Part 17
The shades between the healthy labourers of the lowest class that support themselves, and those who obtain relief from charitable institutions, are so slight, that it is almost impossible to state the difference in their conditions. _No man_ has a _legal claim_ upon any of the charities; in the distribution of which, however, there is but one fixed rule that governs the distributors, and that is, to compel the applicants for relief to work to their utmost power, and to give such relief only in each individual case as they suppose to be necessary with the wages he can or ought to earn, according to the demand for labourers at the time.
According to the price of lodgings, victuals and clothing in Nantes, a steady labourer at the highest rate of wages, 1_s._ 3_d._ per day, supposing he had 300 days’ employment in the year, is considered to be able to support a wife and three young children; if he has a larger family, is out of employ, or is at a lower rate of wages, without his wife and children being able to gain a little, he is regarded as indigent, and in need of succour. A labourer, his wife, and three children consume in the day from 8 to 10 lbs. of bread, which is their chief food, and will cost him 240 fr.; his cabbages and other vegetables, butter or fat for his soup, 90 fr.; his room, 50 fr.; leaving 70 fr. or 2_l._ 18_s._ 4_d._ for clothes, fuel, &c.; which make up the sum of his wages for 300 days at 1½ fr., or 1_s._ 3_d._ per day. The wife in general adds a little to the husband’s earnings by spinning, and sometimes weaving; but it is not much when the family is young.
To prevent the increase and lessen the present state of disorder into which the greater part of the labouring class and mechanics of Nantes has fallen, a number of master tradesmen and proprietors of factories will not employ those men who do not agree to allow a certain sum weekly to be retained from their wages for the use of the wife and family. The example spreads, and will no doubt become more general; but this circumstance shows forth, in strong colours, the immoral state of the working class in France.
There are no cottages for labourers, as are seen in England: the chief part of the work on farms in this part of France is done by servants in the house of the farmer, or by married labourers, to whom an acre or two, sometimes as high as 10, according to the quality, is fenced off from the estate for the use of the man and his family; for which he has to give a certain number of days’ work. If such patch of land requires to be ploughed, the farmer does it for him, for an additional number of days’ work. Besides those, there are an immense number of little proprietors, having from an acre and a half to 10 or 15 acres; and they give their labour also to the farmers of larger estates, receiving in return either assistance with oxen, carts, ploughs, &c., or an equivalent in some produce which they do not raise on their own land. Very little money, if any, passes between them. These little properties have sprung up from labourers and others fencing in small patches of commons or waste lands. Nearly all the vineyards in the Loire Inférieure are cultivated by labourers, who have a small spot of ground partitioned off from the main estate: it is for married men only that ground is so divided; the single men live with their families in the villages, or in public-houses, but generally in the latter. In regard to these questions, it must be observed that almost every farmer who hires an estate takes such a one as will just sustain his family, without the aid, or with the assistance only of a man or a man and woman servants, and that therefore very few daily labourers find employment. Few estates run to 200 acres, and if so large, a daily labourer is only hired during harvest, so wretchedly is the husbandry of the country managed.
The cottages or houses in villages for labourers are in general the property of the owners of the large estates in the neighbourhood, as well as those that are built on the patches of land for the use of those who are married; some of the latter, however, are built at the joint expense of the farmer and labourer. A cottage or cottages in a detached place from a village, or a house in such a situation, with a little plot of ground for a garden for each apartment, lets for about 20 to 30 francs a year per room, whether the building consists of one or of four rooms. In the villages the rent is a little higher, from 30 to 50, and sometimes as high as 80, if the garden be large to a cottage with only one room. These buildings are so seldom on sale, that the price cannot be stated with accuracy.
We now proceed to the
GIRONDE.
BOURDEAUX. (pp. 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 235.)
[Sidenote: Population of the Department, 554,225. Population of Bourdeaux, 109,467.]
There are no houses of industry in this department for the destitute able-bodied, except that known as the _Depôt de Mendicité_.
This institution was first established in the year 1827, with a view to suppress the great number of professed beggars who infested the streets and public walks, taking advantage of any defect of conformation, &c. to attract the notice of passengers. By law all persons found begging in the streets are liable to be taken up, and imprisoned; but instead of imprisonment, those arrested are conveyed to the _Depôt de Mendicité_, where, if able, they are made to work. The good effects of this institution are visible; for instead of the number of professed beggars amounting to 800, which it did before the institution of the establishment, it does not now amount to above 150 or 200.
This institution is supported by private contribution. The King and the town contribute a certain portion to make up what may be wanting. The average number of the population of the depôt amounts to 350 souls.
Generally speaking, owing to the want of population, employment is to be found in commerce, trade or agriculture. The high price of wages in the towns and in the country proves that work is always to be found.
When any unforeseen circumstances have arisen to interrupt the common order of things, the local authorities have come to the assistance of the population, by giving work to those out of employment. Public subscriptions are also resorted to on these occasions.
All indigent families, and in which there are those capable of working, but who are not able to obtain it, or whose numbers are so great that all cannot be subsisted, are relieved by the _Bureaux de Charité_.
The same relief is given to those who, having a habitation, are unable of themselves, through age or infirmity, to support themselves.
The mode of obtaining this relief is by petition, signed by some credible person, and attested by the priest or protestant clergyman. It is proportioned to the number of the family, and to the number of those able to work, and whose wages go to the maintenance of the family. The relief consists in bread, soup, wood for fuel, and sometimes, though rarely, blankets and woollen clothing; medicines for the sick, and broth.
Generally speaking, these distributions of food would be insufficient; but most indigent families are assisted by private persons, so that, on the whole, they have wherewithal to sustain life.
The annual _distribution à domicile_ (domiciliary relief) amounts to the sum of 100,000 francs (4,000_l._).
3,520 families are relieved. The number of impotent in these families, father and mother included, though able to work, amounts to 9,634, or less than a franc per head per month.
It is in proportion to these numbers that the relief is given, but it is greater in winter than the other parts of the year.
As to the medicines and broth, whenever there are sick in these families a sufficiency is given. Physicians are attached to each auxiliary bureau of every district, who visit the sick, prescribe the remedies, &c., all of which are distributed by the _Sœurs de Charité_ (Sisters of Charity, an order of nuns who devote themselves to the care of the poor and sick, and who undertake, gratuitously, the elementary education of their children). It is a most respectable and praiseworthy institution.
The same Sisters receive in their houses the little girls of these families who are old enough to read. Books are supplied by the instructors.
In extraordinary cases, recourse is had to subscriptions and collections, which increase the means of the _Bureaux de Charité_; so that during long and hard winters, more clothing, &c. is distributed. It seldom happens that money is given.
There are, however, no positive regulations on these points. The whole is in the hands of the directors of this establishment. A responsible receiver is attached to it, whose accounts are submitted to the examination of the _Cours des Comptes_ (audit office). Thus, though the distributions are left to the judgment of the directors, they are subjected to control.
The above details relate to the city of Bourdeaux. There are, however, proportionate institutions in most of the larger towns of the department, but in the poorer parishes and rural districts the _Bureaux de Charité_ are merely nominal. These parishes being without a revenue, are unable to assist their poor, who subsist on the alms they may receive at the different dwelling-houses, and who when ill, if possible, come to the nearest hospital, generally to that of Bourdeaux.
In this department there are no schools in which indigent children are received to be fed and clothed gratuitously, but there are those in which they receive a certain degree of instruction.
For Boys.--The institution of _Freres des Ecoles Chrétiennes_ (Brothers of the Christian Schools), and two Lancasterian schools, which have been lately instituted.
For Girls.--A Lancasterian school, a few boarding schools, in which a certain number of indigent girls are taught gratuitously; and also the Sisters of Charity attached to the administration of the _Bureaux de Charité_.
The _Ecoles Chrétiennes_ are at the charge of the town. The sum appropriated to those establishments amounts annually to about 14,000 francs (560_l._). Admissions are granted by the town. The number of children instructed in reading, writing, and a little arithmetic, amounts to about 1,800 for the town. At the Lancasterian school, the instruction is on a more extended scale. Grammar, drawing and surveying are taught, in addition to what is taught at the _Ecoles Chrétiennes_.
There are at present in these latter schools 300 boys and 150 girls in all.
The department pays the expenses of these schools.
The girls received in the private boarding schools, where they learn to read, to write, and to sew, amount to the number of about 600. This is entirely a private act of charity.
The number of girls received by the Sisters of Charity amounts to about 900.
There has also been established within the last year a model infant school, founded by private subscriptions, for the children of labourers and journeymen artisans. At present, however, it is so little known, that it is of very little importance.
_Impotent through Age._
Bourdeaux is the only town of the department which possesses any establishments of this kind, viz., the Hospital of Incurables (_Hospice des Incurables_), and that of the old people (_Hospice des Vieillards_).
These two establishments support 300 old people. This number falls very short of that which the population requires. The requisite qualifications for admission are, to have passed the age of 60, and to prove that the candidate has no means of subsistence.
It may be added, that at Bourdeaux the number of old people who are candidates for admittance to these hospitals amounts to 300, and that on an average a vacancy occurs for each at the end of four years at the _Hospital des Incurables_, and two years at _Hospice des Vieillards_, and that all these claimants find either in their families, the _Secours à Domicile_, or private charity, means of subsistence.
_Sick._
The department possesses, for the reception of the sick, a small hospital at Bazas; one at St. Macaire, and one at La Réole; a more extensive one at Blaye and Libourne, and the great hospital at Bourdeaux.
The great hospital of Bourdeaux contains always from 600 to 650 sick. The daily admittances average 30; the discharges, 28, and the deaths two.
No distinction is made as to country, &c. either in admittance, treatment, or discharge.
The inmates of this hospital are generally composed of inhabitants of the town, who are too poor to be treated at home, or who prefer the care that is taken of them there to that which they would experience at home; of workmen, &c. from the neighbouring departments employed in the town, and who have nowhere else to go; of peasants, even in easy circumstances, who, from illness or accidents, have not the same resources at home.
Bourdeaux possesses a _Hospice de la Maternité_, or Lying-in Hospital, and a society, founded by private benefactions, for the same purpose.
The Lying-in Hospital is an asylum in which any woman who presents herself in the ninth month of her pregnancy, whatever may be her state, her country or condition, is admitted without difficulty, without question or inquiry, under the name she pleases, and in such a manner, that the fear of being known or discovered may not prevent those who wish to remain unknown from benefiting by the institution.
Women admitted at the ninth month remain in the establishment till they have completely recovered their lying-in. (p. 231.)
The number of those women, either lying-in or subsisted in the hospital, varies from 35 to 60, and their stay is about 30 days. The births amount annually from 400 to 450; upon this number, 30 or 40 at most are kept and suckled by their mothers; the rest are abandoned and sent to the Foundling Hospital.
Among these inmates, about one-fifth is composed of married women, who have no means of being confined at home; two-fifths of young girls of the town, chiefly servants; the rest of peasants, who leave their homes in order not to be discovered.
Illegitimate children deserted by their parents, and which are deposited at the Foundling Hospital, are clothed and nourished by women in the institution, till a nurse out of it can be procured.
These children, after being suckled, remain with their nurses till the age of 12 years. At this age, if the individuals who have brought them up do not wish to keep them gratuitously till their majority and give them a trade, they return to the hospital, and they then cease to be at the charge of the special funds. The establishment itself provides for their expenses; and until they can be placed as apprentices, they receive, in the Bourdeaux hospital, the rudiments of reading and writing, and they are taught some trade.
Once placed as apprentices, they remain with the master till the age of 21, when they are to shift for themselves.
Those that cannot be placed, or are infirm, remain in the hospital, and form a sort of permanent population there.
Children whose parents are known, and who are living, but have either disappeared or are confined, are received in the same way as foundlings, the mode of admission differing only. This must be granted by the prefect after an inquest. For the remainder, they enjoy the same advantages as the foundlings.
As to orphans, they are also admitted into the Foundling Hospital, upon the order of the administrative commission, after information as to the state of the family. At Bourdeaux the orphans of the town alone are received. Those of the rest of the department remain at the charge of their parishes, and generally live by alms. The orphans received into the hospital enjoy the same privileges as the foundlings and deserted children.
The annual exposal of children amounts at Bourdeaux to 900, comprising all those abandoned at the Lying-in Hospital, those of the town, and those sent from the various parts of the department, as well as from the neighbouring departments.
From 10 to 15 deserted children, and the same number of orphans, are annually admitted.
The population of the hospital amounts generally to 40 new-born infants, waiting to be sent to nurse; 150 children beginning their apprenticeships, and waiting to be placed; about 150 infirm of all ages forming the permanent part of the population.
The number of children from the age of one month to that of 12 years, amounts to 3,600; and that of children above 12 and below 21 apprenticed out, amounts to above 1,500.
The expenditure of the hospital, comprising the clothing for the children brought up out of the establishment, amounts to 110,000 francs per annum (4,400_l._) That for the nurses or board in the country, to 240.000 francs (9,600_l._), of which
104,000 fr. (4,160_l._) is given by the government upon the common departmental fund.
27,000 fr. (1,080_l._) taken from the revenue of the town of Bourdeaux.
60,000 fr. (2,400_l._) voted by the general council on the _Centimes Facultatifs_.
49,000 fr. (1,960_l._) on the revenue of the other parishes of the department.
Owing to the extreme carelessness and entire absence of frugality on the part of the peasantry and other classes of labourers, it is impossible to give an accurate account of their expenditure. They live entirely from hand to mouth; and nine-tenths are in debt for the common necessaries of life. The men are addicted to gambling, and the women spend the greater part of what they earn in useless articles of dress. As to the expenditure for schooling and religious teaching, no provision is thought of.
BASSES PYRENÉES.
BAYONNE.
[Sidenote: Population of the Department, 428,401. Population of Bayonne, 14,773.]
On recurring to the statistical statements respecting this department, it will be seen that it supports its population with a smaller number of deaths, births, and marriages, than any other extensive district in Europe. Compared with the countries which have been lately considered, its provisions for public charity are trifling, as will appear by the following extracts from Mr. Harvey’s report. (pp. 260, 261, 262.)
_Vagrants._
Mendicity, under the head of vagrancy, is not prevalent in the department of the Lower Pyrenees; the relief afforded to French subjects passing through the department, seeking work (which seldom occurs), or returning to their native places, is at the rate of three sols per league, or ½_d._ per mile; but this relief is more frequently granted to foreigners in distress, and is paid by the several mayors at certain stations or towns on their route. There is no public relief granted to vagrants living by begging.
_Destitute Able-bodied._
There are no public or private establishments or relief afforded to the destitute able-bodied or their families; but this description of pauper is seldom or ever to be met with in this department.
_Impotent through Age._
There are no public or religious institutions or regulations for the relief of the poor in general; they subsist by begging; and when no longer able to do so, they receive a trifling relief from “The Ladies of Charity” (Dames de la Charité), who make quarterly collections from the respectable inhabitants, which these ladies distribute in food, fuel, or money, to the _pauvres honteux_, or infirm, as the case may be; but this private voluntary subscription is very inadequate.
The inhabitants of Bayonne (and it is hoped and expected that the example will be followed in other places) are now occupied in forming, by voluntary annual subscriptions, an establishment for the relief of the poor; a commission of gentlemen has been appointed, and there is every prospect that this charitable undertaking will be crowned with success.
_Sick._
In the towns there are public hospitals for the sick and wounded; but when convalescent, they are obliged immediately to quit the hospital, destitute or not.
CHILDREN.
_Illegitimate._
Illegitimate children (infants only) are received into the hospitals established by the famous St. Vincent de Paul, but where the parents have no communication with or control over them; these children are placed out to nurse in the country at about 5_s._ a month, and are afterward provided for by the hospital, if in the course of seven years they are not claimed by the parents.
When not deposited in the hospitals, the mothers have invariably been found to bestow upon their infants the most scrupulous care and attention, the natural consequence of having had the firmness and humanity not to abandon their offspring, notwithstanding the facility of concealment held out to them by the hospital.
_Orphans or Deserted Children._
There are no public or private institutions or regulations for orphans.
_Deserted Children._--There are no public or private regulations or institutions under this head; but I have not heard of a case in question in this department.
_Cripples, Deaf and Dumb, and Blind._
_Cripples._--Obliged to beg if destitute, there being no public or private institutions or regulations for cripples.
The deaf and dumb, if poor and destitute, are obliged to beg; there are excellent establishments in the large towns for their instruction, for those who have the means.
_Blind._--Obliged to beg, there are no public or private institutions for them.
_Idiots and Lunatics._
There are no public or private institutions for idiots.
There is an institution (Maison de Force) for the admission of lunatics at the Chef Lieu of the department only (at Pau).