Part 7
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.
The overseers consist (unless it is otherwise determined) of the directors, of the police, commissaries, and magistrates.
In cases where medical aid is necessary, they are to be attended by physicians, who are appointed by the state.
In towns and larger market towns, besides the above-named overseers, a council is to be formed, consisting of the clergyman and the mayor and persons deputed by the magistrates and all classes of the people, in proportion to the number of inhabitants of each place.
In smaller market-towns the clergyman and deputies from the peasants form this council.
When several villages join together to form one of these institutions, a general committee is to be formed.
The members of the council for the institutions for the poor are to be elected in the same way as the magistrates and mayors (burgermeister).
When several parishes are joined together, a deputy is to be chosen from each, and again, several are elected from among these, who are to take immediate charge of the affairs. Each deputy is chosen for three years, and is obliged to perform his duties without remuneration; no inhabitant is allowed to refuse to perform his functions the first time he is elected; extraordinary merits in the service of the poor are to be publicly distinguished.
[Sidenote: Mode of relief.]
The public charge is brought into action in the following manner:
1st. By institutions for working.
2d. By institutions for taking care of people who are unable to work.
3d. By institutions for alms.
[Sidenote: 1. Finding work.]
1. Materials and tools are to be distributed to those paupers who, notwithstanding all inquiries and interference, cannot obtain the necessary work, to be used at their houses until the required situation can be obtained. If in larger towns the number of these is very great, houses are to be opened and maintained at the expense of the institution for the poor, in which the paupers who are unoccupied are to work.
The choice among the different sorts of work in these houses is settled according to the local circumstances, and chiefly according to the facility with which either orders from private persons can be received, or with which the material is obtained and worked; then accordingly as the material can be used for the wants of the poor or can be usefully employed for any other purpose.
The houses for the employment of the poor are always to retain their original destination, namely, an employment, for the present, of poor men who would otherwise be without work, and therefore do not admit any such persons whose names are not down on the above-named register. Therefore those persons are no longer allowed to work in this house after they have had an offer of work from any other quarter.
[Sidenote: 2. In-door relief.]
2. Houses of nourishment are to be erected for those poor who, besides having no fortune or means of obtaining their livelihood, are in an extraordinary degree helpless, namely, children, sick people, old persons, and cripples.
[Sidenote: 3. Money relief.]
3. Poor people who do not require extraordinary care, and who are not fit to be admitted into the particular houses of nourishment, or cannot yet be received into them, but are unable to gain their livelihood, are to be assisted by alms, which, however, are not to be given without the most complete proof of want.
The alms are to be given in the form of gifts of money. These gifts are sometimes to be increased, according to the price of provisions; and from time to time a maximum is to be fixed, which is on no account to be exceeded.
[Sidenote: Relief by quartering on householders.]
These gifts of money may, either in part or entirely, be substituted by provisions, if this sort of aid is more easily afforded with regard to lodging, nourishment, and clothing.
Their lodging is to be changed every day among the different members of the parish, but the poor who are lodged are obliged to repay this lodging by work. Where there are opportunities, rooms are to be warmed, to which the poor may bring their work.
The nourishment of the poor can be facilitated and insured by the equal division of them amongst the public, to be maintained in turn, being obliged to partake of the work of their host, or by voluntarily offered days for food, or lastly, by distribution of bread and other nourishment. Where circumstances permit, kitchens are to be erected on purpose for preparing nourishing soups, partly gratis, partly very cheap.
[Sidenote: Liabilities of pauper.]
No pauper who partakes of the benefactions of the poor institutions may go away from his dwelling without the knowledge and leave of the head of the village, to stay for some time, or permanently in another village, even if it is in the same district.