Statement of the Provision for the Poor, and of the Condition of the Labouring Classes in a Considerable Portion of America and Europe: Being the preface to the foreign communications contained in the appendix to the Poor-Law ReportSenior, Nassau William
History
Statement of the Provision for the Poor, and of the Condition of the Labouring Classes in a Considerable Portion of America and Europe: Being the preface to the foreign communications contained in the appendix to the Poor-Law Report
Senior, Nassau William
Poor -- Europe; Poor -- United States; Working class
No regulations ever existed on these heads. The aged who
were destitute received, and still receive, assistance from
the charitably disposed, and from the monasteries; but this
assistance is voluntary, not obligatory.
With regard to hospitals, there are only two, one at Nauplia
and one at Syra; the first is at present given up to the
military service, and the second, belonging to the municipality
of Syra, is maintained by a small duty levied on merchandize;
the one at Nauplia was formerly supported in the same manner.
_Children._
The support of bastards falls upon their fathers. With regard
to foundlings, who are generally left clandestinely at the
church doors, the local authorities take charge of them, and
intrust them to nurses, whose expenses are defrayed by the
government; benevolent individuals likewise frequently take
charge of them, and bring them up at their own expense. The
number of foundlings supported by the government barely exceeds
forty throughout the whole State, by which it appears that
depravity of morals in Greece is not great.
For the support of destitute orphans, an establishment (the
Orphanotropheion) exists at Ægina, where many are brought up
at the expense of the government, and are taught to read and
write, and various trades. However, the nearest relations of
the orphans generally consider it to be a religious duty to
take care of them; so that, in consequence of this praiseworthy
feeling, they are seldom left entirely destitute, unless they
have no relations, or unless the latter have no means of
assistance at their disposal. Moreover, there are numerous
benevolent persons who are in the habit of taking orphans into
their houses, and bringing them up at their own expense.
Labour hitherto has not much increased in Greece; the labourers
are industrious, frugal, and attached to their relations.
I may add, that in consequence of the vast extent of land in
Greece in comparison with the number of its inhabitants, the
latter apply themselves mostly to agriculture and the care of
flocks, by which means they procure ample means of subsistence;
and the few manufactures which exist in Greece being all made
by hand, sufficient employment is to be procured by every
individual. These are the reasons why the number of the poor
is so limited, notwithstanding that late events were so much
opposed to the progress of arts and industry.
EUROPEAN TURKEY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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