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As many inquiries have been made regarding the
working of the system of poor relief at Elberfeld, one or two words may
be added in explanation. Though established by Christian men, it has no
connexion with the Church, but is entirely civic and philanthropic, nor
is it intended as a final remedy against the evil, or as one which
lessens the duty of the Church to the poor. It is considered more than
ever incumbent on each denomination to take charge of its own poor, and
fulfil those obligations to them which no city board ought or can. As
this is done, the town relief will be restricted to such waifs of
society as no religious body claims. It has been objected against its
adoption that it presumes more leisure than we in England can afford.
But an hour in the week was what a deacon had to give up to his work in
the palmy days of St John's. The average in Elbcrfeld is probably about
the same ; nor ought it to be forgotten that the town in which the
experiment has been made is the busiest in Prussia. Indeed, whatever
difficulties beset the theory have been greatly removed by its thorough
trial. It has been simplified by use, and the statutes of the Elberfeld
Poor-Law Board (Armen-Ordnung fur die Gemeinde Elberfeld) are
accessible to any one who wishes a more intimate knowledge. The
experiment may be tried on a large scale or a small. Let it be only kept
in view that the organisation must be such as to facilitate the work,
while checking any imprudence of the workers; and that the number of
poor allotted to one must never be so great as to become a burden. Since
the paper was written a letter received from a gentleman identified with
the movement, and an active member of the Prussian Herrenhaus,
carries on the story to the end of last year, and furnishes some
interesting details. The experiment was begun partially in January 1853
with 2128 souls. By March these had sunk to 1613 ; by October to 992.
The next year was hard times, and the number did not diminish. Moreover,
the ecclesiastical relief of the Lutheran body broke down, and the new
association took up their poor, so that the year 1855 began with 4017
souls. By the end of 1856 there were only 1478. Through an excessive
slackness of work the number of poor had risen in April 1858 to more
than a thousand above that of the preceding year; yet the system proved
elastic and capable. The crisis was safely met, and before November the
number had fallen to its natural limits. During 1859, notwithstanding
the war panic, the slackness of trade, the mobilising of 1200 men, and
the consequent loss of wages to their families, the number did not much
exceed, and in April was almost the same as that of 1857. At the close
of 1859—and it was as trying and exceptional a year as the system has
encountered —1743 were on the roll. Besides these, there were 630
receiving indoor relief, and distributed as follows:—175 old men and
women in the almshouse; 75 persons in the infirmary; 330 orphans in the
orphanage; and in the asylum 50 children whose parents have either
deserted them or are in prison. The total number of destitute poor,
therefore, was 2373, being, in a population of now 55,000, 44
1/3 per cent, against 11
per cent. in 1850. The expenditure for outdoor
relief in 1847 was
£7774; in 1852, £7072; in 1858, £3300; and
in 1859 about £2600. Or, to take another test, the poor-rates fell from
6s. 8d, a-head in 1849, (and not 47s., an error which the reader would
quickly correct,) to less than 3s. a-head in 1859, and the number of the
families of outdoor poor from 650 to 180. Such figures need no comment;
but in reading these statistics it must be remembered that they
represent an exhaustive poor-relief, and not that partial measure doled
out by our own system; and that the population has been steadily
increasing. Another statement of the writer is gratifying and
encouraging. Most of the visitors, superintendents, and others—in all,
the working staff is 282—have been seven years in office. At the end of
last December one-third, or 94, had permission to retire. It was natural
to expect they would use it. On the contrary, they unanimously declared
to the council their wish to remain in office. May these facts find some
who will hear them say, "Go thou and do likewise." |
