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:--