It appears by that report (pp. 397, 398) that in 1832, 141,858 current dollars, or about 25,000l. sterling, was distributed in money, by way of weekly relief among registered or regular poor, amounting at an average to 2,900 individuals, or heads of families; the smallest weekly relief being 8 schillings or 7d. sterling; the largest for an individual, 2 dollars or 7s. sterling; and for family, 3 dollars or 10s. 6d. Half of the adult paupers appear to have been foreigners. Besides the amount of money relief, considerable sums were expended in the distribution of soup, clothing, beds and bed clothing, and fuel, and in the education and maintenance of poor children, and in medical relief to the sick. Both the Consul’s report and that of the institution, lament the absence of a workhouse. “Of those who are capable, but will not work,” says the latter, “a great number to be sure will be found: the only help against this would perhaps be an institution, under a strict superintendence of the police, for compelling them to work; the want of which, from the undeniably increasing degeneration of our lowest class of people, is sensibly felt from year to year.” (p. 402.) This statement is borne out by the progressive increase of the registered paupers, from 2,332 in May 1826 to 2,969 in May 1832, and by the large amount of the regular out-door relief in money, amounting, on a population of 130,000, to very nearly 4s. a head. Further evidence of the extent of pauperism is afforded by the number of persons buried in 1832 at the expense of the institution, which was 459, or nearly one-tenth of the average number of deaths.
No means exist of forcing parents to educate their children; a defect deplored by the institution. (p. 403.)
Bremen.
2. Bremen.—The poor institutions of Bremen seem to resemble those of Hamburgh; but the general enforcement of education, the use of a workhouse, and perhaps other circumstances not mentioned in the report, appear to have rendered their results more beneficial. The following answers to questions 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 of the Commissioners’ questions, give a short outline of the existing system:—
3. To what extent and under what regulations are there district houses of industry for receiving the destitute able-bodied, or any part of their families, and supplying them with food, clothes, &c., and in which they are set to work?—There exists but one poor-house in Bremen, in which the destitute able-bodied are received, to the number of 220, lodged, fed, and clothed, for which they are bound to work, for the benefit of the institution, as far as they are able.
4. To what extent and under what regulations do any religious institutions give assistance to the destitute, by receiving them as inmates, or by giving them alms?—Independently of three houses for the lodging and partly providing for poor widows, free of expense, there are other buildings set apart for the reception of poor superannuated or helpless women; but chiefly a number of private institutions for the relief of poor deserving persons by testamentary bequests. Such are the Rheden, the Tiedemann, the Nonnen, the Von Bühren, &c., so called.
5. To what extent and under what regulations is work provided at their own dwellings for those who have trades, but do not procure work for themselves?—This is done, but in a very limited degree, at the public expense, as those who have trades come under the care and superintendence of their respective guilds, whose duty and credit it is to prevent any of their fraternity coming upon the parish, and who can easily afford the means of providing them with work. Females, on application to the poor-house, may receive hemp and flax for spinning, and are remunerated accordingly.
7. To what extent and under what regulations are fuel, clothing, or money distributed to such persons or their families; at all times of the year, or during any particular seasons?—Those who are registered in the poor-house list, and thus come under the superintendence and control of the parish officers, receive, as long as they may require assistance,—1. A small monthly allowance in money. 2. Clothing for themselves and their families. 3. If necessary, bedding. 4. In the winter, during severe frost, fuel.
8. To what extent and under what regulations are they relieved by their children being taken into schools, and fed, clothed, and educated or apprenticed?—Means are not only afforded to the poor for sending their children to school and for giving them religious instruction, but they are here compelled to do so, on pain of forfeiting all claim to parochial relief, or by other modes of punishment. That every child in the State, of whatever descent, shalt be subjected to school discipline and tuition, is founded upon the principle, that no means so effectually obviates that general poverty, among the lower classes in particular, as an attention to the development of their minds, by which they acquire that self-confidence that stimulates exertion, and that proper spirit of independence that keeps them above want, whilst by religious instruction they are impressed with a sense of the duties and advantages of good moral conduct through life. It has ever been the prevailing opinion in this Republic, that the principal duty of the State towards bettering the condition of its poorer classes, rests upon a due regard to this school discipline, and that it tends in its practice to prevent the frequent recurrence of application for relief in the same family; the descendants of which, without such control, would habitually and irrecoverably become, in their turn, dependents upon public charity. When such children have arrived at the age of 14 or 15 years, after having been taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and any other acquirement consistent with their situation, books, and other materials being furnished them by the poor-house, gratis; they are, after confirmation, generally put out to service, and thus prevented from returning to the idle habits of their parents. Girls are, in like manner, often provided for. They are taught reading, writing, knitting, and needle-work. (pp. 410, 411.)