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 3s. to 4s., and not under 1s. 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 1200l. sterling.
Sick.
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.