The Vagrancy Problem.: The Case for Measures of Restraint for Tramps, Loafers, and Unemployables: With a Study of Continental Detention Colonies and Labour HousesDawson, William Harbutt
History
The Vagrancy Problem.: The Case for Measures of Restraint for Tramps, Loafers, and Unemployables: With a Study of Continental Detention Colonies and Labour Houses
Dawson, William Harbutt
Poor laws; Poor laws -- Great Britain; Tramps; Unemployed
A system of Relief Stations of this kind must cover a given area
completely in order to realise its purpose, which is to assist
destitute wayfarers to travel in search of work without being under the
necessity of begging. The best developed system yet in existence is
weakened by gaps here and there, and it was with a view to perfecting
the network of Stations in Prussia that the Government of that country,
on the initiative of Pastor von Bodelschwingh, passed the law of
June 29, 1907, for the establishment of Labour Depots for travelling
work-people (_Wanderarbeitsstättengesetz_). This novel law gives
power to the Diets of Provinces to require urban and rural districts
(circles) to establish, maintain, and administer Labour Depots; such
decisions must be supported by a majority of two-thirds of the votes
given. It is the purpose of these Labour Depots to "procure work for
destitute able-bodied men who are in search of employment away from
their place of residence, and meantime to provide them with food and
lodging in return for a task of labour." Districts in which Depots are
not established may be required to contribute to the cost of Depots
elsewhere by which they benefit. While the cost of the Depots falls,
in the first instance, on the Districts, the Provinces must refund to
them two-thirds of the costs, and the State contributes to the cost of
all Labour Registries carried on in connection with Depots. Communes
in which Depots are established must co-operate with the Districts in
their management, and on payment must provide suitable buildings, so
far as these have hitherto been used for the same purpose.
A fully organised Labour Depot, as contemplated by this law, comprises,
in addition to a workshop or workyard, a Hostel in which work-seekers
are lodged and fed in return for a task of work, and a Labour Registry.
It is not necessary that either Hostel or Registry should be carried
on independently of existing institutions of the kind so long as these
are efficient and it is possible to come to a satisfactory working
arrangement with them.
It is required that the work to be performed shall entail real
exertion, yet be suited to every man's capacity, and as far as possible
be in keeping with his normal occupation. As to the food supplied,
it is stipulated that it shall be simple yet "so abundant that the
wayfarer may remain capable of walking and working and may not be
compelled to beg on the way." The admission of wayfarers to Labour
Depots and their travelling from one Depot to another are to be
regulated by rules issued by the Provincial Authorities.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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