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
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._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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