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

by Nassau William Senior

Besides this, every person receives in most of these houses, 3, 3½, 4, 5, 6, and even 7 pounds of bread weekly, and in some places a few kreutzer every week for snuff; wine is given only where there are special endowments for that purpose, mostly on certain holidays. The sick have better and lighter food and wine, as the physician thinks fit to prescribe in every case.

In some of these houses, more, and in others less, care is taken that the inmates of them do not unnecessarily go out, and that those who are able to do some work are not idle. Some hospitals have lands which they keep in their own hands, and in this case the inmates are employed as much as possible in assisting in the agricultural operations. Where there is no land, they must at least prepare the necessary firewood, carry wood and water, help in washing, cooking, and other domestic employments; they must spin, wind yarn, knit, sew, make clothes and shoes for the house, &c. In some poor-houses they are also employed in making wooden pegs for shoemakers and tilers, matches, &c.

On the whole, however, the employment of these people in the poor-houses does not produce much.

In the year 1817, and during the dearth which prevailed at that time, an old law which had fallen into desuetude was revived; according to which, the rich and opulent who, after having been previously applied to for voluntary contributions, should not come forward in a manner suitable to their property, are to be taxed by the magistrates in a sum conformable to their income, and according to all the circumstances of their situation.

The comparative situation of the pauper and the independent labourer is thus stated at the conclusion of the Government Report:—

If we now compare the situation of one of the poorest of the Wurtemberg poor who support themselves independently by their labour without external aid (see § 40.), with that of one of the more favoured of the Wurtemberg poor who lives by public charity, for instance, the inmate of an hospital, and even of a prison, it might certainly appear that the condition of the latter is preferable to that of the former.

In fact, we often see such hospital inmates, and even prisoners, attain the most advanced age, while many a poor day-labourer and artisan sinks at a much earlier age under the weight of his cares and the want of necessaries. In fact, many an inmate of an hospital, and many a prisoner, even with bodily infirmities and sufferings, still seems to find his condition quite comfortable, and shows himself thankful for the good which he enjoys, while many a day-labourer or artisan, in the enjoyment of good bodily health, feels himself miserable, and curses his existence; in fact, many a one seeks admission into the hospital who would be very well able to provide himself with necessaries by his work at home. In fact, the man often separates from his wife, or the wife from her husband, or from the children, to be received into the hospital. In fact, many a one does not economize, but squanders what he has, and does not work in order to earn something, because he thinks that he always has the right of being received into the hospital as a last resource. In fact, in many places where there are rich hospitals and other foundations, the number of the poor is proportionably greater than in places where less is done for their support. In fact, many a one continues to beg and to steal, who has already been frequently imprisoned for these offences, because he finds his situation in the workhouse very tolerable in comparison with the laborious life of a poor man at liberty.

However, the situation of the inmates of an hospital, even of those which are the most liberal to their inmates, is by no means so enviable as from the above comparison it might seem to be. Frequently their residence is embittered by their being obliged to live together with rude, quarrelsome, mad, silly, and disgusting persons. Many embitter their own lives by a discontentedness, which may either be natural to them, or communicated by others. Many dislike the kind or the quantity of the work allotted to them, the restrictions with respect to the time of going out and returning home which are prescribed by the regulations of the house. Prisoners, in particular, consider the loss of their freedom as an intolerable burden. Besides this, too, the treatment is by no means in general and in every poor-house so good as it is represented in the above comparison; hence it is not the case with all the poor received into a poor-house, that they have voluntarily sought admission there, or that they voluntarily and willingly remain in it; hence, too, the applications for admission to these houses are not everywhere equally pressing; hence the assertion that the existence of such houses increases the numbers of prodigals, idlers, and poor, cannot be taken as generally correct.