many embitter their own lives
by a discontentedness, which may either be natural to them, or
communicated by others. Many dislike the kind or the quantity
of the work allotted to them, the restrictions with respect to
the time of going out and returning home which are prescribed
by the regulations of the house. Prisoners, in particular,
consider the loss of their freedom as an intolerable burden.
Besides this, too, the treatment is by no means in general and
in _every_ poor-house so good as it is represented in the above
comparison; hence it is not the case with all the poor received
into a poor-house, that they have voluntarily sought admission
there, or that they voluntarily and willingly remain in it;
hence, too, the applications for admission to these houses are
not everywhere equally pressing; hence the assertion that the
existence of such houses increases the numbers of prodigals,
idlers, and poor, cannot be taken as generally correct.

At all events, the above comparison applies to the actual
inmates of the hospital, rather than to those poor who are
relieved only by money and commodities, or by finding them
employment; for the relief which they receive in this manner is
in most places dealt out with so scanty a measure, that their
situation is little or not at all better than that of a healthy
poor person, who maintains himself independently by the labour
of his hands, without external assistance. The independent
poor man always has the cheering consciousness of maintaining
himself and his family by his own exertions, and of enjoying
the respect of his fellow-citizens, which is always lost in a
greater or less degree by the poor man who receives relief, to
whom, in the eyes of the better classes, a kind of disgrace
attaches, which must often fall on the idle, who is excluded
from elections of the community, &c., restricted in marrying,
&c.

And the authors go on to express a belief that pauperism is diminishing, and that the number of paupers, which in 1820 amounted to 64,896, does not now exceed 50,000, or about 1-30th of the whole population.

The preference which the government reporter appears to give to out-door relief is opposed to the preface to the rules of the Weinsburg House of Industry.

The former mode of providing for the wants of the poor by
weekly relief in money or in bread, by giving them clothes,
or providing them small apartments, or by paying their rent
or their board, entrained many abuses, and therefore little
effected its end; in fact, it wanted the superintendence
essential to the management of a class of men for the most
part of irregular and dissipated habits. Employment was not
furnished to those who were yet in a state to work; and there
were no means of repressing mendicity and vice.--(p. 500.)

The object of this establishment is said to be,

Art. 1.--To provide a common habitation, and all other
necessaries, for all those who, whether sick or in health,
need assistance.

Art. 2.--As far as it may be possible, to furnish them with
employment, according to their capability of work.

Art. 3.--Not only to provide work for those who ask for it, but
to enforce it from those who, being without property, neither
engage in trade nor in service, but endeavour to live at the
expense of others.

2. _Conditions of Admission._

The persons who need assistance are, with few exceptions, men
of vicious, or careless, or improvident habits, who are now
unable to earn their bread. The old practice was, to pay their
rent, furnish them with fuel, or give them weekly allowances
in money or bread; but there was no certainty that these gifts
were well employed. For this reason, only persons worthy of
assistance are received, clothed, and fed in this institution:
for, in our country, well-disposed people, even with little
talent, can always earn their own maintenance.

The aged or impotent poor may be admitted at their own request.

Art. 7.--The Directors of the establishment, as well as the
President of the Committee of Founders, can order the admission
of poor people if they are fully persuaded of its necessity.
The person so admitted must promise, in writing, to obey the
laws of the establishment. This admission requires to be
confirmed at the next sitting of the Committee of Founders. The
same rules apply to the admission of the indigent sick.

Art. 8.--_But in no case is this charitable institution to
become the periodical abode of persons not accustomed to
a fixed trade, or of those who will not remain with their
masters, or who would like to pass there the winter when the
demand for labour is slack, or who have wasted their summer
wages by spending the earnings of one day’s toil in two days of
idleness and debauchery._

Art. 9.--_Whoever then is once admitted, enters the
establishment with all that he possesses, and engages himself
to work and remain there for ever._

Art. 10.--In all cases, those who enter voluntarily, as well
as those who are forced to enter, are, from the moment of
admission, considered as paupers, and whatever they possess
becomes the property of the foundation.

Art. 11.--In case of extraordinarily good conduct on the part
of a pauper, when there is reasonable hope that he can support
himself, or if he wishes to enter the service of a respectable
family, the Council of Foundation may permit him to leave the
Institution. In this case his property is restored to him,
after deducting, from a person capable of work, 58f., and from
one incapable of work 88f. The expense of their residence is
deducted from the property of the sick.

All persons of the age of fourteen, who cannot prove that they
are in the service of a respectable family, may be forced to
work in the Institution.

Art. 12.--All persons of either sex, who are not in a state to
maintain themselves, either from their property or by industry,
and who become chargeable to others may be admitted; but,
before the police can require their admission, it must be shown
that they have been punished three times, either for mendicity
or theft--(p. 501.)

Regulations of this severity prove that the able-bodied paupers at least are a small and degraded class, exciting little sympathy, for whom enough is supposed to be done if they are prevented from starving. As far indeed as can be collected from the Weinsberg regulations, the undeserving may be utterly refused relief, since it does not appear that relief is to be given out of the house, and the applications for admission by undeserving objects are to be rejected.

The actual working of the system may be best inferred from the detailed accounts supplied by Sir Edward Disbrowe of 18 parishes.

Of these four, that is Obertürkheim, Osweil, Necker Weihingen, and Egolsheim, provide for their poor by rates levied on all the inhabitants. During each of four years, from 1829 to 1832 inclusive, the persons receiving relief in Obertürkheim were three out of a population of 842, at an annual expense of 5_l._ 0_s._ 3_d._, or about 1½_d._ per head on the whole population. In Osweil the average number was eight, out of a population of 1608; average annual expense 25_l._, or about 3½_d._ a head. In Necker Weihingen, of which the population is 1070, the persons relieved were, in 1829, one man; in 1830, one man and one woman; in 1831, one man and one woman; and the annual expense in 1829 was 5_l._; and in each of the years 1830 and 1831, 4_l._ 3_s._ 4_d._, or about 1_d._ a head. The number relieved in Egolsheim, of which the population is 618, is not mentioned; but it must have been very trifling, since the average annual expense is stated at 2_l._ 1_s._ 8_d._, which is less than 1_d._ per head.

In those places in which the relief of the poor is wholly or principally supplied from endowments, the annual expenditure is, as might have been expected, much larger. But even in these it seldom amounts to 1_s._ per head on the whole population, being about one-twelfth of the average expenditure in England. And in the whole bailiwick of Ludwigsberg, containing 29,068 inhabitants, in the year 1831 only 372 persons received regular, and 371 persons irregular (and indeed merely medical) relief. The kingdom of Wurtemberg, therefore, appears to have been, as yet, eminently successful in reconciling a recognition of the right to relief with economy in its distribution.

[6] See above for the statement of the different grounds on which a man may claim the right to obtain a settlement in a parish.

[7] The word “_suppe_,” here and elsewhere translated by the word _soup_, has, however, a far more general signification; the proper definition of it being “_boiled fluid food_, eaten alone, warm, with a spoon.” Thus the Germans have water-soup, beer-soup, milk-soup, bread-soup, flour-soup, wine-soup, &c.

BAVARIA.

With respect to the Bavarian institutions we have little information excepting the text of the law. The following extracts will show its general law tendency: (pp. 556, 557, 558, 559, 560, 562, 563.)

[Sidenote: Poor Law authorities.]

Each town, market, and village, is to have an institution for
the poor; but if several villages wish to unite in forming
one of these institutions, it is not only to be permitted, but
every facility is to be afforded it.

Each provincial district (landgericht) must have an institution
of its own.

All the inhabitants of such district are obliged, according to
their means, to contribute to that purpose; each person is,
besides, bound to continue to support those poor relations whom
the laws direct him to maintain.

The claims for relief are to be fixed according to the laws of
their district (heimath gesetz.) Sometimes, in cases of great
necessity, relief is allowed to strangers who do not belong to
the parish.