LIBRARY OF THE < UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. -v Class . THE PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR THE PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR BY GEOFFREY DRAGE, M.P. UNIVERSITY or LONDON ADAM & CHARLES BLACK 1895 THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE LORD HANNEN AS A SLIGHT TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE FOR HIS MANY ACTS OF KINDNESS TO THE AUTHOR AS A STUDENT \ 119537 PREFACE THE Report of the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor has given for various reasons so little satisfaction that I venture to publish the present volume. I have followed to a great extent the scheme of the Digests of the Evidence taken before the Labour Commission, in letting the witnesses before the Commission speak for themselves. No student of labour problems can afford to neglect the researches of Mr. Charles Booth, whose work in this case replaces that generally done by Assistant Commis- sioners. In dealing with his book on the Aged Poor, I have departed from the plan adopted in dealing with his own and similar works in the publications of the Labour Commission. I have given only a short sketch of the points in which the work supplements that of the Aged Poor Commission, and in so doing, I have re- arranged many of his tables to bring out these points. If this little book only serves to promote a careful study both of the Blue-books under review, and of Mr. Booth's large volume, which must rank with the Blue- books, I shall be content. viii PREFACE This volume is dedicated to the late Lord Hannen, in lieu of a larger book, the dedication of which he accepted in his lifetime, and which I have not yet been able to complete. Slight as may be its merits, I hope it will not prove altogether unworthy of being connected with his name. The method adopted of giving the authorities first hand, is more in accordance with those adopted at Lord Hannen's old university of Heidelberg than with those of English writers. I should like to express my obligation with regard to this book first and foremost to Miss A. H. Blomefield, and also in parts to Mr. Michael Furse. G. D. June 1895. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION. PAGE 1. The recent inquiry into Old Age Pauperism . . 1 2. Aim of the present work 2 3. Nature of the evidence before the Aged Poor Commis- sion ......... 3 4. Nature of the evidence in favour of State Pensions . 4 5. Criticism of some of the evidence .... 5 PART I. EXTENT AND CAUSES OF OLD AGE PAUPERISM AND THE MEANS FOR MEETING IT. CHAPTER I. EXTENT OF PAUPERISM. I. General Pauperism. 6. General statistics of pauperism ..... 9 7. Criticism of these statistics ...... 13 < CONTENTS II. Medical Relief. PAGE 8. Statistics of medical relief 13 III. Old Age Pauperism, 9. Comparison of Old Age with General Pauperism . 15 CHAPTER II. CAUSES OF OLD AGE PAUPERISM. 10. Difficulty of investigating causes of Old Age Pauperism 18 I. Moral Causes. 11. Nature of moral causes 19 II. Economic Causes. 12. Low rate of wages 25 1 3. Evidence with regard to wages of agricultural labourers 26 14. Summary of evidence with regard to agricultural wages 36 15. Evidence with regard to wages of other labourers . 38 16. Evidence with regard to female workers ... 40 17. Increased pressure on aged workers .... 43 18. Local peculiarities and unsound Friendly Societies . 44 19. General misfortune ....... 46 CONTENTS xi CHAPTER III. PRESENT MEANS OF MEETING OLD AGE POVERTY : THE POOR LAW. I. Introduction. PAGE 20. Classification of agencies 48 II. The Basis on which Relief is Given. 21. Should destitution be the only test ? . . . .49 22. Arguments in favour of the present basis ... 50 23. Arguments opposed to the present basis ... 52 III. The Administration of the Poor Law. 24. Summary of arguments for and against restriction of outdoor relief 55 25. Evidence in favour of a strict administration . . 56 26. Experience of the Whitechapel Union ... 62 27. Experience of the St. George's-in-the-East Union . 66 28. Experience of the Paddington Union .... 70 29. Experience in other London Unions .... 72 30. Experience in Birmingham, Manchester, and Oxford . 76 31. Experience in the Brix worth Union .... 80 32. Experience in Wiltshire, Brighton, and in Scotland . 84 33. Opinion that a strict Poor Law cannot meet all the needs of the aged poor 87 34. Evidence in favour of extending outdoor relief . . 91 35. Objections to a strict administration examined . . 100 IV. Assistance from Relatives. 36. Summary of arguments for and against the present law 104 37. Evidence in favour of the present law .... 105 38. Evidence opposed to the present law .... 109 xii CONTENTS V. Area for Relief. PAGE 39. Proposed extension of area for Indoor Relief . .114 40. Proposed Parish area for Outdoor Relief . . .118 VI. Treatment of Aged Indoor Paupers. 41. Almshouses for the Aged . . . . . .122 42. Better provision for the Aged in the Workhouse needed 126 VII. Pensions from Benefit Societies and Poor Law Relief. 43. Should pensioners receive Outdoor Relief? . . 135 VIII. Other Points in the Poor Law. 44. The Law of Removal 142 45. The Qualification of Guardians . . . . 144 46. Direct or indirect payment of rates . . . . 148 CHAPTER IV. PRESENT MEANS OF MEETING OLD AGE POVERTY : CHARITY AND THRIFT. I. Charity. 47. Useful co-operation of charity with Poor Law . . 150 48. Objections to charity 156 II. Thrift. 49. Summary of evidence on Friendly and other Benefit Societies 157 50. Present position and influence of Friendly Societies . 160 51. Trade Unions 185 52. Post Office Insurance schemes 187 CONTENTS xiii CHAPTER V. GENERAL RESULTS OF MR. BOOTH'S INQUIRY INTO THE CONDITIONS OF THE AGED POOR. I. Statistics of Old Age Pauperism. PAGE 53. Proportion of Paupers amongst the Aged . . .192 II. Causes of Old Age Poverty. 54. Failure of physical strength . . . . . 194 55. Difficulty of finding employment ..... 195 56. Town as compared with country .... 197 57. Local and industrial peculiarities .... 198 58. Moral causes 199 III. Present .Means of Meeting Old Age Poverty. 59. Nature and amount of Poor Law relief . . . 200 60. Nature and results of Poor Law administration . . 205 61. Private or endowed charity ...... 209 62. Assistance from relatives 211 63. Thrift ; pensions from Friendly Societies, &c. . . 212 PART II. OLD AGE PENSIONS. CHAPTER I. PROPOSED SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS IN ENGLAND. I. General Opinions with Regard to Pensions. 64. The general principle of State Pensions . . .215 xiv CONTENTS II. Mr. Chamberlain's Scheme. PAGE 65. Evidence in favour of Mr. Chamberlain's scheme . 221 66. Evidence opposed to Mr. Chamberlain's scheme . 232 III. Canon Blackley's Schemes. 67. Canon Blackley's first scheme 235 68. Canon Blackley's second scheme 237 IV. Mr. Booth's Scheme. 69. Evidence in favour of Mr. Booth's scheme . . . 238 70. Evidence opposed to Mr. Booth's scheme . . . 242 71. Mr. Price Hardy's scheme 244 V, Schemes of Mr. Earthy, Mr. Wilkinson, and Prof. Marshall. 72. Mr. Bartley's scheme 246 73. Mr. Frome Wilkinson's scheme ..... 249 74. Professor Marshall's scheme 251 VI. Other Schemes. 75. Dr. Paine's and Mr. Beavan's schemes . . . 254 76. Schemes proposed by working men .... 256 77. Schemes of Canon Hinds Howell, Messrs. Cardin and Lang, and Mr. Fatkin 259 78. Miss Hurlstone's scheme for women .... 260 CHAPTER II. OLD AGE PENSION SCHEMES IN OPERATION IN OTHER COUNTRIES. 79. Introductory 262 CONTENTS xv I. Germany. PAGE 80. Poor Law administration in Germany . . 2fi2 81. Old Age and Invalidity Insurance in Germany . . 269 82. Criticisms of the Law and its results .... 274 II. Denmark. 83. Poor Law administration in Denmark . . . 277 84. Old Age Pensions in Denmark 280 85. Criticisms of the Law and its results . . . 283 PART III. CONCLUSIONS. CHAPTER I. THE EXTENT AND CAUSES OF THE PRESENT EVIL. 86. Extent of Old Age Pauperism 286 87. Causes of Old Age Pauperism 287 CHAPTER II. REMEDIES SUGGESTED FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF OLD AGE POVERTY. 88. Classification of remedies 291 I. The Action of the State. 89. Universal State Pensions 292 II. The Action of the Individual. 90. Self-help and voluntary effort 295 xvi CONTENTS PAGE 91. The economic possibility of saving .... 296 92. Means of investment : (a) Friendly Societies . . 299 93. Means of investment : (b) Trade Unions . . .303 94. Means of investment: (c) Building and Co-operative Societies and Savings Banks 305 95. Moral conditions required 306 III. Individual Action aided by the State. 96. Post Office Savings Banks 308 97. Government Annuities 309 98. State subsidies to voluntary schemes .... 310 99. State contributory Pensions 311 CHAPTER III. REMEDIES SUGGESTED FOR THE ALLEVIATION OF OLD AGE POVERTY. I. The Action of the State. 100. Different principles underlying State action . . 313 101. State Pensions dependent upon destitution . . 314 102. The English Poor Law 315 103. Objections to the present Poor Law examined . . ;J16 104. The Guardians 322 105. The Relieving Officers :)'25 106. The Workhouse and Medical Officers . . . 327 II. The Action of the Individual. 107. The scope of private charity 328 III. State Action supplemented by the Individ-vni 108. The need of co-operation amongst the workers . .331 CONTENTS xvii APPENDICES. PAGE I. List of witnesses ........ 336 II. Circular issued by the Local Government Board re- lating to Workhouse Administration . . . 342 III. Nursing in Workhouses and Workhouse Infirmaries . 351 IV. Sheffield Union Scheme for Classification . . .356 INDEX . 365 INTRODUCTION 1. IN his Introduction to Mr. Spender's volume on " The The recent State and Pensions in Old Age/' Mr. A. H. D. Acland, ^"oS writing at the beginning of 1 892, expressed the follow- Age ing opinion : " When we remember the gaps in our auper knowledge, the grave questions of policy which are raised by schemes for pensioning the aged, and the importance of taking no wrong step which may here- after need to be retraced, the question arises, whether the time is not ripe for a thorough inquiry into the whole subject of State Pensions for the old, and of Poor Law administration in its bearing on the matter, such as a Royal Commission, perhaps, could alone undertake. In any case, the facts or figures which can be provided by Government Departments will not be sufficient to meet the case. The opinions of Friendly Societies and Trade Unions on the newer proposals, such as that of Mr. Booth, will have to be elicited. And the reports of able Sub-Commissioners, who could approach the matter in a thoroughly independent spirit, untrammelled by official traditions, as to the life of the poor in old age and the present Poor Law methods of providing relief, would probably be of the highest value." * Since this was written a Royal Commission to inquire into the * "The State and Pensions in Old Age." By J. A. Spender. London : Swan, Sonnenschein & Co. 1892. P. xxvi. 1 2 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR p..] conditions of the aged poor has been appointed, and the evidence received by it now lies before us. It must be noticed, however, that one part of Mr. Acland's proposal, namely, the appointment of Sub-Commissioners, was not carried out, and the investigation was therefore restricted to the examination of sixty-nine witnesses summoned by the Commission. This is, perhaps, to be regretted, since an inquiry conducted on the spot by able and impartial investigators, into the conditions of life and industry and the methods of Poor Law administration, in various typical unions, would no doubt have done much to de- termine how far the welfare of the aged poor in any district depends upon the policy adopted by the Poor Law guardians ; a question to which it is difficult to ob- tain an impartial answer from witnesses who were for the most part pledged to one policy or another, and more or less directly interested in Poor Law administra- tion. It is of the more value and importance, there- fore, that an independent investigation should have been carried on under the direction of Mr. C. Booth, himself one of the Commissioners ; part of which, con- sisting of personal inquiries into the circumstances of the individual aged poor in certain villages, was due to the suggestion of Mr. Acland, and has been effected with the co-operation of Mr. Spender. Aim of the ^. In the present volume I have endeavoured to present place before the reader the results of the Government and of the private inquiry, in the form of a concise summary : first, of all the evidence taken by the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor, arranged under the main heads of the inquiry ; and, secondly, of the infor- mation contained in Mr. Booth's volume on " The Aged Poor in England and Wales/' arranged as far as possible under similar heads, for the sake of convenience of reference ; and have added to these some account of INTRODUCTION 3 the Poor Law and Old Age Pension systems adopted [2.] in Germany and Denmark, the only two countries which have as yet State pensions for the aged in operation.* Finally, I have pointed out the main conclusions which are, I believe, to be drawn from the careful study and comparison of these various sources of information ; conclusions which, in the case of the Aged Poor Com- mission, I have based entirely upon the evidence itself, without reference to the Report. Some points in which these conclusions differ from those of some of the Com- missioners are dealt with below, but it may be well here to call attention to a few striking features of the evi- dence taken before the Commission. 3. First, it must be observed that the evidence falls Nature into two distinct groups. The Commission held its first evidence sitting for the purpose of hearing witnesses on Febru- before the ary 7th, 1893, and in the period from that date to Coramis- July 19th, 1893, examined forty-nine persons. f The sion - evidence was then apparently closed. These witnesses constituted a fairly representative body, including, it is true, a large proportion of persons (twenty-two in all) personally engaged in some form of Poor Law adminis- tration, but including also representatives of the Friendly Society and Trade Union movements, the chief advocates of State pension schemes, and several well-known philanthropists and workers amongst the poor. The result of their evidence, so far as it related directly to State pension schemes, was a slight balance of opinion * A Bill passed the French Chamber on April loth, 1895, pro- viding State subsidies to superannuation pensions for working- men. j- The names of all the witnesses examined in this and the subsequent period, with an account of their positions or of the interests they represented, are given (in the order of evidence) as an Appendix to this volume. 4 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [3.] in opposition to any new departure of the kind, and in favour of the principle of self-help. The number of witnesses who had definitely pronounced in favour of some State-supported, or State-promoted, pension scheme was thirteen, the number who expressed disapproval of such schemes, fifteen. The Commission appears to have been dissatisfied with this result, or with the selection of witnesses, for on February 13th, 1894, it re-com- menced hearing evidence, and between that date and March 1 5th, 1 894, when the evidence was finally closed, twenty persons were examined. Of this number sixteen were working-men, and the remainder, a workhouse inmate, a lady who has made a special study of working- women, a Building Society official, and an assistant secretary to the Local Government Board. The balance of opinion amongst these witnesses was in the opposite direction ; thirteen were in favour of some form of State old age pension, and three w r ere against any such system. Taking both periods of evidence to- gether, therefore, we obtain a total of twenty-six wit- nesses who advocate pensions, and eighteen who have definitely opposed them. Nature ^* ^ mav > however, be interesting to analyse further of evidence this group of twenty-six witnesses, with a view to dis- ^f State coverui g which form of pension scheme is most popular Pensions, amongst them, and how far they are unanimous in their opinions. It appears that eight witnesses, in addition to Mr. Chamberlain, support the pension scheme sug- gested by him. Of these, only one gave evidence in the first period during 1893, and amongst the seven others, all of whom belong to the working classes, five belong to Birmingham or the immediate neighbourhood, and appear, from their evidence, to be influenced more by the personal confidence they place in Mr. Chamber- lain than by any critical examination of his scheme, or INTRODUCTION 5 comparison of it with other schemes. One witness, in [4.] addition to Mr. Booth, supported the scheme which is propounded by the latter, this witness also giving evidence during the period subsequent to February 13th, 1 894 ; and the remaining fifteen witnesses each pro- pounded a distinct scheme, although it is true that some two or three admitted that in case they could not obtain their own schemes they would accept Mr. Chamberlain's or Mr. Booth's. In view of these facts we shall do well to recall the warnings given by Mr. Acland, in the Introduction already referred to, that " until there is a reasonable consensus of opinion as to what is to be the principle underlying any national scheme, should such a scheme be desirable, it will be necessary to exercise the greatest caution before embarking on any kind of legislation Pension schemes are more irre- vocable than any ordinary kind of legislation. The deferred and constantly accumulating liability which they involve is specially difficult to commute or readjust to new conditions."* 5. A further feature which I have noticed in the Criticism evidence is that the testimony of the working-men o f s j e witnesses is sometimes rendered less valuable than it evidence. otherwise would be, by the fact that the opinions they express appear to be suggested to them in the course of examination by leading questions rather than elicited from them as a statement of their own views. As a rather striking instance of what I mean, I may perhaps be allowed to quote in full the cross examination of Mr. Callear by Mr. Chamberlain. " 14-913. Mr. Callear, among working-men there is a very strong feeling, is there not, about this administration of the Poor Law ? Very strong, indeed, sir. 14914. A feeling that the * "The State and Pensions in Old Age." By J. A. Spender. London: Swan, Sonnenschein & Co. 1892. Pp. xx-xxi., xxii. 6 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [5.] house is forced upon them when a more liberal adminis- tration of outdoor relief would be the right thing ? That is so. 14915. There has been no serious agitation about it public agitation has there ? No, certainly not ; it has not amounted to a public agitation. 14916-7. But suppose some man of local influence and importance were to put himself at the head of such an agitation suppose, let us say, to give you an illustration, a man like Mr. Collings were to go round your part of the country and agitate in favour of an alteration in the Poor Law, do you think he would carry the people with him ? Certainly ; the people seem to be made up against the system altogether, arid they prefer a change. 14f)18. All the people that you know are against the system, against the Poor Law system? Just so. 14919- And yet up to the present time there has been no serious agitation ? None whatever. 14920. But if some poli- tician of eminence and influence were to put himself at the head of an agitation against the system, would you follow him? Yes; I think so. 14921. Do you think there would be a very serious agitation then ? Yes ; I think the agitation would point to a change there from the difference in administering the Poor Law and to administering it by an old age pension. 14922. My object was to find out from you whether you thought there might be a dangerous agitation if nothing were done, and whether the provision of an old age pension scheme might do something to prevent a dangerous agitation ? Just so, I believe that." That this witness is led to make a final admission con- siderably in advance of the views he was at first pre- pared to express, will perhaps be more clearly seen if I quote from his previous evidence, when examined by the Chairman in the usual manner, the only statements which he makes with regard to the operation of the INTRODUCTION 7 present Poor Law. " 148 76. What is the feeling with [5.] respect to indoor relief in your district ? There is a rather strong antipathy to it, and there is a widespread belief that the poor are harshly treated in the work- house, but it is rather difficult to bring up cases in point. 14877. What proportion of those receiving Poor Law relief receive it in the workhouse ? That I could not say. 14-878. Do you believe it to be a large one? Well, fairly large, I w r ould think. I have been seeking this last few days to get a Return of the outdoor paupers in our district, but I have failed to be success- ful ; I made application to the clerk of the guar- dians 14-883. I suppose if it were well managed it would be a very great advantage to old people who cannot take care of themselves, and who cannot have a comfortable home, to go into a place where they get warmth and sufficient food and lodging for nothing ? Unquestionably, my Lord. 14884-. But, however, as I understand, you complain of the workhouse as not properly conducted ? Well, it is not a bed of roses, and there is a great antipathy against it, and perhaps not without cause in every case. 14885. How about the outdoor relief? Well, there is an opinion in the dis- trict where I come from that it is not at all liberal ; indeed, that it is the other way, and it perhaps is made so, because generally in my district when people apply for relief they are offered the house 14888. We will come now, if you please, to the pension scheme ; these being the objections that you have against the indoor and the outdoor relief, what say you to a pension scheme for the benefit of the aged poor? Well, it seems to be a general impression in my neighbourhood, my Lord, that it would be highly preferable to the present system which is in operation. I have heard certainly I do not know with what accuracy that it 8 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [5.] costs us about 50 per cent, to administer the present Poor Law, and we do not think that the cost, if a pension scheme were in operation, would be nearly as much as that; the cost to the State, I mean. 14889. Have you ever heard of any scheme which in your opinion would be acceptable to the working people without injuring their character ? The district I come from is pretty near to Birmingham, and we have heard of Mr. Chamberlain's pension scheme, and that seems to be the scheme around which our ideas cling as the scheme which we should certainly go for." PART I* EXTENT AND CAUSES OF OLD AGE PAUPER- ISM AND THE MEANS FOR MEETING IT CHAPTER I EXTENT OF PAUPERISM I. General Statistics. 6. THE witnesses who have been examined with re- Statistics of gard to the number of paupers, have agreed in stating P au P er that the general pauperism of the country has largely decreased of late years. Mr. Booth and others maintain, however, that aged pauperism has not decreased in the same proportion as general pauperism. That general pauperism has decreased is shown by a comparison be- tween the amounts of pauperism in the years 184-9, 1872, and 1892, which Sir Hugh Owen, who is Perma- Sir Hugh Owen nent Secretary to the Local Government Board, and who has been connected with the Poor Law for forty years, gives in his evidence. The following table shows at a glance the result of this comparison ; Year. Indoor. Outdoor. Total. Indoor per 1000 Pop. Outdoor per icoo Pop. Total, per 1000. 1849 I 33S I 3 955.146 1,088,659 7-7 55- 62.7 1872 149,200 828,000 976,593 6.6 36.3 42.9 1892 186,607 55 8 .I50 744.757 6.4 19.2 25.6 * Summary of evidence given before the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor. 10 PROBLEM O.F THE AGED POOR [6.] The mean between the number of paupers on January 1st and July 1st has been taken in each case. It must be remembered that the population has increased. If the amount of pauperism had borne the same proportion to the population in 1892 as it bore in 184-9, the number of indoor paupers in 1 892 would have been 224,000 in- stead of 186,000, a difference of 38,000, and the number of outdoor paupers would have been 1,598,000 instead of 558,000, a difference of 1,040,000. If the proportion in 1892 had been the same as in 1872, the figures in 1892 would have been indoor paupers, 191,800, a difference of 5800 ; and outdoor paupers, 1,055,000, or a difference of 497,000. It must also be noted that the large decrease has been arrived at through the restric- tion of outdoor relief that is to say, by following the recommendations of the Poor Law Commissioners of 1834, and the original intention of the Reformed Poor Law. With regard to the amount of aged pauperism, Sir Hugh Owen states that in 1892 there were 1,372,000 persons over sixty-five years of age in the countiy ; of these there were 68,000 male indoor paupers and 46,000 females, making a total of 114,000. The number of outdoor paupers was males, 95,000, females, 192,000 ; making a total of 287,000. Of these no less than 25,000 received medical relief only. Deducting this number, the proportion of aged males per thousand of the population over sixty-five years of age was 251, and of females 292 that is to say, a total proportion of 26 Rt Hon J per cent. Mr. Chamberlain examines the statistics of lain aged pauperism further, with a view of showing the large proportion of the aged among the working classes who are in receipt of poor relief. According to Mr. Burt's return of 1890, it appears that out of a total population of 1,322,000 persons over sixty-five years of age, 245,000 were in receipt of relief on one particular EXTENT OF PAUPERISM 11 day in the year. These figures give a proportion of one [6.] pauper over sixty-five years of age to every five and a half of the population over the same age. According to Mr. Charles Booth's calculations it is necessary to add roughly 40 per cent, to the number of paupers on one day in order to arrive at the numbers who receive relief during the whole year. If this is done,, the total number of paupers becomes 344,000, or a proportion of 1 in 4 ; but, it is estimated that one-third of the total popula- tion belong to that class of society which is generally known as the " well-to do." Deducting this number from the total population over sixty-five, the proportion of paupers to the population over that age who may be termed the working classes, is no less than 1 in 2j. Mr. Ritchie published a return of the number of paupers in receipt of relief on January 1st, 1892, and also the number of those who had received relief during the year 1 892. According to this return it appears that the total number of aged paupers had increased, since Mr. Burt's return, to 401,000, while the population above the age of sixty-five had increased to 1,372,000. De- ducting one-third of this number for the "well-to- do," the ratio of paupers to population becomes 1 in 2 instead of 1 in 2j according to Mr. Burt's return. The calculations which Mr. Charles Booth has made Mr have led him to take even a stronger view of the amount of old age pauperism. In the first place, he maintains that if a longer period than one year is taken, the amount of aged pauperism is increased enormously. This opinion he arrived at by careful inquiries which he made both in the Pacldington and Stepney Unions. In the former union a practice has been adopted, for two years, of giving each pauper a number. By this means the total number of different persons receiving relief can be distinguished from the total number of 12 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [6.] times relief has been given. The conclusions drawn from these investigations are, that if the inquiry into the statistics of pauperism is extended over two years instead of one, 50 per cent, must be added to the number of aged paupers, while the number of general paupers is doubled. By this Mr. Booth desires to show that although many are not completely destitute, yet they are so near destitution that at intervals, it may be of months or years, they have to apply for relief ; conse- quently the statistics of aged pauperism for one year are not a sufficient criterion of the real amount of poverty in the country amongst this class of person. In the second place, Mr. Booth draws a further conclusion from Mr. Burt's return viz., that the amount of pau- perism increases considerably after the age of sixty- five. According to this return, the proportion of aged paupers to the rest of the paupers in the country is 29 per cent, to 4j per cent., or, excluding children, 29 per cent, to less than 4 per cent. But the pauperism of those aged sixty to sixty-five in one year appears to be 8 per cent. Mr. Booth concludes that there are not more than 5 per cent, of paupers amongst those aged fifty to sixty, and that more than five-sixths of the pau- perism over sixty-five must be accounted for as old age pauperism i.e., pauperism due mainly to old age itself. Mr Fatkin Mr Fatkin, manager and actuary of the Leeds Per- manent Benefit Building Society, stated that " in Bir- mingham (three unions) the pauperism of those above sixty-five years of age is 276 per thousand. In Leeds (four unions) the pauperism of those above sixty-five Canon years of age is 242 per thousand." Canon Blackley ackley obtained returns from some seventy country parishes * * The names of these parishes are not mentioned. It is, therefore, impossible to say whether this high rate of pauper EXTENT OF PAUPERISM 13 from which he concludes that over 40 per cent, of those [6.] who die above the age of sixty die as paupers. 7. Now, according to these statistics the amount of Criticism aged pauperism throughout the country appears very ^at^tS large, so large in fact that the advocates of State pensions make it their principal argument for the adoption of their proposals. But three points should be noticed in these statistics : (i.) Persons receiving medical relief only are not distinguished from those in receipt of regular relief; nor are pauper burials distinguished, (ii.) These statistics are not compared with statistics of former years, and therefore it is im- possible to see whether there has been an increase or a decrease in the amount of this class of pauperism. (iii.) The causes of this large amount of pauperism do not appear. II. Medical Relief. 8. With regard to the first point, the opponents Statistics of State pensions maintain that the inclusion of those ^S^* who have received medical relief vitiates the statistics, and renders them no true criterion of the amount of actual pauperism. For, it is maintained, many persons who are perfectly able to buy a bottle of medicine for themselves, prefer to go to the relieving officer for it ; they are reckoned as paupers, although not in any way destitute, and consequently the returns of pauperism are unduly increased and thereby vitiated. The amount of medical relief given varies considerably in different unions, but from the evidence it appears that through- out the country it is very freely given.* Mr. Vallance, valiance deaths has any connection with the administration of the Poor Law. * The Medical Relief Disqualification Removal Act of 1885 14 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [8.] guardian of the Whitechapel Union, says that the relieving officer dares not refuse medical relief when an applicant says there is urgent necessity for it ; and, generally speaking, there seems no hesitation on the part of the poor to apply for it or on the part of the guardians Mr to grant it. The following figures, which Mr. Senior lergl Fothergill includes in his evidence, show the very large amount of medical relief pauperism in one union. In 1883, in the Birmingham Union there were 4905 outdoor paupers, and 2524 indoor paupers (excluding lunatics and medical relief cases), and in the same year there were 8509 medical relief cases only that is to say, there were 1080 more medical relief cases than the number of outdoor and indoor cases put together. The amount of pauperism has been considerably reduced in this union since the year 1883, and medical relief has been restricted ; nevertheless, the amount of medical relief given is still greater than the indoor and out- door relief put together. The figures in 1892 were indoor and outdoor relief, 3907 ; medical relief, 4283. Mr Mr. Jephcott, a working engineer at Birmingham, Jephcott ex pi a i ns the large proportion of medical relief there by the fact that the reception of this form of relief and treatment in the w r orkhouse infirmary are not con- sidered by the poor to carry with them any stigma of pauperism. They look upon the infirmary as a public hospital only, and not as a section of the workhouse. Mr Mr. Elcock, guardian of the Wimborne Union in Elcock Dorsetshire, states that about one-half of the outdoor removed from any person who has received Poor Law medical relief for himself, or any member of his family, the disqualifica- tion to which he was previously subject as regards voting in certain elections. Medical relief, therefore, stands upon rather a different footing to other forms of Poor Law relief, but its receipt is often only the first step towards permanent pauperism. EXTENT OF PAUPERISM 15 pauperism is that of aged persons. Medical relief as [8.] well as ordinary out-relief is given very freely in this union, and the amount of outdoor pauperism is nine- tenths of the total pauperism. According to the last census, the population of this union was 17,878; on January 1st, 1892, the total number of paupers amounted to 841, which gives a proportion of paupers to popula- tion of 4*7 per cent., whereas the proportion throughout the county is only a little over 2 per cent. On the other hand, in the Brixworth Union no medical relief is given, while the ratio of indoor and outdoor aged paupers to the total population is about 3 per cent. III. Old Age Pauperism. 9. From these facts it appears reasonable to conclude Compari- that if medical relief were excluded from the returns of s ? n of 9, ld Age with aged pauperism, the ratio of aged paupers to the popu- General lation would be materially decreased. This is admitted Pau P erism - by Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Booth, Canon Blackley, and other advocates of State pensions ; but they answer that even with these deductions the amount of aged pau- perism demands the establishment of some scheme of State pensions. They maintain further, as already mentioned, that although general pauperism has de- creased, old age pauperism has not decreased by any means in the same proportion. It is true that before Mr. Burt's return of 1 890 there was no return of the amount of old age pauperism throughout the country. It is therefore impossible to make any general com- parison. It is, however, possible to show that in dif- ferent counties the amount of old age pauperism cor- responds, to a certain extent at least, with the amount of total pauperism, and also that in certain unions there has been a decided decrease in the amount of aged 16 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [9.] pauperism during the last twenty years. For instance, in Hertfordshire the amount of aged pauperism is very ' large, as is also the amount of general pauperism. In Shropshire both are low, as is also the case in Berkshire. Mr In the Paddington Union, according to Mr. Fuller, Fuller there has been a decrease in aged pauperism since 1885. In that year there were 173 aged paupers, while in 1892 there were only 98. Out-relief has been very much restricted in this union during late years, although it has not been abolished. In the Manchester Mr Union, it appears from the evidence of Mr. McDougall McDougall that there has been a very marked decrease in aged pauperism since 1872. In that year a restrictive policy of out-relief was inaugurated. On July 1st, 1872, there were in all 2120 aged men and women in receipt of relief; on July 1st, 1892, there were only 941. In the Brixworth Union, in Northamptonshire, there has been a similar decrease.* In London, on the other hand, there has been an increase in the number of aged indoor paupers, although there has been a great decrease in the total amount of pauperism. This Mr increase Mr. Hedley, Poor Law Inspector for the Hedley Metropolis, attributes to the London infirmary system. It appears to be the general opinion among those witnesses acquainted with this system that the increased comforts afforded have attracted the poor and added to the amount of aged pauperism. It appears, therefore, that although it is impossible to compare the total amount of aged pauperism at the present time with the total amount in previous years, it is at least pos- * Mr. Loch has estimated that, in 1871, 56 per cent, of the population over sixty in this union were paupers, whereas in 1891 only 5.7 per cent, were in a similar position. There has been a reduction of the same kind in the Bradfield Union. See " Old Age Pensions and Pauperism," C. S. Loch. EXTENT OF PAUPERISM 17 sible to make the comparison in particular unions. [9.] The result of these comparisons appears to be that under certain circumstances of administration aged pauperism has decreased proportionately with general pauperism. CHAPTER II CAUSES OF OLD AGE PAUPERISM Difficulty 10. IT is far easier to determine the extent of old age f 'atim?" P au P er i sm than to ascertain its causes. There are many causes of difficulties to be encountered before arriving; at the true Old Age f . . iii? Pauperism, causes or pauperism in general, and or aged pauperism in particular. For, owing to the way in which the poor migrate from place to place, it is often impossible to find any one who knew them in their earlier life. The reason why they are in their present condition can therefore only be learnt from the paupers in such cases, and the accuracy of this information obviously cannot be relied upon. A large amount of evidence was, how- ever, tendered with regard to the causes of old age pauperism, the greater part of which falls under two heads viz. (l) moral causes, which lie in most cases within the power of the paupers to prevent ; and (2) economic causes, which are generally beyond the con- trol of the paupers. It will, however, be seen from the evidence which follows that these two classes of causes to a great extent act and react upon one another. I. Moral Causes. Nature of 11. The moral causes which conduce to old age pan- causes perism are of two kinds namely, such positive causes as are to be found in intemperance and other forms of vice, and such negative causes as consist in the absence CAUSES OF OLD AGE PAUPERISM 19 of thrift and energy. Mr. Knollys, Mr. Davy, and Mr. [H.] Hedley, Government officials, are all unanimous in the Mr general opinion that the majority of inmates of work- I M r yS houses are undeserving, and have come there through Davy their own fault. Drink, improvidence, and general Hedley want of "backbone," have been contributory causes in reducing them to pauperism. This applies both to general and aged paupers. There are always a certain number of deserving cases amongst the mass of un- deserving ones ; these Mr. Knollys attributes to " low wages " wages, that is to say, which have been too low to enable the man to live decently and at the same time to provide for his old age. Mr. Davy maintains that the inmates of workhouses are not fair specimens of the working population. They are failures, many from drunkenness or vice, many also from slackness, want of backbone, and generally weak character. To confirm this view he states that no man who has been a consistent teetotaller is ever known to apply for relief. The conclusion which he draws is that a man who has sufficient character to be a teetotaller has sufficient character to keep off the rates. " Teetotallism," he says, "is not only thrift, but an indication of character." Mr. Hedley, while concurring in these views, attributes the large amount of indoor aged pauperism in London to the infirmary system, and his opinion is confirmed by other witnesses. Mr. Vallance, of the Whitechapel Mr Union, gives a minute analysis of the causes of the pau- Vallance perism of those over sixty-five years of age in the work- house or infirmary of that union. Of the male indoor paupers on February 20th, 1893, 6O8 per cent, were paupers on account of sickness ; 8 per cent, on account of drink ; 20 "3 per cent, on account of improvidence, and 1 '9 per cent, on account of " apparent mis- fortune." Of the females, sickness accounted for 8 - 2 20 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [11.] per cent. ; improvidence and drink, for 48-5 per cent., " apparent misfortune/' for 14'0 per cent. Drink and improvidence, he says, should be coupled together, as they generally accompany each other. The calculation of the number of those who have become paupers through improvidence was largely based on the question whether the pauper, or, if a female, the pauper's hus- band, was at the time of his marriage a subscriber to a sick club, or a depositor in a savings bank. Mr. Val- lance also gives the percentage of the paupers over sixty- five who were in receipt of relief before that age and before sixty. Of the 54 males over sixty-five years of age in the w r orkhouse, 40*7 per cent, were in receipt of relief before they reached the age of sixty-five, and of these in turn 18*5 per cent, were in receipt of relief before the age of sixty. Of the 135 females, over sixty- five years of age in the workhouse, 54 per cent, were paupers before sixty-five, and 31 per cent, before sixty. There were only two aged outdoor paupers. Both of these were females, who had been chargeable Mr for 25 years and upwards. Mr. Allen, of the St. Pancras Allen Union, states that after some very careful inquiries by the workhouse officials and others, it appeared that out of 440 men in the workhouses, 300 at least had come there through drink, vice and idleness. The causes of female pauperism were more various. Drink and im- providence accounted for a certain number, but not such a large proportion as in the case of the men. Chronic sickness accounted for a large number, cases of sickness, &c., which the public hospitals would not take ; while a certain number had apparently come in on the plea of destitution, but in reality on account of their "incompatibility of temper." These cases were paid for by the relatives. Mr. Allen also states that he does not think that out of a population of 234,437, according to the census of 1891, there are more than 100 old men CAUSES OF OLD AGE PAUPERISM 21 and 150 old women who are inmates through misfortune. [11.] This estimate the master, matron, and medical super- intendent in the same union consider too high. The medical officer's opinion is that " probably the great cause of pauperism (general and aged), and the disease which so often accompanies it, is intemperance." This, he maintains, is confirmed by the fact that 90 per cent, of the total admissions are granted on the plea of sick- ness or infirmity. Mr. McDougall, from the Manchester Mr Union, gives some interesting evidence on this subject. One cause of the high rate of the general pauperism in this union, he maintains, is the density of the population : there are several large lodging-houses in the union district containing 400 or 500 beds each. This opinion is confirmed by the experience of Lord Aberdare, the chairman of the Commission. When he inquired into the statistics of crime, he found that it depended more on the density of population than anything else. The main cause of aged pauperism, Mr. McDougall believes, can be found in the paupers themselves, though occa- sionally aged persons come on to the rates owing to the fact that they have helped others to such an extent that they have left nothing with which to help themselves. To confirm his opinion that the proportion of really deserving aged persons who come before the guardians for relief is very small compared to the total number, Mr. McDougall gives some details of a charitable work in which he has been occupied during the last seven years. He was led to start this work because he saw that in some cases thoroughly deserving aged persons were reduced to the workhouse through no fault of their own. He therefore undertook to relieve as many of such persons as his private means would allow. All cases which the relieving officers consider are or may be deserving they send on to him. He then makes full inquiries, and relieves them if he thinks they are of 22 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [11.] the right class, and thus saves them from the degradation of pauperism. Mr. McDougall does not confine his charitable work to the Manchester Union proper, but is in constant communication with all the relieving officers throughout the city of Manchester. He is now helped in the financial part of the work by a friend who pays for the relief of 50 cases per annum. Mr. McDougall himself relieves some 40 or 50 cases besides, and between them he believes confidently that they hear of and meet all the thoroughly deserving cases in Manchester. In other words, the deserving cases of aged pauperism in this city number only between 90 and 100. There is no other Charity Organisation in the place which deals with this class of relief. It may be that a certain number of cases are never heard of even by the relieving officers ; but after making allow- ance for such cases, it would seem that in Manches- ter, at all events, most of the aged pauperism which does exist is due to the bad character and improvident habits of the paupers themselves. Further evidence is given with regard to Manchester by the master of the Major Crumpsall workhouse, Major Ballantine. Speaking of Ballantine ne g enera j characteristics of the inmates of his work- house, he says that they are, on the whole, a fair type of the working classes, but that many have been reduced to the " House " because they have been brought up in bad surroundings, are of weak physique, and have been persons of intemperate habits. The men have been mostly labourers, mill-hands, tailors, hawkers, &c. The women have been mill-hands, servants, tailoresses, and of various other trades. The female mill-hands are badly paid : this has undoubtedly a good deal to do with their becoming paupers. The men who have been mill-hands have not the same excuse : their wages are good, and they can save if they choose to do so. Miss Octavia CAUSES OF OLD AGE PAUPERISM 23 Hill, who says that she has " been at work in London [11.] since she was eleven years old, in and out among the Miss O poor," most emphatically states that she does not believe those who are really thrifty ever come upon the rates. This is the opinion to which many years' work as a rent collector and worker among the poor has brought her. Debt, she maintains, is one of the chief causes of pauperism ; first of general pauperism, and then of old age pauperism. Drink is another important cause, while on the whole pauperism may be ultimately traced back to a general want of character. Miss Octavia Hill and Mr. Mackay, of St. George's-in-the- Mr East, and others who have had experience in London, are all very strong in their opinion that it is want of character, not of money, which is the main cause of poverty. Mr. Mackay's own experience is that aged paupers have generally been paupers in their early life. Mr. Cox, from Shoreditch, gives much the same account Mr Cox viz., that the pauperism is due to want of thrift rather than want of sufficient wages. In that particular district there are four principal trades cabinet-making, boot trade, artificial flower-making, and fancy box manu- facture. These two latter trades are very fluctuating, owing to changes in fashions, &c., but the wages ob- tained are good on the whole. Mr. Phelps, from Oxford, Rev L R expresses a very strong opinion on this subject. He^ e ps maintains that in the Oxford workhouse he has never known a single pauper who had previously lived a respectable life, nor has he ever come across a pauper who had been a consistent teetotaller. He further states that not more than 1 per cent, of the aged are paupers. Mr. Allen, a working carpenter in Birming- Mr Allen ham, attributes one-third of old age pauperism to intemperance alone ; and Mr. Webb, a market gar- Mr Webb dener at Bromsgrove, believes that the majority of the 24 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [11.] old age paupers have been idle and improvident. Canon Canon Bury, Chairman of the Brixworth Union, empha- ury tically denies that "pauperism is the inevitable lot of the agricultural labourers in their old age." He main- tains that the general and aged pauperism in a country district depends almost entirely upon the manner in which the Poor Law is administered. In the Brixworth Union out-relief has been practically abolished. Out of every hundred of the population there are about three paupers over sixty years of age. Canon Bury maintains that out of every five labourers one is very good, one is very bad, and three are middling. Of these the one who is very good and the three who are middling can well provide for their old age. The one who is very bad is commonly known as a " shack," who may be described as "a sort of ne'er-do-well man who loves Mr beer more than he loves work." Mr. Booth estimates that not less than two-thirds of the unskilled labour class are paupers in, and mainly because of, old age. " This I consider," he says, " too large a proportion of any class to make a sweeping condemnation of." Low wages is the cause which he attributes for the pauperism of this class. Speaking of the saving among the working classes, he admits that it has increased con- siderably even among the agricultural labourers, but he maintains that the power of saving is practically limited by human nature and low wages. He admits that a young man can provide for his old age comparatively easily if he is earning fair wages, and begins to save before marriage. But, he says, "young men do not and will not do so as a rule. Human nature must be taken as it is found, and while it remains what it is now their old age provision will not be made to any great extent." It appears therefore that among the lower unskilled labourers, Mr. Booth considers aged pauperism due to CAUSES OF OLD AGE PAUPERISM 25 low wages ; among the better paid artisans he considers [11.] the reason to be " the present state of human nature/' which refuses to do that which it can and ought to do. In this Mr. Booth appears practically to agree with such witnesses as Miss Octavia Hill and others, who, as it has been said, maintain that the cause of pauperism is to be found in the pauper's own character, and that conse- quently to do away with pauperism the character of the nation must be improved. Mr. Bartley, speaking of the Mr subject of wages generally, says : " I think, to a very Bartle y great extent, a provision for old age is more or less a matter of habit .... and I believe strictly that if everybody in the world did what they should do, they could provide for themselves, .... able-bodied persons of all ranks, I think, with encouragement would ulti- mately be able to provide for themselves. There is no doubt a great movement going on in which wages are going up, even at the bottom of the scale ; the division of the results of industry is more even ; there is no doubt all the statistics of the income-tax and other returns show that the larger incomes are less and that the amount of interest in profits is more divided ; and I think that w r ith these changes going on, while at the same time you are encouraging the habit of thrift, the result will ultimately be this, that the great bulk of the people will provide for themselves, and that is what I have tried in these measures to encourage." * II. Economic Causes. 12. The chief economic causes of old age pauperism, Low as given by the witnesses, are the lowness of wages in 'JJages. certain trades, which hinders a working man from making * Alluding to certain Provident Bills proposed in the House of Commons. 26 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [12.] any provision for old age,, and the increasing industrial stress, which throws men out of work at a comparatu ely early age. The evidence which has been given on the subject of wages has been for the most part confined to the wages of the agricultural and the casual labourer. Most of the witnesses who have given evidence on this point appear to agree in considering that the wages of the agricultural labourer, although considerably increased during the last thirty years, are still low ; but there appears to be a diversity of opinion as to whether the agricultural labourer can, if he chooses to do so, make provision for his old age even with the present wages which he receives. wkhre n ard 13 ' Mr ' Edwards ' Secretarv of the Norfolk Labourers' to wages of Union, states that the nominal weekly \vage is about 11*. agricultural The labourer can, however, earn certain extra sums at labourers. Mr harvest time, &c., which add to his yearly income. Edwards Taking these extra earnings into account, and deducting half a day a week for forty-eight weeks, which the labourer loses through bad weather, his total wages amount to something over 13*. a week on an average i.e., from 33 to .35 a year. These wages, Mr. Edwards states, allow r of a regular subscription (of about 9^- a month) being paid to a Trade Union, and also of a subscription to a Friendly Society ; but the labourers cannot do more than this in the way of providing for their old age. Thirty years ago, he says, this would have been impossible : at that time the average weekly wage was about 8*. The rise in wages Mr. Edwards attributes in a considerable degree to the work of Trade Unions. The average rent of a cottage in Norfolk is about 1*. (>d. a perch, or <2 to 2 1 3*. 4 a week. There is a ganger who works under these, and without any difficulty he can earn from 30*. to <2 a week. Then we have a great field for the employment of labour, and the wage rate of the ordinary labourer would vary from 18*. to 30*. a week. That does not include what I should call the skilled labourer that is, the ordinary labourer." Again he says : f( There is ample employment in consequence of the large increase of industries along our foreshore. We are verging on the Channel, and along the whole of that foreshore there are large industries constantly being originated, and I think that gives great employ- CAUSES OF OLD AGE PAUPERISM 39 ment and increases the field for employment." Mr. [15.] Beavan, however, who is also a Guardian of the Cardiff Beavan Union, disagrees with Dr. Paine with regard to the amount of wages. He states that a trimmer, working eight or ten hours a day for six days in the week, would not earn more than 3, while the unskilled labourer might earn as much as 30*. a week, but not more. Mr. Mr Callear, a shingler at Tipton, and Mr. Nokes, a working ^ndMr gardener at Bromsgrove, both consider that the chief Nokes cause of pauperism in their district is slackness and irre- gularity of employment, and not voluntary idleness or want of thrift. Mr. Jephcott also states that it is Mr impossible for a married man with a family in Birming- J e P hcott ham, whose wages are less than 25*. a week, to make any provision for his old age ; and asserts that not more than one-third of the old age paupers, at the outside, become so through their own misconduct. Mr. Thomas, Mr Clerk to the Guardians of the Carnarvon Union, states Thomas that skilled artisans in this district earn about 26*. a week : those working in the slate quarries about 20*. a week. The ordinary labourers earn about 1 8*. a week, and the agricultural labourers about 10*. a week and their food. Besides this, they generally get some ex- tras. The food, Mr. Thomas says, is worth about 4*. or 5*. a week ; their total wages may therefore be said to amount to about 1 5*. per week. Mr. Thomas gives some details of the cost of living in this district. He says the rent for a cottage in the country, with a garden, is about 1*. a week, in the town 1*. 3d. without the garden. The other details of expenditure for a week he gives as : coal, Id. ; J Ib. of tea, 4d. ; 1 Ib. of sugar, 2d. ; 5 Ib. of bread, 5d ; butter or margarine, 4$. per week, entirely forgetting that in the one case the relief is final and rather deterrent, and in the other case the half-crown given outdoor brings numbers of other half-crowns in its train. It is a confused notion of economy." A restric- tive policy of outdoor relief saves money, but this is not the reason, he says, which has actually led to the adop- tion of this policy. " I think it is somewhat remarkable THE POOR LAW 6l that these reductions have been due to some individual [25.] who has got firmly fixed into his mind the fact that the Poor Law ought to be administered for the general welfare, and not for the welfare of this or that old per- son. I have hardly a case where administration of out- door relief has been restricted from motives of economy, of saving money. Of course, a saving of money is effected, but I have never known a case, I think, where boards of guardians have said, ' We will save a lot of money by stopping outdoor relief/ " With regard to the question of the general abolition of outdoor relief, he says : " I must not be held to advocate the doctrine that all outdoor relief should immediately be abolished. I think before you can safely cut down relief in the unions you require very devoted boards of guardians I mean to say, boards of guardians who have a very high conception of their duties, and who are willing to take very careful trouble ; and it is perfectly clear that such men are rare." Charity must co-operate in such a re- strictive administration in the country, he thinks ; this would be more difficult than in the towns, because the charities are fewer and very much scattered. It would probably, however, be possible, because a strict adminis- tration tends to stimulate charity. At all events, Poor Law relief, he considers, should be limited to the lowest point it could be with a due regard to humanity, and charity should do the rest, " because I think the charity is good for the giver and good for the recipients ; whereas I think the Poor Law relief is bad for the recipient, and it is given with a mistaken notion of being charitable by proxy, and in that way it is very often bad for the giver." Mr. Grout, a wire-worker, Mr living in the parish of Hoxton, speaking of the ques- Grout tion of outdoor relief, says : " I am inclined to be against it, except in very exceptional cases, because in PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [25.] some cases I firmly believe that it has an effect upon wages." X f P Wh nCe 26 ' ^ rom t ^ ie evi dence of Mr. Vallance it appears chapel that since the year 1870 the guardians of the White- U M n ' cna P e l Union have administered the Poor Law strictly Vallance in accordance with the recommendations put forward by the Poor Law Commissioners in 1834. In 1870 the maximum number of outdoor paupers was reached ; in one week during the winter of 1869-70, 5339 persons were in receipt of this form of relief. From that date the number of outdoor paupers has steadily decreased, with but a very slight increase in the number of indoor poor. The following table shows the respective numbers of recipients of indoor and outdoor relief on January 1st in each fifth year since 1870 : Year. Indoor Paupers. Outdoor Paupers. Total. 1870 436 578 1015 1875 434 I 9 8 632 1880 435 59 494 1885 484 18 502 1890 444 5 449 1893 461 2 463 During this period of twenty years there has been no material increase or decrease in the population. This strict method of administration, which has in no case, owing to hard weather or other causes, been departed from, has not to any appreciable extent been the occa- sion of migration into other districts. The guardians of the West Ham Union at one time made several com- plaints on this score. It was found on examination that within the specified time the West Ham authorities had removed to Whitechapel six paupers, and within the same period the Whitechapel authorities had removed THE POOR LAW 63 to West Ham also six paupers. This diminution in the [26.] amount of outdoor relief has been due to two causes : (1) A more careful examination into the circumstances of each application ; (2) the hearty co-operation of those in charge of charitable funds with the Poor Law authorities. Without this co-operation such a system would entail much hardship and suffering among the poor. As it is, this has not been the result. " Voluntary charity/' Mr. Vallance says, "or what I might term work for the poor, has been very largely year by year stimulated, until now the clergy and the workers among the poor, I believe, are almost, if not quite, unanimous that the system we are adopting is sound and in the best interests of the poor themselves." The stimulus which has been given to charity is not only in the amount of money which is given ; it is also in the organisations and arrangements whereby " the poor are visited to an extent that they were never before. One terrible effect of the outdoor relief system has been that the poor have been largely relegated to the Poor Law, which was expected to do the work of charity. The poor themselves need so much more than money." " I look upon it," says Mr. Vallance, " that the assistance which is given to the poor, the pecuniary portion of it, is comparatively of little value as compared with the great help which is given by the almoners themselves. To give a poor person in distress 4?s. or 5*. may for the moment relieve the distress, but they very frequently want a great deal more. They want help ; they want sympathy ; they want stimulating, bracing up to achieve existence for themselves and to develop future pos- sibilities. The work which charity has done has not been in simply taking the place of the Poor Law, but has largely been that of bringing parents and children together, of evoking sympathy on the part of late 64 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [26.] employers, of making friends, of finding friends for the poor I think no greater evil can be wrought than simply to relegate the poor to the Poor Law, and say, ' All you need is 4,y. or 5*. a week/ and not take / further notice of it The deterioration of character / is, in my opinion, one of the principal results of the out- s door system." At the present time it may be fairly reckoned "that not fewer than 100 deserving aged poor in the district are in receipt of pensions from voluntary sources, and brought to their homes by sympathetic friends." The chief of these charitable funds are dis- bursed by the Charity Organisation Society, the Town Hamlets Pension Committee, the local clergy, and other smaller charity societies. The extent to which this aggregate provision meets the needs of the deserving aged poor is best seen by reference to an analysis of the " homeless " and " not homeless " in the workhouse. It appears that of the 54 aged men in the workhouse (not in the infirmary), 37, or 87 '0 per cent., are " homeless " i.e. without home, or furniture, or relatives with whom they could live outside ; and 7, or 13*0 per cent., affirm that they are " not homeless " in that sense. Of the 135 aged females, 127, or 94'0 per cent., are "homeless," and 8, or 6-0 per cent, are "not homeless." The above seven males and eight females " not homeless " are included in the classification of causes (referred to before) as follows : " Intemperance, four ; improvidence, nine ; misfortune, two." The pensions given to the aged poor by the Charity Organisation Society and the Tower Hamlets Pension Committee are permanent pensions in all but a few cases. It has not been found that such pensions lead the aged poor to depend on these charities and to do nothing for themselves. The poor recognise the fact that such institutions are voluntary, and that conse- quently they have 110 "right" to nor claim on their THE POOR LAW 65 funds ; they therefore do not get into the habit of [26.] depending upon them. There might be a danger of the poor doing so if such voluntary charities were aided by the rates. " In the interest of the poor, as well as of the community, the present system is the best." Mr. Vallance thinks that the Whitechapel Union is certainly superior to many others in the organisation of its charities, but with regard to the charitable endowments in the union he says, " My impression is they are very few." He sees no objection to the Charity Commis- sioners so readjusting the lines on which such charitable endowments shall be administered as to enable them to be devoted to keeping the really deserving poor from becoming paupers. If the present system of granting inadequate doles were abolished, and the funds used to give adequate pensions, to the deserving, much good might no doubt be done. In unions where charity undertakes to help the deserving cases, the ratepayers are no doubt considerably relieved. For instance, in this union the cost of the outdoor relief in 1871 used to amount to about .120 per week ; it now averages about 3 3s. per week. Some persons, therefore, in the union may escape their just responsibilities, but the advantages of a purely voluntary but organised relief, Mr. Vallance thinks, outweigh any disadvantages of this kind which may accrue from the system. Although this method of relief has been most successful in Whitechapel, he considers that it is not quite safe to infer that the same results would be attained if it were adopted in all other unions, for Whitechapel is, he thinks, in some respects an exceptional union. He says : " The character of the population has lent itself largely to this policy of practical abolition of outdoor relief. And then the numbers which have to be dealt with are, by reason of the large number of casual poor, comparatively small 5 66 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [26.] for voluntary agencies to deal with ; they are comparable, but in some districts you would find a different class of poor, and less organisation of voluntary charity, and consequently the guardians would be driven to make exceptions in the case of outdoor relief. But the great evil of the out-relief system, to my mind, is that out- door relief is seldom, or never, adequate. Where it is inadequate the greatest evils follow, and in many cases great hardships to the poor themselves." He suggests that the Local Government Board should, after con- sultations w T ith the inspectors and guardians, prescribe a minimum of outdoor relief to be granted in each district. Experience 27. From the evidence given by Mr. Mackay, who Geoi- 6 ^ ^ as keen for fourteen years a member of the St. in-the-East George's-in-the-East Committee of the Charity Organ- M n ' isation Society, it appears that for the last twenty Mackay years the Poor Law has been administered in a strict manner in this union, with the best possible results. There has been from the first a hearty co-operation be- \ tween charity and the Poor Law. Of this co-operation Mr. Mackay says : " It practically is this : the Poor Law began, and I think that is a very important point, if ' I may insist upon it before the Commission. The Poor 3 Law authorities began this reform in Stepney and Whitechapel in 1870-71 ; St. George's-in-the-East a few years later. The Poor Law guardians took the line of saying that they would give no outdoor relief. I do not think they put it in that form absolutely, but practically they gave up outdoor relief. Immediately after that, and as a consequence, the charitable agencies in the district began to organise themselves .... to deal with the cases technically known as ' hard cases ' ; the Tower Hamlets Pension Committee was established in 1877, as a result of this strict administrative policy. . . . THE POOR LAW 67 The result of this co-operation was, that whereas in [27.] 1871 the cost of outdoor relief given in St. George's Union amounted to 891 6, in 1874 it only amounted to <4391 , and at the present time it is merely a nominal sum. To replace that, the Charity Organisation Society have been spending on an average between 700 and 800 a year ; it is actually less at the present time. Last year only 580 was spent, of which 371 was for pensions." This system, Mr. Mackay says, has had the hearty support of the local clergy. One of them is a guardian, while they are nearly all members of the Charity Organisation Committees. It does not appear that this administration is unpopular with the poor themselves. He says : " I think at present that the people in St. George's, Whitechapel, and Stepney, the poor people, think less about the Poor Law than they used to do. It enters very little into their calculations ; it enters much less into their calculation than it does in unions like Bethnal Green or Shoreditch, where prac- tically every poor person has a chance of getting relief." In unions where outdoor relief is given in certain cases and not in others i.e., where the guardians act as judges of merit, &c., and discriminate between appli- cants, the system Mr. Mackay considers is unsatisfactory in every way. In the first place, because the time at the disposal of guardians is insufficient for the due con- sideration of each case. Sir Henry Longley in 1870 pointed out that he went to sixty-five meetings of different boards of guardians, and found in 16 cases an average of two minutes was given to each applicant for relief, and in the other 49 cases a still shorter time was given. A friend of Mr. Mackay's told him that recently at one sitting of his board they had taken 177 cases in one hour and eleven minutes, while the clerk of the board had told him that the average number was 68 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [27.] 200 cases in less than two hours. In the second place, because the poor themselves dislike these arbitrary variations in the granting of outdoor relief. " I think/ 5 he says, " the unpopularity of the Poor Law is owing to the extremely arbitrary manner in which it is adminis- tered under present conditions." No migration and no hardship appear to have resulted from this strict system of administration. On the latter subject Mr. Mackay says : " When you have got an intensely poor popula- tion like St. George's, I feel it impossible to take it upon me to say that there is no such thing as hard- ship ; but what I am perfectly certain of is this, that if you had an outdoor relief system you would have more hardship, because the people always expect when the guardians offer the house that the guardians will change their minds, and they go on until they are too weak to go and accept what is offered to them. I believe that the benefit which has been conferred by that plan (i.e., the system of restriction of out-relief) in St. George's- in-the-East far outweighs any hard cases, and I may add that I do not know of any hard cases personally." The funds at the disposal of the various charitable agencies in the district appear to be adequate to meet all the deserving cases. He says : " With regard to my own committee, I can say most positively that we have never refused any case for want of funds. May I just add that I took the precaution of writing both to the Secretary of the Whitechapel and to a member of the Stepney committees of our society, and they returned me substantially the same result." This strict adminis- trative policy he considers should be adopted in all unions. It leads to an improved condition of the people, and encourages saving, making it a habit. It also tends to diminish pauperism, both general and aged. " Once a pauper always a pauper," he says is, THE POOR LAW 69 generally speaking, true. If therefore the tradition of [27.] outdoor relief among the young can be broken early, much of the old age pauperism will be done away with.* Outdoor relief, on the other hand, tends to lower w T ages, increases pauperism, and increases the demand on private charity. The poor, he thinks, come to look upon it as a recognised thing that when past work they should come upon the rates, and be maintained at the public expense. They therefore rest content with lower wages than their manhood entitles them to, and make no attempt to provide for themselves. " The principal cause of low wages at the present time, I think," says Mr. Mackay, " is the cumulative effect of long periods of bad Poor Law administration." Again, the lax administration of the Poor Law makes the poor dependent, and thereby increases the demand for further help from private charity. Vice versa, a lax administration of charity tends towards a lax adminis- tration of the Poor Law. When, how r ever, charity is organised and carefully administered the opposite result follows. He attributes the success of this charitable scheme of meeting the deserving cases to the fact that the poor do not look upon charity as a " right," as they do in the case of poor relief, and consequently the effect of this charitable relief upon them is not degrading or demoralising. The general adoption of this policy is, he considers, hindered and hampered by the guardians themselves. At the present time so much is left to their own discretion that it requires a strong man, or * In St. George's-in-the-East in 1871 the paupers over sixty were 41.8 per cent, of the population over sixty; in 1881 they were 19 9 per cent. ; in 1891 they were 19.5 per cent. For Stepney (where the same policy has been adopted) the figures are 1871, 38.9 per cent.; 1881, 18.2 per cent.; 1891, 16.8 per cent. C. S. Loch, " Old Age Pensions and Pauperism," p. 21. 70 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [27.] body of men, to adopt a very strict method of adminis- tration. It is at first sight distasteful to the poor con- cerned. The majority, at least of East End guardians, are not experts, and do not look upon the whole question in a scientific spirit. They are far more con- cerned with their immediate popularity with the people. " You get people who are qualifying for higher walks of politics who begin their career at the Poor Law board of guardians, and they really make no, what I should call, scientific study of the question ; they are looking out to pass on to the vestry and the County Council and so on, and they do what appears to them to be the popular thing at the moment." He suggests that the Central Poor Law Board should strengthen the hands of guardians in this matter by expressing their opinion on the beneficial results of a strict administration, a little more forcibly. If guardians were strong enough, he is of opinion that such an administration M r ould be applicable to all unions in all parts of the country. " I should think/' he says, " that it would be easier elsewhere, for St. George's-in-the-East is about the poorest part of London, and therefore I should think it would be easier elsewhere." The history of the co-oper- ation between charity and the Poor Law in this union appears to show that if the Poor Law authorities take the initiative, charity is stimulated and organised as a result. If this be so, Mr. Vallance's fear, that the sys- tem w r ould not be successful in districts where little charity and little organisation exist, seems likely to prove groundless. Experience 28. From the evidence of Mr. Fuller, Chairman of Padding- the Paddington Board of Guardians, it appears that ton Union, although outdoor relief has not been totally abolished, M* it has been much restricted in the last twenty years. Every effort is made to keep all deserving cases from THE coming upon the rates. It is well known in the union [28.] that undeserving cases, whether able-bodied or aged, will only be offered the workhouse, while deserving cases will be treated considerately and kindly. As a result of this method of administration, whereas on January 1st, 1873, there were 1871 persons in receipt of outdoor relief, in 1893 on the same day there were only 254. Indoor pauperism has, on the other hand, slightly increased from 668 to 944. But a certain amount of this increase, Mr. Fuller considers, may be accounted for by the fact that the infirmary attracts many persons who would not go to the ordinary workhouse, or accept any form of in- door relief if the infirmary were not so comfortable as it is. Old age pauperism appears to be decreasing every year. In 1885 there were 173 persons over sixty-five years of age in receipt of poor relief, in 1892 there were only 98. All the deserving cases which come be- fore the guardians are either relieved by charity or by the guardians in a liberal manner ; but Mr. Fuller thinks it is impossible to say that there are not deserving persons in the union who are suffering from want. The reason that they are not relieved is because they do not apply for relief, and their cases are not heard of. Although their dislike of applying still exists to a certain extent, Mr. Fuller does not think it is so great as it used to be. He says : " Some five or six years ago, I think it was, there was very great distress in London, and we formed a committee in Paddington to consider how best to re- lieve that distress. But it was to the pawnbrokers that we went primarily for the best information on the sub- ject, and they were able at once to tell us that persons above the usual class of poor upon whom poverty had come, were pawning their things ; those people in those days would not have dreamed of coming to the guar- dians ; since then I have an idea that there is a better 72 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [28.] feeling in the union that is, that they feel if they do come to the guardians the only answer given to them will not be 'You shall have the workhouse test or nothing/ " The deserving persons know that they will either receive charitable aid or obtain outdoor relief from the guardians. With regard to the improvement in the condition of the people in this union, Mr. Fuller says : " I can only give you the authority of the reliev- ing officers, and they tell me there is a very marked im- provement in the desire of the poor to be independent and not to seek help from the guardians. They are more active, men and women, in trying to seek work." He connects this improvement with the method of ad- ministration adopted by the guardians. "We virtually state in the printed rules to a man who comes to us and says he wants relief, ' It is no good your applying to us for outdoor relief if you are undeserving.' If they have learned that fact now, it necessitates them doing their best to get honest wages." With regard to the question whether such a system as that adopted in the Paddington Union is applicable to other unions, Mr. Fuller says : " I have shown from Paddington that it is practicable in all unions similarly situated that is, in rich town districts ; and the experience of those well-known East-End Committees, Whitechapel, St. George's-in- the-East, and Stepney, is that it is a system also appli- cable in large town districts that are poor. There are two other unions, country unions, which are largely quoted, where a similar system has operated with the best consequences." Experience 29. In St. Saviour's Union, London, outdoor relief London appears to have been considerably diminished during M^Ga^ the last nine years. According to Mr. Gage Gardiner's Gardiner evidence, in 1883 there were 3242 out-paupers in this union. In 1 892 the number was reduced to 900 ; or, in THE POOR LAW 73 other words, there was a reduction of 72 per cent. Of [29. the 3242 persons in receipt of outdoor relief in 1883, 1286 were classed as " not able-bodied " i.e., aged and infirm; in 1892 the same class was represented by the figures 707, or a reduction of over 44 per cent. "I think," Mr. Gardiner says, " it (i.e., outdoor relief) must be abolished in time, if we go on with our present prac- tice. The numbers in receipt of outdoor relief go down steadily without intermission." With regard to the popularity of this policy among the ratepayers, he says : " Of course the election (i.e., of guardians) being an annual one, one always stands a certain amount of risk each year, but I have never concealed my policy, and I have always polled 2000 or 3000 votes, and have been returned third or fourth upon a list of perhaps twenty people." Without charity to meet the deserving cases of poverty, Mr. Gardiner thinks that a restrictive policy of outdoor relief would be impossible without involving much hardship. In practice at least, outdoor relief has never been abolished without charitable funds in the background. "But," he says, "I have heard Mr. Crowder, of St. George's-in-the-East, say that he would have no objection to do it without a charitable fund behind him without causing severe hardship, to do away with out-relief without the aid of any charitable fund." As it is, in this union there is a close co-opera- tion between charity and the Poor Law, with the result that there are very few cases of hardship. The few that are alleged, Mr. Gardiner says, " I have generally found to be cases which I would say, in the interests of humanity, were better in the workhouse than outside." One of the many good results from this method of adminis- tration, he says, is that friends and relations contribute more freely to the maintenance of those who require help. " I have found," he says, " that the refusal of 74 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [29.] outdoor relief tends to make the friends and relatives of the poor more willing to assist than they would be if outdoor relief were freely given." Charity is also stimulated by this policy. " I think that in unions where outdoor relief is abolished you can secure, with energy, a sufficient amount of voluntary charitable aid." But where outdoor relief is freely given the in- habitants feel that most, if not all, of their responsibili- ties to the poor are taken off their shoulders, because they pay rates which profess to relieve all the distress Miss which exists. Miss Octavia Hill speaks strongly as to HUl ia ^ ne necess ity f a strict administration of the Poor Law. Outdoor relief has been continually decreasing in Marylebone during the last thirty years. Simul- taneously with this there appears to have been an im- provement in the social state of the neighbourhood. This improvement, Miss Hill states, has not merely been general, but also in individual families. That is to say, that in many cases families w r ho were in a thoroughly bad and pauperised condition thirty years ago, are at the present time in a far better social position. With re- gard to the popularity of such an administration with the poor themselves, Miss Hill thinks that in the low r est grades of the poor every one would probably say that they liked " out-relief and plenty of charity." In the grade slightly above that, amongst the more intelli- gent poor, twenty would probably say it was a good thing to one who would say it w r as not ; " they w r ould be very bitter about the mal-administration of it nobody so bitter. And they always say it goes to the wrong people." Miss Hill believes, however, that the really intelligent members of the working classes, if they once saw an administration working smoothly and success- fully would recognise the merits of it, although they might not have the moral courage to champion the THE POOR LAW 75 policy openly. But the poor as a whole, she thinks, [29.] cannot " see far enough " to judge correctly ; " the very people who are dependent on this (i.e., poor relief) are the very people who cannot see far enough to say that it is doing them harm." A strict administration of the Poor Law, Miss Hill believes, is needed for the good of the poor themselves and the country at large. A lax administration, she says, tends to drag the poor down to pauperism, to make them dependent, and to destroy all incentive to thrift. It further tends to in- crease the rates, which adds an additional burden on those independent poor who are just on the verge of pauperism themselves. " It is from the point of view of the poor themselves that one does feel this subject as very important. They are very much worse off wherever you get either uncertain action or such action as para- lyses their own power, their own energies. The lax administration of charitable gifts, the lax distribution from police courts, or any lax Poor Law relief, distinctly diminishes the possessions which the poor have. Their houses are less provided with what is w r anted, from the fact that they are looking to uncertain sources of relief, or to sources w r hich do not stimulate their energy." The proper form of relief is, Miss Hill says, " that which draws out and strengthens natural responsibilities and right energies." At present she considers that the inquiries made by relieving officers, and the Poor Law authorities generally, are not sufficient, and require supplementing by voluntary work. In this, she says, the Charity Organi- sation Society has done excellent work, besides giving positive relief to those who are deserving in a manner calculated to really benefit them. The evils of reckless and unorganised charity she considers as great as the granting of outdoor relief. It is uncertain, and there- fore demoralising. The poor are continually looking out 76 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [29.] Experience in Bir- mingham, Manches- ter and Oxford. Mr Senior Fothergill for it, and do not provide for themselves when they might, in the hope of this charity making the necessary provision for them. It encourages the poor to keep untidy and dirty homes in order to rouse pity and secure the charity. " It is extraordinary how much the charity goes to the drunken, dirty, miserable home, and how it passes over the tidy one." 30. In the Birmingham Union, according to the evidence of Mr. Senior Fothergill, a restrictive policy of outdoor relief has been adopted since 1883. Mr. Fothergill states that there is no great co-operation between the Poor Law authorities and the managers of charitable funds, although" the guardians occasionally send a deserving applicant to the Charity Organisation Society for relief. Outdoor relief before 1883 appears to have been given in aid of poverty and not only of destitution, while the inquiries into the cases were insufficient. The system has been altered w r ith the result that pauperism has largely decreased. The fol- lowing table shows the respective pauperism on Janu- ary 1st, 1883, and January 1st, 1893 : Year. Outdoor.* Indoor.* Total. Proportion of Paupers to Population. 1883 4905 2524 7429 i in 33 1893 778 3017 3795 i in 64 The cost of Poor Law relief in 1883 was 16,108 1 in 1892 it was only 2521 18*. Ofd. In spite of this strict supervision, Mr. Fothergill says that the guardians are in some cases deceived as to the destitution of the applicants. He thinks that where the investigation is Exclusive of lunatics and medical relief. THE POOR LAW 77 less efficient a large number of persons must be entered [30.] on the list of paupers who have no business to be there. He concludes, therefore, that this must very materially vitiate the trustworthiness of statistics of pauperism. Together w r ith ordinary outdoor relief, medical relief has also been much restricted. This, Mr. Fothergill says, has led to an increased desire on the part of the people to make provision for themselves. There is one Provident Dispensary in the town, with three branches. This has been better supported since the strict adminis- tration was introduced. In Manchester, also, outdoor Mr relief appears to have been restricted for the last seven- McDougall, teen or eighteen years. One of the rules adopted for the administration of relief, Mr. McDougall states, is that no outdoor relief should be given to "persons residing wtih relations where the united income of the family is sufficient for the support of all its members, whether such relations are liable by law to support the applicant or not." The restrictive policy has led to a considerable reduction in pauperism. " On July 1st, 1872, there were in the workhouse 430 old men and 303 old women ; in receipt of out-relief, 262 old men and 1135 old women; and on July 1st, 1892, there were 430 men and 385 women who were not able- bodied indoor paupers, and 20 men and 106 women^ over sixty years of age, outdoor paupers/' Notwith- standing this reduction, the amount of pauperism in the Manchester Union is still higher than in any other part of Lancashire. The rate in Manchester is 1 pauper in 35 of the population, in the rest of the country it is only 1 pauper in 53 of the population. This Mr. MacDougall attributes to "the density of the popu- lation." The co-operation between the Poor Law authorities and charity has already been alluded to.* * See under head of Causes of Pauperism, pp. 21, 22. 78 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [30.] There is no regular Charity Organisation Society, but Mr. McDougall and a friend relieve all the deserving cases out of their own private charity. Mr. McDougall does not believe there is any hardship caused by this strict R ph l" R ^ministration, although he was personally opposed to the system when it was first introduced. Mr. Phelps, who is Chairman of the Charity Organisation Society in Oxford, and also a member of the board of guardians, speaking of the strict administration of outdoor relief, says : " In outdoor relief our board has gone through a great change in the last twenty or thirty years. I think I may say the high-w r ater mark was reached in 1863, when the number of people receiving outdoor relief was 1063. On the 1st of January in the present year (i.e., 1893) the number had sunk to 68. It is now (i.e., March 14th) below 50, and the decrease has been continuous/' Since 1883 there has been a co-operation between the guardians and the Charity Organisation Society. The understanding between them is informal. With reference to, the question w r hether such a strict administration could have been introduced without this co-operation with charity, Mr. Phelps says : " I think the change might have been made, but I do not think it would have. I think the Society enabled the guardians, if I may say so, to bridge over the transition from a lax policy to a strict policy." With regard to the general results of this policy, he considers that the condition of the poor has greatly improved. He says : " I think there can be no doubt, from the evidence put before me continually, that there has been a very great improvement in the condition of the poor of late years in Oxford. I judge that, first of all, from what I may call the much higher standard of wants w r hich people show, the people who come to us at the Charity Organi- sation Society. Whereas people used to come and ask THE POOR LAW 79 for the necessaries of life, they now uniformly ask for [30.] what may be called luxuries ; I mean for such a thing as being sent to a convalescent home for a more or less lengthy period, a thing of which no poor person in Oxford would have dreamt twenty-five years ago. Again, I think when we have a severe winter, the poor people in Oxford go through it with far less suffering than they did twenty years ago. I think the long vacation, which is always a great difficulty with the poor of Oxford, is much more easily tided over than it used to be. I have collected from time to time, from people who are qualified to give an opinion, such as the clergy, the district visitors, the relieving officers, the School Board officers, their experience with regard to the poor. That experience is uniform, that the poor are better fed ; that they eat more meat ; that they are better clothed ; that their houses are better, and that their standard of living is higher." Mr. Phelps does not think this strict administration has led to migration, but it has had the result of reducing the poor-rate from 2*. to 8d. per annum in a comparatively short time. With reference to hardship having resulted, he says : " I think not ; Oxford is so covered with agencies of different kinds that it is almost impossible I think for any such case to escape their notice, and I am quite sure that if there had been any such cases in the town when the storm* broke upon us with regard to our policy, they would have been produced, and they would have been made the most of. I may say that no such case was discovered." Mr. Phelps considers that this policy is applicable to any union, because the system itself is very simple and does not depend on any excep- * Alluding to attacks made on the Guardians by Mr. A. W. Hall, then M.P. for the City, and others, on account of their restrictive policy. 80 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [30.] tional intelligence in the managers of charitable funds or in the guardians. He advocates the adoption of a strict administration even in places where there are but few charities. He adds : " The policy which we have carried out in Oxford might have been carried out quite independently of the action of the Charity Organisation Society without inflicting hardship at all." If the workhouse test were imposed strictly, judging from what has occurred in Oxford, he thinks very few would accept it, and though there would be a certain risk of inflicting hardship perhaps, " I should not be afraid to face it." Moreover, "the conditions of Oxford were so unfavourable that you might argue a fortiori to any other place " i.e., as to the feasibility of this method of administration. the nCe 3L In the Brixworth Union, Northamptonshire, Brixworth according to the evidence of Canon Bury, Chairman of Union. f. ne f$ oarc i o f Guardians, outdoor relief has been practi- Bury cally abolished during the last twenty years. Before 1873 he describes the system as " rather a painful exhi- bition of wilful waste and woeful want. The expendi- ture, I might say, was over ,8000 a year, and the pauper- ism was one person in every twelve, with a general demoralisation, as well of the rich as of the poor." As a result of an inquiry held in 1872, which revealed what was going on in the union, a great change was made in the administration of the Poor Law. Since that time it has been strictly managed on the three general prin- ciples which " underlie the Poor Law " namely, " that the Poor Law exists for the relief of destitution and not of desert, that the lot of the pauper should be less eligible than that of the independent labourer, and that the obligation to relieve rests in the first instance upon relations." In 1881, four extra rules were laid down to guide the board in the administration of outdoor relief. THE POOR LAW 81 They were made after a close investigation of all the [31.] existing cases of outdoor relief. The applications which were refused outdoor relief, when the strict method was introduced, were all reviewed again the following year, in order to ascertain whether any hardship had been entailed by the refusal. Of this Canon Bury says : " In the first instance, a year after we began our reform I made a personal inquiry, with the help of the relieving officers, and issued a report which is now in one of the Reports of the Local Government Board, showing what had become of the people whose relief had been discontinued. Since then the plan which I have adopted has been that, wherever hardship has been alleged, I have challenged the assertion and asked for proof, and the only so-called proofs which I have had are in the shape of cases which I can produce. In addi- tion to that, I have kept myself informed as to all that has gone on in the various parishes of the union by per- sonal visitation, and by communications from those who are interested in the matter." The following was one of the cases of alleged hardship from the refusal of out- relief : " A widower, aged seventy-one years, who lives alone, pays rent Is. Wd. a week ; he is asthmatical, but he is able to do gardening, and does do gardening and clipping in the churchyard. He has five sons and three daughters. He has one son married, in service, who helps him ; he has another son who is a horsekeeper, married, with one child ; he has other children ; his other children keep him also. It is difficult to find out exactly what they give him. His other sources of income are, that he gets 1.9. every now and again from friends and neighbours, Is. occasionally from the offertory, and in the winter he has the usual soup and meat which the Hall distributes. His reputation in the parish is this, of never having been an industrious man ; a neighbour describes him as ' a 6 82 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [31.] man who says the Lord will provide, and then sits down and has another glass of beer.' He looks well and is stout, but he says he is not so well as he looks ; he is very cheerful. A gentleman who visits him, and visits him often, says there is no symptom of anything like destitution." The restriction of outdoor relief does not appear to have increased the number of indoor paupers. On the contrary, there has been a reduction in indoor pauperism. In 1873 the inmates of the workhouse num- bered 72 ; they now (March 1893) only number 66. During the latter half of the year 1873, 116 cases were treated in the workhouse ; during the latter half of the year 1892 only 91 cases were so treated. No new case of outdoor relief has been sanctioned for two years. Medical relief has also been restricted. The result of this has been the formation of medical clubs in every parish in the union. With regard to the effect of this method of administering the Poor Law upon the condition of the people, Canon Bury says : " If I might be allowed to point out that, whereas in the Brixworth Union the standard of life has materially increased, and increased, perhaps not more, but at any rate as much as it has in other unions where outdoor relief is given ; yet in the Brixworth Union it has increased in spite of the fact that more than 5000 a year has been abstracted, as it were, from their income in the shape of outdoor relief." There appear to have been a few cases in which homes have been broken up, owing to the guardians refusing to give outdoor relief. " These," Canon Bury says, " were only homes which ought to have been broken up." For instance, outdoor relief was refused in the case of two aged persons, brother and sister, who lived in " a miser- able tenement," in which there was no glass in the window, no lock to the door, and one room upstairs with one bed in it, which they both occupied. Had relief been given to them in their own home, it would merely THE POOR LAW 83 have enabled them to continue in this state. Canon [31.] Bury states that, coincident with the strict adminis- tration of the Poor Law, there has been a withdrawal of female labour, old and young, from the fields, while the inferior and underpaid trades, in which w r omen were formerly employed, such as the manufacture of inferior lace in Nottingham, have practically died out. That is to say, instead of the restriction of outdoor relief having led people " to shift to get bread," it has had entirely the opposite effect. There has also been a great advance in the co-operative movement. There are several co- operative stores in the union to which many labourers belong. The shares are l each, and 5 per cent, inter- est by Act of Parliament. There is one co-operative store, of which Canon Bury is the secretary ; of this he says : " The profits for the last four years on the small co-operative society, of which I am the secretary, at Hazelbeach, average <129 a year, and there are only 32 purchasing members in that society." There is no one who is interested in it or who purchases there but labourers, with one exception. The dividend in that exception takes off about 20 a year, leaving about l 10 to be divided amongst the common labourers. This is in a population of 1 54 people, of whom about five or six families are well-to-do, not joining in the work of the society. The really deserving cases of poverty are relieved by charity. Their number is, however, small. Besides a private charity amounting to 25 a year, which is subscribed by four gentlemen, and placed in Canon Bury's hands to meet deserving cases, which should not be allowed to go the workhouse, there are certain local endowed charities. These amount to about <1229 a year. A great part of this sum was left exclusively for the benefit of the poor. Canon Bury states that these charities are generally wasted in granting doles at Christmas-time, but that lately some have been utilised 84 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [31.] in providing pensions for the deserving aged, which are given with the greatest care and on sound principles. He considers that if endowed charities for eleemosynary purposes must be kept at all (though he believes their existence to be mischievous), they certainly ought to be applied in providing pensions rather than be distributed in doles. This he thinks could be done if the trustees were elected. The amount of the charity in the union he considers adequate to meet all the needs of the deserving cases, but he is of the opinion that the more " private " charity is, the more useful it is. " I believe/' he says, " only the charity which is private is charity." He consequently deprecates any scheme of aiding local charities out of public funds, whether muni- cipal or county, and any public co-operation between boards of guardians and managers of charitable funds. He concludes by making certain suggestions with regard to the administration of outdoor relief viz., that outdoor relief should be abolished altogether, which he believes could be done gradually in any rural union ; that, failing this, the Prohibitory Order should be strengthened, and the " exceptions be limited to sudden and urgent neces- sity, and to widows with children w r ho are earning " ; that Local Government Board Inspectors should investi- gate and inspect cases of outdoor relief, as well as the workhouses ; and that all payments should be made at the pauper's own home and not at a pay station. 32 ' Lord Metnuen ; wno is Vice-President of the shire, Wiltshire Friendly Society, and has taken a great interest Bn fnd n> in tne administration of the Poor Law, speaking of his Scotland, efforts in this direction, says : " Mine has not been a Methuen verv eas 7 tas k, an( * it seems to me very difficult at pre- sent to persuade the majority of Poor Law guardians, or, for the matter of that, the poor, that in those cases where out-relief is reduced, in-relief will also decrease, THE POOR LAW 85 and that the general tone and condition of the labouring [32.] classes will improve. All alike believe that those persons who take my line wish to drive the poor into the workhouse. They read no books nor statistics on the subject, and they do not consider the way in which too liberal out-relief affects the poorer class of ratepayers. The strong-backed chairmen are one with me in my views, for I know no man who has the courage of his opinion who does not support the evidence I have now the honour to submit to you." He believes the general administration of the Poor Law may be said to depend almost entirely upon the chairman of the board of guardians, and the amount of pauperism on the general administration. Thus, he says, " I look upon the returns of pauperism as practically valueless. I find that the weaker the chairman the greater the pauperism." The pauperism in Wiltshire is high : in the Chippenham Union on March 25th, 1891, it was 51 per 1000, while the total pauperism throughout England was only 27 per 1000. This Lord Methuen accounts for by say- ing : " There are too many guardians who value their votes more than they do anything else. There is many a guardian who knows just as well as I do the evils of outdoor relief, but he is afraid to speak out." In 1891, certain recommendations were drawn up by a joint meeting of representatives of the guardians and the large Friendly Societies in the district as to the restriction of outdoor relief. The recommendations have to a certain extent been carried out, with the result that the number of outdoor paupers has decreased by 226, that of the indoor paupers by 70. In unions where the Poor Law authorities have adopted these recommendations, Lord Methuen states that no hardship on the poor has been entailed, while their condition has materially improved. With regard to the question 86 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [32.] whether the total abolition of outdoor relief would be possible and desirable in Wiltshire, Lord Methuen says : " I went to Bradfield independently, and I satisfied my- self, after inquiries that I made of the guardians, of the clergy, and of the poor people, that the strict adminis- tration of the Poor Law in the Bradfield Union was not productive of hardship ; but I would add that the dis- trict seemed well interspersed with wealthy people, and on the whole the wages might be considered as slightly higher than in some parts of Wiltshire. Although I had no evidence whatever when I went to Bradfield that would justify me in saying that, I think the total aboli- tion of out-relief difficult. Well, I should be sorry to advocate its adoption in Wiltshire, on account of the low wages in some parts, at afiy rate on the Downs." He thinks, therefore, that outdoor relief should be reduced to a minimum, but be retained for certain exceptional cases. Like Canon Bury, he suggests that the Local Government Board Inspectors should investi- gate cases of outdoor relief in the same way as they Mr now investigate the condition of the workhouses. Mr. Hamblin, speaking of the administration of out- door relief in the Brighton Union, says : " One of the reasons that the outdoor relief keeps up so con- siderably as it does, although I have done all in my power to reduce it, is that sentiment or sympathy comes in ; that the feelings of the members of the board are introduced, and possibly they do not all do justice. The members who are actuated by sentiment or sympathy are those who have not thoroughly gone into the relief question at all, and do not under- stand it perhaps as well as many an old member. They go in for outdoor relief; therefore those who are progressive and wish to do away with it, have a great difficulty very often." He has no doubt of the THE POOR LAW 87 advantages of a strict administration of the Poor Law [32.] together with the co-operation of charity. During the last five years there appears to have been a certain amount of improvement in the Brighton Union in this direction. Mr. McNeil, speaking of the amount Mr of pauperism in Scotland, states that there has been a considerable reduction since 1873. In that year the proportion of paupers per 1000 of the population was 33. In 1892, the proportion was 22 -8. This he attributes not to any particular improvement in the condition of the people, but rather to a stricter ad- ministration of the Poor Law. 33. Several of the witnesses who are in favour of Opinion some State pension scheme for the aged agree in ap- \tfici proving of a strict administration of outdoor relief, but Poor Law they either hold that such an administration with the me et all co-operation of charity does not meet all the needs of the needs the case, or they maintain that this form of administra- aged poor. tion requires exceptional administrators, and that con- sequently the improvement in the country must necessarily be slow, too slow in fact to deal adequately with the problem. Mr. Chamberlain thinks that if an Rt Hon J attempt were made to abolish outdoor relief in all i^ n er unions, there would probably be a widespread agitation against it. He admits that in certain unions the prac- tical abolition of outdoor relief has been attended by 110 agitation against it ; " but," he says, " at the same time that (method of administration) has always been accompanied by personal work of a very exceptional kind, such as you cannot count upon universally throughout the country." He does not think that there are enough men in the country of the character and quality required to administer the Poor Law in this way. The success of the Bradfield or Brixworth Unions, he considers, "will always be the exception, not 88 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [33.] the rule/' The improvement in the matter of pauperism he maintains is too slow : " No form of improvement and no rate of improvement, of which we have had any experience, is likely to settle the old age question in any reasonable time, consequently I think alternative methods should be found." Mr. Chamberlain also con- siders that though a strict method of administration is right as far as the able-bodied are concerned, it is, or probably would be, if universally adopted, hard on the Ch^l a e d poor. Mr. Charles Booth takes much the same Booth view of the case as Mr. Chamberlain, but he does not think that the practical abolition of outdoor relief should be adopted as a general system. While ap- proving of the system as far as certain country unions are concerned, and admitting that excellent results have followed from it, he does not think that it has been quite so successful in the Metropolitan unions in which it has been carried out. " There is so much left that is altogether unsatisfactory in the condition of these districts that have been dealt with, that I could not say it has been ' very effectual.' " He thinks that a careful administration such as has been adopted in the Paddington Union is attended with better results. Again, while admitting that there has been a great improve- ment in the condition of the people and in the amount of pauperism throughout the country generally, and especially in strictly administered unions, he thinks that the system requires too much personal effort to spread rapidly. With regard to the objection that a strict method of administration leads to migration, he says : " I would willingly admit that I do not think that this accusation is true." But with reference to the whole question under discussion viz., the administration of the Poor Law Mr. Booth says : " I should not wish I have not studied the subject sufficiently widely to THE POOR LAW 89 make any statement about it." Mr. Bartley considers [33.] that a lax administration of the Poor Law discourages Mr thrift and independence, and that consequently a strict administration is preferable. But with reference to this method, as adopted in the Bradfield Union, and the suc- cess which has attended it, he says : " Whether that has been brought about by a considerable amount of hard- ship I cannot be prepared to say. Very often it is kind to be hard ; but I do not think the public would support a general system, such as you have at these unions, carried out throughout the country ; I think there would be a revulsion of sentiment against that, if it were adopted very largely." In answer to the question whether he has had any evidence that hardship has been inflicted at Bradfield, Mr. Bartley states that he has not. Canon Blackley deprecates a lax administra- Canon tion of the Poor Law as likely to discourage thrift, but he does not think it is fair to make charity provide for all the deserving poor, as is the case in strictly administered unions. This, he thinks, should be done by charity and the State co-operating. Professor Marshall considers M P r r h f all that any sudden abolition of outdoor relief would be both undesirable and impracticable. " I agree," he says, " with people like Mr. Vallance, who say that it would be a very great mistake to attempt to abolish outdoor relief before private charity is ready to take its place, in cases in which relief ought to be given." He does not think that the working classes would ever consent to such an abolition. At the same time he says : " I am opposed to lax administration of relief of every kind." The great success of the Bradfield and Brixworth Unions in dealing with pauperism he considers due to the exceptional qualities of the administrators rather than the method of administration. " I think," he says, "almost the worst law administered by Mr. Garland 90 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [33.] would have worked better than the best law adminis- tered by an ordinary person." He does not think there is at present sufficient evidence to show that hardship has not been inflicted on the poor in those unions in which the Poor Law has been strictly ad- ministered. He says : " There are some who think that the present method of poor relief and charity will very soon leave little suffering, which is not needed to educate people of braver and stronger heads ; and those who think that, are quite right in calling for patient adhesion to the present method. But so much patience with the sufferings of others appears excessive to myself and to those who think that there are still many hardships, which cause more pain than they are worth for the purposes of education." With regard to the effect which the granting of outdoor relief has upon the wages of the independent labourer, Professor Mar- shall says : " I "think it certainly does tend almost in- variably to lower wages, but I think it is possible to spend taxes for the benefit of the poor in such a way as not to lower wages But only on condition that you say to the people of this generation ' the State will not tax itself for your benefit out and out ; what we give to you we require you to return to the coming generation.' I think money taken from the well-to-do and given to the present generation, the adult genera- tion, for their own greater comfort, while pleasant to the working classes for the time being, is likely to dry up the sources of future wages, unless it is combined with conditions which will increase the earning power of the coming generation." He goes 011 to say : " I think that the rate of wages temporarily, and in any place, depends upon the supply of labour relatively to the demand ; and if by any local or temporary action you put an increased supply of labour in, you lower the THE POOR LAW 91 wages, whatever be the method by which you increase [33.] the supply, whether that is working overtime, or whether it is inducing an old man to work who other- wise would have folded his hands and found time slow. I quite admit that any cause that increases dispropor- tionately the amount of labour competing for a par- ticular kind of employment in a particular place, may lower wages there for the time. Many of those changes which are most beneficial for society may lower wages, just for the particular time and in the particular place. But if we are able to keep old men and old women out of the workhouses, doing a great deal of work in the homes, looking after children, and so on, or even if we are able to let them go on working at their trade at lower wages than men in full strength, I think we are not lowering wages generally .... because we are increasing the sum total of things produced, and we are not increasing relatively the number of people among whom they will be divided." 34. Mr. Elcock strongly advocates the granting of Evidence outdoor relief to all classes of paupers except the vicious or immoral. As has already been stated, the pauper- in & out .- ism in the Wimborne Union of Dorsetshire (of which Mr Mr. Elcock has been a guardian " for something like Elcock twelve or fourteen years "), compared to the population, is nearly double the ratio of the total pauperism throughout the country to the total population. Nine- tenths of the pauperism in this union is outdoor pau- perism. Mr. Elcock states that every care is taken in investigating the circumstances of each application before relief is given. This is done by one of the two relieving officers. But it does not appear that these officials always enter the results of their investigations in the Report and Application Book. In one case, men- tioned by Mr. Elcock, the wages of the relatives of the 92 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [34.] applicant are omitted. He explains this by saying : " The chairman almost invariably appeals to the board, ' Is there any one who knows the case ? ' Usually there is a guardian present who happens to know it, and on his ipse dixit the relief is given." The amounts given in outdoor relief appear nominally to average about 2s. 6d. a week to a single person, and about 4s. 6d. a week. One of the arguments which he puts forward for this change is that outdoor relief THE POOR LAW 95 is cheaper. For, he argues, it costs 10*. a week to main- [34.] tain a pauper in a workhouse, while it only costs, if ade- quate relief is given, about 4>s. or 5*. a week to maintain an outdoor pauper. Thus 5,?. or 6*. is saved. He does not think there would be a larger number of applicants for relief if this course were adopted. But, according to the report of Mr. Woodehouse, one of the Poor Law In- spectors, and according to the statement of Sir Hugh Owen, referred to before, only one in ten of those who are offered the workhouse accept it. Therefore, for the one there would be a loss of 6*., but for the nine there would be a gain of 36,s\, or a total gain of 30,v. But Mr. Edwards considers that such a system of offering the workhouse or no relief outside would be very cruel. He does not believe that an extension of out- door relief would be opposed to thrift, for he says " there is a great feeling of independence among the labourers." There appears, however, to be no feeling among these labourers that they are degraded or lose their independence by accepting outdoor relief. Those who receive this form of relief " respect themselves just as much " as if they were really independent. Mr. Mr Zacharias Walker, speaking of the agricultural labourer in Norfolk, maintains that outdoor relief should be freely given. The reasons which he advances are that outdoor relief is preferred by the poor to relief in the workhouse, and that it would not increase pauperism, because the agricultural labourer dislikes asking for relief. The reason, however, for this dislike, he says, is " because invariably in so many instances they have got ordered to go into the house without any outdoor relief." Thirdly, because the grant of outdoor relief does not make the recipient content to work for a lower wage, thereby depressing the standard of wages in the district. Mr. Walker admits, however, that outdoor 96 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [34.] relief given to a man who can work may, in some cases, Mr injure the unaided workers. Mr. Davies, of the Dol- gelly Union, North Wales, states that outdoor relief in the union is freely given to the aged on a liberal scale of 5*. a week, and occasionally more. This system he considers a good one, and suggests further that outdoor relief should also be given temporarily to those who cannot obtain employment during the winter. There does not appear to be any co-operation between the RevJ Poor Law authorities and charity in this union. Mr. Wilkinson Frome Wilkinson considers that a restrictive policy of outdoor relief is hard on the aged, and that in their case the workhouse test is unsuitable. He is aware that by section 27 of the Poor Law Act of 1834 any two Justices of the Peace can, at their own discretion, order relief outside the workhouse for any aged person, but, he says, " I am not aware that it has ever been put into Canon operation." Canon Hinds Howell, Chairman of the St. Howell Faith's Union, near Norwich, says : " I have always been strongly in favour of great amelioration with reference to the strict letter of the law in reference to the sub- ject of your Commission, and strong in opposition to indoor relief to the aged poor. I have been strong on that point, and I am happy to say my guardians have been with me." According to Mr. Lockwood's Parlia- mentary Return, both the indoor and outdoor relief has increased in this union since 1887. In answer to a question as to how he accounted for this, Canon Hinds Howell says : " Well, I can hardly tell, except by having outdoor relief instead of indoor relief." With regard to the question of outdoor relief and wages, it appears that in this union the amount of outdoor relief given in the winter and summer varies. During the winter it is raised, according to Canon Hinds Howell, because coal has to be bought. Wages, he says, are in some THE POOR LAW 97 parishes Is. less a week during the winter, but he does [34.] not connect this fact with the extra amount of out- door relief which is given. Mr. Price Hardy, Actuary Mr to the Hearts of Oak Benefit Society, is of opinion that Hardy outdoor relief is, on the whole, preferable to relief in the workhouse, especially for the aged poor. He admits that the majority of aged paupers are at the present time given outdoor relief, but attached to it is the pauper stigma. This, Mr. Hardy considers, is felt very much by the poor themselves, and should be re- moved. " My point is this : that if it costs 1 0*. or 1 2*. a week to keep a man in a big barrack, I say everybody is better by allowing that man to spend it in his own home." Amongst the large majority of the twenty wit- nesses who gave evidence in February and March 1894-, there was a very strong consensus of opinion that a more liberal allowance of out-relief was necessary, both with regard to the number of people to whom it is given, and to the amount received by each individual. In country unions the allowance for a single aged person appears to average 2,9. Qd., and for a married couple 5*. a week, and all the witnesses agree that this amount is quite inadequate, especially when rent has to be paid, unless supplemented by private charity or other re- sources. In the Poplar Union the amount of out-relief, Mr according to Mr. Lansbury, is not as a rule above 3,y. a Lansbury week, though in special instances it may reach to 3s. 6d. ; and Mr. Jephcott states that in Birmingham the amount Mr paid is 3*. Qd. a week. In the opinion of this witness, "that J e P hcott amount is impossible, on the question of food alone, to keep a person among his relatives on the outdoor relief ; 4fS. is the very lowest which I should estimate .... would be the amount on which a man could be kept in food." With regard to this statement, Mr. Callear, who Mr represented the iron-workers of South Staffordshire, 7 98 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [34.] says : " I should say that one could do but little with 4-s., and I should rather say it would be well, while we are doing a thing, to do it well, and to give 5.9. ; but I understood Mr. Jephcott to say that 4*. was the least, and I certainly quite agree with him there." Several other witnesses mention 5*. or 6s. as the amount which they consider necessary for a Mr single aged person, although Mr. Nokes, referring to the union of Bromsgrove, states that 5*. would be insufficient alone, if rent had to be covered out of it It is the general opinion of these witnesses that an adequate outdoor allowance should be given to every respectable aged poor person who has led an honest and industrious life, and that the workhouse test should in such cases be entirely abolished. Numerous instances are given by them to illustrate the privations which such aged persons sometimes endure in preference to entering a workhouse, and the intense dread they feel Mr of being obliged to do so. Mr. Ward, the Secretary of the Outdoor Relief Association at Brixworth, gave evi- dence to show the hardship which had, in his opinion, arisen in individual cases from the strict administration of the Poor Law carried out in that union. The effect of this policy, according to him, had been to drive the old people, not into the workhouse, but " to the grave," since they " would rather die of want than go into the house." The private charity, which is intended by the advocates of strict Poor Law administration to keep the deserving cases off the rates, is, according to Mr. Ward, inadequate, both from the irregularity with which it is given, and from the insufficiency of its amount. " There is a few people I have known have it regular, but there is a good many that they pretend to give it to. They get it one week, and they miss two or three, and it is a miserable existence. People think they are going to get it, and they get disappointed." The amount given THE POOR LAW 99 in this form is also less than what is usually given as [34.] out-relief. "The highest that I have known to be given to one person has been 2.9. 6d., but the majority I have known . ... is If. 6d." In answer to a further question, the witness states that 1*. 6d. is a common allowance for a man and wife, and that " it does nothing, only encourages them to bow and scrape to people where they would not otherwise." In his opinion, this private charity is more degrading to the recipients than Poor Law relief would be. " It takes the manliness out of men I think that if a man is worthy of having relief, he might have it direct, without having to bow to different people for it ; and if not, he ought to go into the union." Whilst advocating a liberal allowance of outdoor relief to the deserving, Mr. Ward is strongly opposed to an indiscriminate distribution of it, and differs from Canon Bury, not so much with regard to his general principle of administration, as to what he considers " his extreme policy" and his view of certain individual cases.* The greater number of the other working-men Working- witnesses fully concur in this opinion as to the neces- witnesses. sity of a strict discrimination between deserving and undeserving cases, and several express the belief that under the present system the latter class are too kindly treated. Thus Mr. Allen " would increase the severity of the law against " the idle and improvident, and inva- riably refuse to give them out-relief; and Mr. Webb considers that ' ' in fact it is prisons and unions that these men should be put into ; they ought to be sorted out." According to this witness, under the present adminis- tration, " the honest man never gets so much as the loafer and ne'er-do-weel, because the loafer is there * A statement was afterwards sent to the Commission by Canon Bury, traversing much of what Mr. Ward had said with regard to these cases. 100 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [34.] continually till he gets his desired amount, or nearly ;" and Mr. Stevens thinks " that a good many undeserving cases are treated altogether too kindly in the Birming- ham workhouse, and that is the reason of so many crowding in there undeserving cases." With regard to the allowances of outdoor relief for respectable aged persons, two further suggestions have been made, with the view of diminishing as much as possible the degra- dation which at present attaches to the reception of Poor Law relief. One of these is that the allowances should be paid through the post-office and not by the relieving officers, and the other that the reception of outdoor relief should not involve disfrarichisement. In respect of the first point, it may be further noticed that the complaints made by several witnesses with regard to the administration of outdoor relief have reference, not so much to the principles upon which it is based, or the amounts paid, as to the manner and method of in- vestigation of the relieving officers, which are considered to be unnecessarily harsh and inquisitorial, and more directed to saving the rates than to assisting the poor. According to Mr. Webb, the relieving officers should be abolished, and their places filled by the ratepayers. Objections 35. The chief arguments advanced against the view adminis- * na * a strict administration of the Poor Law can ade- tration quately meet the needs of the aged poor, appear to be those which Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Booth put for- ward namely, that the process is too slow, that the administration requires exceptional administrators, and that the number of such persons is small. But in answer to these arguments the advocates of strict ad- ministration maintain that any scheme, whether of State pensions or anything else, would necessarily take some twenty or thirty years before it could in any way solve the problem. Mr. Chamberlain himself admits that THE POOR LAW 101 forty years at least would be required in order to see [35.] the complete results of his pension schemes. Pauperism has been very considerably reduced, and aged pauper- ism practically abolished,, in at least four unions in England viz., St. George's-in-the-East, Whitechapel, Bradfield, and Brixworth. This has been effected,, as already stated, by the co-operation of charity and strict Poor Law administration. The number of years in which these results have been attained are from eighteen to twenty. It does not appear therefore that, granted such a method can adequately deal with the problem, the slowness of its operation should be brought against it as an objection. The time required is just about half the time which Mr. Chamberlain's scheme will require for its full development. The second part of the argu- ment, with reference to the qualities required in the administrators of the Poor Law, appears at first sight more serious. The advocates of the principle, however, maintain that, though the improvement has been slow, it has at all events been steady : and that the example set by one or two unions has been followed, in part at least, by unions all over the country. This they say is shown by the reduction in pauperism and the large decrease in outdoor relief. The advocates of restricted outdoor relief further maintain that such an administration of the Poor Law and the co-operation of charity which is necessary do not require exceptional administrators. This is pointed out by Mr. Phelps, Canon Bury, and others. Even, however, if such persons are necessary, according to Professor Marshall there appears to be more ground for hope now that they will be forthcoming than there has ever been before. He says in this connection : " I think that there is a very great tendency on the part of the rising generation to care about these things. Oxford and Cambridge represent, as it has been often 102 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [35.] said, what cultured England is going to be twenty years hence ; and the difference in the tone and senti- ment of the undergraduates now from what it was twenty years ago is something astonishing. The number of movements that there are by both universities for work- ing with the poor is very remarkable ; and one of the best developments of the higher education of women has been the very great interest which many of the students at the women's colleges have taken in social problems. I believe that a considerable number of the best workers for the London Charity Organisation Society are young people from these colleges, who have taken the question of poverty seriously to heart, in a way in which people of that age did not often do twenty years ago." The good results which have been arrived at by a strict administration of the Poor Law have ad- mittedly been due in each case to one, or perhaps two, individuals in the particular union. Mr. Charles Booth suggests that this method of administration has not been " very effectual " in St. George's-in-the-East and White- chapel. He does not, however, appear to produce any proof of his opinion in the evidence he gives. He also says that this method of dealing with the old age problem requires too much " personal effort." This " personal effort " appears to be the key with which those opposed to State pensions hope to solve the pro- blem. They maintain that only by personal service and personal effort, on the part of the individual himself and of his neighbours, can the question of pauperism be adequately met. Mr. Bartley makes a general state- ment that a method of strict administration might, and probably would, be hard on the poor if universally adopted. He does not, however, appear to bear out his general statement by the quotation of particular instances, but, on the contrary, admits that, as far as Bradfield is concerned, he has never heard of any cases THE POOR LAW 103 of hardship resulting from strict administration. Pro- [35.] fessor Marshall's objection that there has not been suffi- cient evidence to show that hardship has not been in- flicted,, appears to be met, to a certain extent at all events, by the evidence of such witnesses as Mr. Val- lance, Mr. Mackay, Canon Bury, Mr. Phelps, and others, quoted above. The objection of hardship is raised by most witnesses who are opposed to this method of deal- ing with the question. Mr. Elcock adds another objec- tion viz., that it leads to migration, which, however, he does not appear to prove either by reference to his own union or to strictly administered unions. He attributes any improvement in the condition of the people in these strict unions, not to the method of administration of the Poor Law, but to education and migration. But education is practically the same all over the country, in all unions whether strictly administered or not. It does not, however, appear that the condition of the people in all unions is quite the same. Mr. Edwards advances the argument of economy, which, however, is met and refuted by Government officials and private witnesses. He and Mr. Walker both maintain that outdoor relief will not in- crease pauperism or dependence. Mr. Edwards admits, however, that the agricultural labourer does not feel any shame in accepting such relief, and there is a con- siderable amount of evidence given by other witnesses, from all parts of the country, that outdoor relief does increase both pauperism and dependence. Mr. Davies introduces another question when he suggests that out- door relief should be given to those out of employment during the winter. The bulk of the evidence given appears to show that outdoor relief tends to lower wages. If this is so, the granting of outdoor relief to the un- employed would probably have still more sedous conse- quences. 104 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR IV. Assistance from Relatives. Summary 36. The third point in the Poor Law with regard to ofargu- w hich there is some difference of opinion is that por- ments tor A and agamst tion of the law which deals with the assistance from re l a tives towards the maintenance of paupers, which can, under certain conditions, be enforced by law. The arguments advanced on either side appear to be, in short, the following : For the maintenance of the present law (1) That all persons who can do so, ought to assist to maintain their aged relatives, and that this duty is one of vital importance ; (2) That in most cases it is possible to give such assistance ; (3) That the law is not enforced unless it is possible. Against the main- tenance of the present law (l) That the poor cannot afford to help their parents, unless they deny themselves and their children the necessaries of life ; (2) That, consequently, if the law is enforced it creates a con- tinuous dependence from one generation to another, and perhaps in some cases makes it impossible for a family ever to release itself from pauperism ; (3) That the aged poor dislike feeling they are dependent and a burden 011 their families, more than they dislike the feeling that they are dependent on the State ; (4) That in practice the law is frequently very harshly enforced. It appears that the view which is taken with regard to this law depends mostly on whether the responsibility of children to maintain parents is looked upon as a natural and vital duty or not. If it is, it would seem that the law should be retained as a means of forcing those to help who are unwilling to do so voluntarily. Hardship does apparently arise in some cases, but this occurs rather in consequence of a harsh and incon- siderate administration of the law in individual instances, than as a necessary result of the law itself. If, on the THE POOR LAW 105 other hand, it is not the duty of a son to maintain his [36.] aged parents, but rather the duty of the State or his neighbours to do so for him, the only rational course to adopt would be the abolition of the law. 37. Sir Hugh Owen in his evidence states what the Evidence , /> ., . . in favour law actually is, and the general result or it in practice. O f t i ie Certain provisions made in the 43rd Elizabeth, c. 2, are p ^ ent still in force. According to this Act, " the father and Sir Hugh grandfather, and the mother and grandmother, and the Owen children, of every poor, old, blind, lame, and impotent person, or other poor person not able to work, being of sufficient ability, shall at their own charges relieve and maintain every such person." " It will be seen," says Sir Hugh Owen, "that the relationship is blood relationship." A father-in-law is not bound to maintain the wife of his son or the husband of his daughter. There is no liability to maintain a brother or sister ; and although a grandfather is liable to maintain his grand- child, the grandchild is not liable to maintain his or her grandfather. With regard to the general practice of guardians in this matter, Sir Hugh Owen says that they usually come to some agreement with the relations of the pauper as to the amount to be paid by them, but no relation is under any liability to contribute unless he or she is called upon to do so by an order from a magis- trate. He states that no injustice is inflicted upon the poor in respect of the payments required of them for the maintenance of their pauper relatives. The basis of their liability to contribute is their capability to do so, which capability is determined by the magistrate after he has heard both sides of the question and taken evidence on oath. One of the chief arguments against the law as it now stands, as already mentioned, is that in practice it is harsh. Sir Hugh does not appear to Mr D avy, take this view. Mr. Davy and Mr. Hedley are both of Hedley 106 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [37.] opinion that the law is not harshly enforced, and Lord Lord Methuen states that in Wiltshire, although the relatives of aged persons are frequently unwilling to come for- ward and help, they are never forced to do so unless it Canon j s proved that they can afford to give such help. Canon Bury, speaking of the Brixworth Union, in Northampton- shire, where the Poor Law is very strictly administered, emphatically says that he has never known any hard cases owing to the enforcement of this law. He says : " An ordinary labourer, married, with no child, we should expect to contribute 1*. (a week) ; a single son we should expect to maintain one parent No labourer over sixty has been proceeded against in order to enforce payment, and no married labourer with any child dependent upon him has been proceeded against." The number of cases brought before the magistrates, he says, are fewer and fewer every year ; if relatives refuse to contribute, who are capable of doing so, the work- house is offered, which, Canon Bury says, is almost invariably successful in producing the required con- tribution. -Some trouble was taken to ascertain the effects of the strict administration of the Poor Law on the relatives of the paupers in this union. Returns were received from various people. The answers given, with the exception of two which were qualified, were all to the effect that no undue pressure had been placed upon the relatives. One of the qualified answers men- tioned the case of two daughters in service who appeared to be giving more than they could afford. These con- tributions were, however, given voluntarily, under no pressure of the law. The other answer was to the effect that the action of the board of guardians had left more to be done by the relatives, but whether a man called this " undue " depended on whether he looked THE POOR LAW 107 at the question from a narrow or wide point of view. [37.] The writer of the answer said : " Believing as I do that the tendency of the steady consistent action of the board has been to restore relationships to the condition which God intended for them, and to open for working men individually a way to independence and self- respect, which the lax administration of the Poor Law had closed to them, I hold that the occasional hardship apparently inflicted is not to be compared with the permanent benefit conferred on the working class." Miss Octavia Hill, speaking of the probable effects of Miss Mr. Charles Booth's scheme, says : " It seems to me ^til* that it would do a great deal to destroy what one is of all things the most desirous to cultivate, the sense of responsibility of relatives." She also expresses the opinion that hardly any one in the neighbourhoods with which she is acquainted is so poor that they cannot help their parents in some little way or other. " So much," she says, " ought to be done early. It is the young people, especially the young boys, that have the money. They have a great deal. You see they get a good deal, when from seventeen to eighteen, almost a man's wages in the unskilled trades, and at that time they could do a great deal if they would. One often hears of their spending 6*. a day in pleasure and taking nothing back at night." Miss Hill's view therefore is that the sense of responsibility of relatives is of vital importance, and can be maintained in nearly all cases, if the relatives them- selves desire to do so. Mr. McNeil, speaking of the Mr . effect of this law in Scotland, says that discretion is always used in enforcing payments from relatives, but at the present time convictions are hard to obtain ; in other words, the law is lenient in practice. He regrets this, and expresses a wish that the law were more 108 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR Hinds Howell [37.] stringently enforced. The Rev. Canon Hinds Howell, Canon speaking of the St. Faith's Union in Norfolk, says that the poor are only forced to contribute towards the maintenance of their relatives when it is known that they can afford to do so. He says : " When the man is not married, or when he is married and has only one child and is not a common labourer ; or when a man has a mother living with him and is not married, and she is in fact his wife and does all his work ; in those cases we have refused " (i.e., out-relief). He believes that the effect of the Poor Law undertaking the re- sponsibilities of relatives who are in a position to fulfil them, is to make the poor neglect their duties, and be callous about their natural affections. The answers, he says, which are received occasionally from persons who refuse to contribute towards the maintenance of their relatives are " cruel and absurd in the extreme " In the Carnarvon Union, according to the evidence of Mr. Thomas, clerk to the board of guardians, contributions from relatives are seldom if ever asked for, much less enforced. The proportion of paupers to the population in this union is about 1 in 17, or 6 per cent. Mr. Crompton, a working engineer in Crompton Birkenhead, states that in his opinion it is the duty of every child to maintain his necessitous parents if possible, and that all children who are able should be compelled to do so. The absence of this legal com- pulsion in the case of those children who are able but unwilling to render help, sometimes inflicts hardship upon the other children w r ho are willing. A few witnesses have suggested a certain modification of this law, with a view to making it easier for parents to obtain help from their children. As the law stands at present, the parents must become paupers before the guardians can proceed against the children at law, in Mr Thomas Mr THE POOR LAW 109 order to make them contribute towards the mainte- [37.] nance of the parents. Mr. McDougall, Mr. Beavan, Mr. Fothergill, and Mr. Burton are all of the opinion that it would be desirable to alter this part of the law in such a way as to make it possible for a parent to sue his or her child for maintenance, without first having to become a pauper ; just as it is now possible for a wife to sue her husband for maintenance.* 38. On the other hand, several witnesses have Evidence expressed dissatisfaction with both the law itself and P p ^ d the administration of it by the guardians. Mr. John present Davies, guardian of the Dolgelly Union in North Wales, ^' objects to compulsion in this matter, unless wages are Davies high. He believes undutiful children are rare, although he admits that such cases are to be found, and that, if left to themselves, children would voluntarily help to maintain their parents. (But it does not appear that guardians put the law into force unless the children refuse to maintain their parents voluntarily.) Mr. Davies says that in the case of unmarried sons and daughters no exception is made ; they are always com- pelled. In cross-examination he admitted that these same people, if married, would have to support their wives and children, and could do so "decently." That such people should be forced to maintain their parents, he says, " does not seem to me a hardship ; but what I argue is this, were they let alone to support of their own freewill, they would do more than by compulsion." Before compelling any person to contribute, the guar- dians, Mr. Davies says, take into consideration the extent of their income. It appears therefore that it is not "hardship" which is complained of, but rather "com- pulsion," which objection, Lord Aberdare pointed out, * This suggestion appears important ; but very little evidence was taken on the subject. 110 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [38.] is applicable to any law. Mr. Walker, agent for the Mr National Agricultural Labourers' Union in Norfolk, takes er the same view as Mr. Davies viz., that relatives should not be forced by law to contribute unless they are receiving a weekly wage of at least l. He believes that the average labourer would willingly help his parents if he could. In the case of the Norfolk labourer, Mr. Walker says, this is generally impossible. It would appear from this witness, and from Mr. Edwards, that the average weekly wage received in cash is about 1 3s. 5d. ; this is exclusive of any allowances in kind, garden pro- ducts, c. Mr. Walker maintains that an agricultural labourer with a wife and family, earning this wage, can- not afford to pay Is. a week towards his aged parent. One shilling a week appears to be about the sum which relatives are called upon to contribute. Mr. Walker mentions one case where only 6d. a week was enforced. This he also considers hard upon the labouring man. Edwards ^ r> George Edwards, Secretary of the Norfolk Labourers Union, maintains that both the law and the practice of guardians and magistrates are harsh and unfair. No relative, he says, should be forced to contribute unless he or she is earning at least =2 a week. No agricultural labourer therefore in Norfolk should be forced to con- tribute. Mr. Edwards gives three instances in which he considers that hardship was inflicted by the guardians and the magistrates. The first occurred in the Aylsham Union in 1887. Two brothers, William and Robert Stokes, living at Wood Bailing, aged respectively fifty- eight and sixty years, were summoned for not contributing to their mother's maintenance. William had been earn- ing 8,9. a week for some months. Robert had been out of work owing to bad health. Both had wives and families, both were heavily in debt, and both were members of Friendly Societies. They were sentenced to THE POOR LAW 111 a fortnight's imprisonment. In this case, Mr. Edwards [38.] thinks, the magistrates behaved most unjustly. The second case was dismissed by the magistrates. In the third case, the guardians have not taken legal action. This case is that of George Harmer, of Matlask, in the Erpingham Union. He is earning 11s. a week, is veiy sickly, and loses a great deal of time. He has been obliged to support his parents and a sister. His father is now dead, but had been ill for twenty weeks before he was allowed any relief by the guardians ; after that he received 1*. a week. The sister is ill, and is allowed l.y. 6d. a week, also 2 Ib. of meat weekly by the doctor ; " this the relieving officer has positively refused to grant." Mr. Edwards does not consider that the capability to maintain children is any criterion of the capability to maintain aged parents. Labourers, he says, are able to maintain their wives and children in some way or another on a wage of about 13*. a week, but he does not consider that it is right to suppose that a man who is earning the same wages and is unmarried, can main- tain or help to maintain his aged parents. Children, he points out, are a direct responsibility laid on the person who brings them into the world ; but a son does not bring his father into the world, and therefore should not be called upon to maintain him. Mr. Edwards's objections to the law with regard to the assistance of relatives appear to be threefold firstly, with regard to the law itself; secondly, with regard to the administra- tion of it ; and thirdly, with regard to the whole question of the dependence of different members of the family on one another. In one instance given, it is alleged that the magistrates acted unjustly. In another instance, the magistrates dismissed the case, and consequently prevented any hardship being inflicted on the persons in question. In the third case, George Harmer appa- 112 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [38.] rently relieved his parents willingly, since he had not been forced to do so by the magistrates. Mr. Edwards mentions the fact that this man was maintaining his sister as well as his parents ; but, according to the provi- sions of the law, no man is liable to maintain his brother or sister.* Finally, Mr. Edwards does not appear to object to the law on the ground that a man with 13*. a week cannot afford to maintain his parents, for he admits that a man with those wages can maintain his wife and six or eight children, but he appears to object rather on the score that no man should be liable to maintain his parents because he did not bring them into the world. And yet, in answer to a question, " Suppose a man were getting ,2 a week, would you object to his being com- pelled to support his parents ? " Mr. Edwards answers, Mr " I think not." Mr. Elcock, guardian of the Wimborne Rlcock Union in Dorsetshire, takes much the same view as Mr. Edwards. He thinks that there should be no legal compulsion, for sons are usually willing to maintain their parents, especially in "kind," letting them live in their house and generally looking after them. He gives cer- tain instances in which he considers that hardship was inflicted. The first case was that of a single man earning 14*. a week, who was made to pay 1*. a week towards the support of his parents. The second case was that of a man, aged about twenty, who worked for himself on an acre of land, earnings unknown. He was expected to maintain his grandmother, who lived with him. The third case was that of two single sons, earning about 11*. a week each, who were called upon to help to maintain their aged parents, who were receiving 3*. 6d. a week Poor Law relief, and with whom they lived. Mr. Elcock only knows of one case that was taken before * Mr. Edwards does not say whether George Harmer was a married man or not. THE POOR LAW 113 the magistrates. A single man earning 21*. a week was [38.] asked to contribute 1*. 6d. a week. Rather than pay this sum he left the district. Sons or daughters, Mr. Elcock says, who have large families, are not called upon to help in this union. Mr. Fuller, chairman of the Mr Paddington board of guardians, considers that an alteration in this law should be made with regard to the liability of children to contribute towards the mainte- nance of worthless parents. He admits that in deciding whether children in such circumstances should be called upon to pay or not, the desert of the parent would be taken into consideration, if not by the guardians, at least by the magistrate who was called upon to decide on the case. Nevertheless, he would like to see the law amended to prevent the guardians proceed- ing against a man under these circumstances. It appeared in cross-examination that some one would have to decide whether the parent was worthless or not : this the guardians and magistrates, it would seem, can do better than any one else. Mr. Charles Booth Mr bases his objections to the present law on the ground that the aged poor feel their dependence on their children more than their dependence on State aid or outdoor relief. He admits that in most cases the aged poor can be maintained by their friends and relations ; he admits also that to maintain an aged parent is the duty of every child. Yet he appears to wish that the law with regard to compulsory contributions of relatives should be replaced by the introduction of a State pension for the aged. Mr. Pitkin and Mr. Mr Disley, agricultural labourers, and Mr. Nokes, a work- SHf" 1 ' M ing gardener, all consider that it is impossible for Mr any agricultural labourer who has a family of his own to help to support a parent, and two of these witnesses state that their own sons would not be 8 114 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [38.] able to assist them if they should require help. Mr. Nokes, however, points out that a married son or daughter, who is unable to give pecuniary help, might in some cases be able to take an aged parent Mr to live with them. According to the evidence of Mr. Allen, a working man in Birmingham "with 25*. a week, who has got to pay 4>s. to 4y. 6d. a week rent, and 1*. 6d. perhaps for coal and lighting, has not sufficient margin left to assist by giving I*, or 2*. to his parents, if he has a large family of four or five." Mr Ladd Mr. Ladd complained of the harshness with which the obligation of children to assist their parents is often enforced, and considers that the jurisdiction in these cases should not be with the justices of the peace, who are usually ratepayers, but with some disinterested person. V. Area for Relief. Proposed 39. Certain questions have been raised and sugges- oTareafor tions made with regard to the present area for Poor indoor Law relief. It has been suggested that there should be an extended area for indoor relief, with the same area for outdoor relief which exists at the present time, or with a parish area for outdoor relief. The arguments for an extended area for indoor relief appear to be, in short, the following: (l) That it would admit of a better classification of inmates. (2) That it would lead to an improved status of officers. (3) That in certain parts of the country many of the workhouses are practically empty. The arguments against such a change appear to be : (1) The loss of local feeling and personal interest which now often exists between the guardians and the inmates. (2) Classification by character might injure the bad. (3) Classification by previous character is difficult and often unjust. (4) The removal of the aged THE POOR LAW 115 far from their friends would be unpopular amongst the [39.] poor. Mr. Knollys advocates a county area for indoor Mr relief, with the existing area for out-relief. The chief reason he puts forward for such a change is the improved status of workhouse officials which would thereby be secured. If the workhouses in one county were amalgamated, there might be a different establish- ment for different classes of paupers e.g., able-bodied, aged and infirm, male and female. At present with the small workhouses it is not possible to obtain educated men and women to fill the posts of master and matron. If the houses were larger this might be possible. The advantage of having gentlemen and ladies as masters and matrons, Mr. Knollys considers, would be very great ; it would probably do away with one cause of complaint against the Poor Law namely, the occasionally harsh manner of the Poor Law officers, which he says may be perhaps better described as " a dictatorialness of manner and loudness of voice." A county area for indoor relief would also enable the authorities to classify the inmates according to their past character, which he also considers would be a great improvement. He admits that such a classification would be difficult, and might lead to the bad becoming worse ; at the same time he believes it would be possible, and considers that " those who are of decidedly good character should be favoured to the extent of not being forced to associate with the more disreputable characters." The fact that in many counties the existing workhouses are not "half full," Mr. Knollys maintains is some argument for a rearrangement of indoor relief. The one and only argument against such a rearrangement, he says, is the removal of the aged from their friends, which would necessarily be entailed. On account of this, he says : " I do not feel at all sure if you were to 116 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [39.] consult the wishes of the poor that they would not prefer a continuance of the present system of small work- houses rather than the classification in large workhouses/' In conclusion, he says : " My own feeling is that the balance of advantages is distinctly in favour of some such classification ; but I think that other point (i.e., removal of the aged), is a very essential point, which should not be Canon lost sight of." Canon Bury, with regard to this question, says : " Then as to indoor relief, if there is to be classi- fication, I should like it to be classification of houses ; a Sir larger area being rated for workhouse purposes." Sir Owen Hugh Owen appears to think that the disadvantages of a county classification of workhouses outweigh the advantages which would be secured. The distance of inmates from their friends would be seriously felt by the aged. The advantages of short leave of absence to this class of pauper would be lost, if they had no friends near at hand to go to. The want of local feeling and know- ledge of the inmates by the guardians would also be a drawback to such a scheme. " If workhouses," he says, " were establishments belonging to a county, I suppose they would be managed by committees of the County Council ; but you would not then get those personal relations between the inmates and those managing the Mr workhouse that you have now." Mr. Davy considers avy that much might be done by the amalgamation of workhouses in towns, as for instance in Leeds, where there are " no less than four workhouses and a school." Such an amalgamation would make a better system of classification possible, while it would not necessitate taking the poor far from their friends. This objection, Mr. Davy considers, would prevent any extensive alter- ation of the areas for indoor relief in the counties. At the same time, more could be done by the combination of small unions and small workhouses than is done at THE POOR LAW 117 present. If the guardians are willing, the Local Govern- [39.] ment Board have power to order two or more unions to combine for any purpose which may be to the advantage of those concerned. Mr. Davy says : " I know of one (workhouse) with eleven inmates. There is no earthly reason why a union of that size should not be added to the next union, but the Board * have often tried to do that, and they have been invariably beaten by the enormous local opposition that exists to any proposal for altering union areas." The law which gives the Local Government Board this power of combining unions was passed in 1879- In the passing of this law, Mr. Davy says : " I took a great interest .... and I have endeavoured on several occasions to get combinations of boards of guardians, but I have always been defeated." It appears, therefore, that whether such a change in the area for indoor relief would be on the whole beneficial or not, there is a great opposition on the part of boards of guardians to any such scheme. With regard to the classification by past character which a county area for relief would make possible, as far as accommo- dation is concerned, Mr. Davy considers that it would be impracticable. For, he says, it does not follow that because an inmate has previously had a bad character, he will therefore have a similar character in the workhouse. He gives an instance of this which had come under his notice. One of the inmates of a work- house had started life as a clergyman. Outside the workhouse he was a hopeless drunkard ; when he came in he was the most useful inmate in the establishment. " Any classification," Mr. Davy says, " which tends to- wards the comfort of the other inmates or the better administration of the workhouse is good, but any classifi- * The Local Government Board. 118 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [39.] cation which depends upon the judgment, which must be more or less arbitrary, which the master or others may form of the past character of an inmate, is open to considerable objection." P arish d 40 - With re g arcl to tne suggestion that the parish area for should be the area for outdoor relief, it appears from relief 0r the evidence given that the arguments for this change are as follows : : (l") That it would tend to diminish outdoor relief, because each parish would bear the burden of its own poor. (2) By this means the cir- cumstances of each applicant would be well known. The arguments against this change appear to be that (1) There might be a danger of outdoor relief paying wages. (2) It might be hard on a very poor parish. *^ r (3) It might lead to favouritism. On this subject Mr. Davy says : " I think the whole of the fiscal arrange- ments of the English unions rather tend to increase outdoor relief ; for this reason, that the relief is paid for both indoor and outdoor from the common fund, which is raised upon the whole union, the electoral areas being the parishes. My observation is, that a guardian, who may, as a general principle, be in favour of indoor relief, when he comes to see this or that old woman is applying, who comes from his own parish, she being probably a woman whom he has known for a great many years, feels himself justified in supporting her claim ; whereas he might not support the claim if the cost of the relief came upon the parish alone, and not on the whole union. I think he is influenced by the fact that the relief is paid out of the common fund of the union, and does not fall upon the parish. It is extremely frequent in large country unions for the matter of indoor or outdoor relief in a particular case to be left to the guardian of the parish. The other guardians vote in accordance with his opinion, and when their turn comes and they have some THE POOR LAW 119 pauper applicant who comes from their own parishes, [40.] and whom they want to recommend for relief, the other guardian whose suggestion they have just adopted will, in his turn, vote for them." He says further : " I should think that if outdoor relief were paid by the parish, and worked entirely by the parish, that you might possibly have very little outdoor relief ; but, on the other hand, there would always be the risk of wages being paid out of relief ; in fact, that some influential employer of labour might capture the relief administration and pay his wages out of it. That was the experience before 1834>." Mr. Edwards recommends that the parish should Mr be made the area for Poor Law relief, under the Parish Councils ; " this," he says, " would do away with a great deal of high paid officials." Mr. Davies, from Mr his experience in the Dolgelly Union, in North Wales, is Davies of the opinion that outdoor relief should be made a parish charge, and administered by the Parish Councils or by the guardian of the parish. That is to say, the guardian of the parish should make the necessary inquiries into the case instead of the relieving officer, for Mr. Davies thinks he would be able to do so in a more satisfactory way. The danger of favouritism, he considers, would be prevented by the constant super- vision of the ratepayers. " In a smaller area," he says, "the representatives of the ratepayers are in closer contact with the ratepayers ; the ratepayers have an advantage to watch their proceedings, and should they show any favouritism, they would not be long without hearing of it, and when an election came they would soon be removed." Mr. Elcock has much the same Mr opinion, except that he suggests that all the cost of both Elc o ck indoor and outdoor relief should be defrayed by the county rate, while the administration of outdoor relief, especially so far as the aged are concerned, should 120 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [40.] Mr Disley MissO Hill Mr Mackay be in the hands of the Parish Councils, or some other properly constituted parish authority. Mr. Frome Wilkinson also advocates a smaller area for Poor Law relief than there is at present. The reasons he puts forward are, that by this means a more adequate know- ledge of the merits of each case would be secured, and that probably there would be a stronger representation of the working classes upon the administrative board than exists at present. Mr. Disley advocates the adop- tion of the parish area for relief on the ground that " it would be much cheaper ; the relieving officer could live in the parish, and then he could see deserving cases if there were any ; he would be able to know that there would be no imposition." This arrangement would also, in his opinion, render it more possible to discriminate between the treatment of aged and able-bodied, married and unmarried, and deserving and undeserving paupers. Miss Octavia Hill does not speak positively on the subject, but thinks that possibly if outdoor relief were made a parish charge there would be a greater tendency to diminish the amount given, which so far would be desirable. Mr. Mackay, of the Charity Organisation Society in St. George's-in-the-East, is averse to any change in the existing Poor Law which would entail appeal to the Legislature ; " because I feel," he says, " so very much afraid that they might alter it in the wrong direction." With regard to this particular point in the present law, he doubts whether the advantages of a greater knowledge of the applicants for relief would outweigh the danger of favouritism. He says : " I should be sorry to admit that in the case of people who know one another better, they would be more likely to be fair. That is not so at all. It is just in this sort of case that favouritism creeps in. With reference to the clergyman, the old woman who goes to his church has THE POOR LAW 121 naturally a better chance of obtaining help from him [40.] than the old woman who does not ; and the old man who works for a particular farmer, who is on the board of guardians, naturally has a better chance of obtaining relief from his influence than the man who does not work for him. And I do not think you can get any nearer a judicial proceeding, because men, however well-intentioned, cannot help being influenced by these considerations." Canon Bury, speaking of this pro- Canon posal, says : " I have often thought of it ; I am not Bur y inclined now to agree to it, or think it good I am afraid that, if the outdoor relief or the relief of the poor were made a parish charge, there would be a strong desire on the part of the ignorant, and especially of those who have not directly to pay for it, to increase the out- door relief and to put pressure on the guardians in that direction." In Scotland, the parish is the area for relief; but the parishes are, in many cases, as large as an Eng- lish union. Mr. McNeil says that this system of parish Mr areas works well, because the real circumstances of the cl applicants are well known. There is generally a com- bination of parishes for workhouse purposes, w r hile out- door relief is administered separately by each parish. In London, there is a Metropolitan Common Poor Fund which bears a certain part of the expense of indoor paupers. Outdoor relief is a union charge. Mr. Ml j Hedley says : "I do not think that outdoor relief, as given in London, is given with any or much considera- tion to the question of the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund." That is, although guardians know that they have to bear a larger share of the expense of the relief which is given outside. Suggestions for the extension of the present area for outdoor relief were made by Mr. Lansbury and Mr. Allen. Mr. Lansbury considers Mr " that outdoor relief should be a Metropolitan Common Lansbur 7 122 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [40.] Poor Fund charge/' as indoor relief is at present : " I would make the poor-rate, if it is to be a rate, it should Mr Allen be for the whole of London." Mr. Allen also believes that to spread the cost of outdoor relief over a broader area is " a direction in which the Poor Law might be improved considerably. I think it presses very heavily on those districts which are very poor, and naturally tends to a harsh administration of the law to save the rates where they press so hardly upon those who have to raise them I think you might easily group a division or a county, and so equalise the parishes." It appears that in the Metropolis, at all events, indoor relief being on a larger area (financially) than outdoor relief, does not itself lead to the restriction of the latter. Further, if outdoor relief were made a parish charge, the system which was in vogue before 18.34 would be reverted to ; a system w r hich led to grave abuses, as Mr. Davy has indicated. As already stated, Professor Marshall and other witnesses hold the opinion that the spread of education and the growth of the working-class intelligence would prevent such abuses as existed before 1834. The expediency therefore of such a change appears to depend on the view which is taken as to the probabilities of the improved condition and intelligence of the country being strong enough to obviate the risk of abuses which may follow from it. VI. Treatment of Aged Indoor Paupers. Aims- 41. The question of the advisability of providing houses for se p ara te accommodation for the aged in the form of almshouses or cottages has been discussed by many of the witnesses. The question appears to involve the larger question of whether the State should provide for the comfortable maintenance of deserving persons in THE POOR LAW 123 their old age or not. The chief arguments for the [41.] provision of almshouses or cottages for the aged are : (i.) That the conditions of workhouse life are at 1 present hard on the aged, (ii.) That, owing to want of / space, sufficient classification is impossible, (hi.) That, / owing to this want of classification, the respectable aged are forced to live with the disreputable. The arguments against such a scheme appear to be : (i.) That the provision of almshouses would increase pauperism, (ii.) That the lot of the pauper would be made preferable to that of the independent poor, (hi.) That the respectable aged should be maintained, not by the State, but by their friends and private charity, (iv.) That the cost of such almshouses w r ould be excessive. It appears that there has been a great improvement in workhouses during the last twenty years, and that in many cases the aged inmates are comfortable and well looked after. The comforts and indulgences already given might, however, be still more increased for this class of pauper without any fear of making the workhouses too attrac- tive ; and to bring about these improvements it is not necessary to make any new law, but merely that the guardians should use the discretion and the powers which are already given to them by the existing law. The erection of almshouses appears less desirable. The restriction of liberty, which it seems can be modified to a great extent if it is thought desirable, preserves the workhouse from becoming too attractive to the poor, and consequently leading them to be unthrifty when young. This restriction of liberty would be done away with if the aged paupers were allowed to live in aims- houses or cottages separate from the workhouse. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that if the aged were relieved in this manner there would be cause for the same apprehension as to the probable results 124 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [41.] which the Commissioners expressed in the year 1839-* Mr Mr. Edwards has made no personal investigation of the conditions of workhouse life, but from what he hears believes that for the aged life in the workhouse is irksome and severe. He holds the opinion that all indoor relief should be practically done away with, v except for the thoroughly vicious and immoral. The aged who have no friends with whom they could live should be provided with accommodation in cottages, built in each village at the cost of the rates. Landlords, he considers, should be compelled to allow such cottages to be built on their land if required. Mr. Edwards does not think the cost of such provision would be excessive, because most of the aged would have friends with whom they could live. For the helpless and friendless aged in these cottages a nurse, he thinks, should be provided. >y " She need not necessarily be a trained one ; any respectable woman in the village could and would gladly undertake this work for a certain remuneration." The management and control of these almshouses should be in the hands of the Parish Councils. A similar Mr suggestion was made by Mr. Disley, who thinks "that Disley t} iere should be a few almshouses in every parish, where the old couples could go to live together instead of going into the union in old age I would suggest that there should be one parish nurse to look after the most ailing, and then the others could look after each other." The cost of building such almshouses might, he thinks, be gradually defrayed out of the parish rates ; " if the money were borrowed, well, at the lowest interest they could get at 3 per cent, or 4 per cent. and could Mr extend over a period of thirty years." Mr. Beavan, from Cardiff, suggests that the most deserving class of aged paupers should be given a pension of 5*. a week * See evidence of Mr. Knollys, p. 127, below. THE POOR LAW 125 from the rates and be allowed to live with their friends, [41.] if they have any, or, if not, be accommodated in almshouses erected for the purpose apart from the workhouse. Such persons, he thinks, should in no way be considered paupers. The cost of such alms- houses, Mr. Beavan says, would be not less than 300 apiece. If many had to be erected, this would be a considerable tax on the ratepayers. Mr. Frome RevJ Wilkinson considers that the administration of relief w ^idnson to the aged should be taken out of the hands of the ordinary Poor Law authorities, and be handed over to a Parish or District Council. All those above the age of fifty who were incapacitated for work should be given 5*. a week, and, if they had no one to live with, a cottage, for which 1*. a week should be deducted from the 5s., as rent. The cost of such relief and the neces- sary cottages, Mr. Wilkinson suggests, should be defrayed out of Imperial taxes. The great objection to the aged being relieved in the workhouse, he considers, is the association of the aged with the aged. He believes that such association brings out all the worse points in the character of those concerned. As far as comfort is concerned, he thinks the aged inmates of workhouses are well off. Canon Hinds Howell states that many of the canon workhouses in Norfolk are practically empty. He con- 5 ind ^ siders that it would be desirable that such workhouses should be turned into hospitals or almshouses for the aged poor, where they would be properly looked after, and treated on an entirely different system from what the law permits boards of guardians to do at the present time.* If the privileges were abused, the individual * Canon Howell objects to the workhouse dress, and thinks it should be dispensed with as far as aged persons are con- cerned. But it appears from other witnesses that in this, and in all else which concerns the treatment of the aged in workhouses, 126 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [41.] who abused them would have to be sent back to the Mr Stead workhouse. According to the evidence of Mr. Stead, the High Court of Foresters has expressed its dis- satisfaction with the administration of the Poor Law as far as the classification of aged inmates is concerned. The deserving aged, they consider, should be relieved out of the workhouse if possible, or at least be classified in the workhouse separately from the rest of the inmates. Mr Evidence w r as also given by Mr. Pitkin and Mr. Smith Pitkin, Mr ' with regard to the hardships often inflicted upon s *!j"JJ respectable aged paupers by their forced association Disley with disreputable companions, and the necessity for classification by merit. Mr. Disley considers that this might be rendered possible by the provision of almshouses for deserving aged couples, and of a parish farm upon which the unmarried men might be employed. Better 42. Mr. Knollvs gives the following reasons for the provision for the objection which the aged poor have to workhouse w^rknou^e 6 life< The llarsh manner of the officials, which has needed, already been alluded to, he says, exists only occasionally, Knollys ^ut * a sufficient extent to be a cause of complaint. The routine life, he says, the aged poor strongly object to, " having, as it were, to regulate their life by bell- call, and to have each day mapped out for them and every day exactly the same." The association with disreputable inmates, Mr. Knollys says, has caused several complaints. These complaints, he says, have had reference to conduct in the workhouse, and not so much to previous character. Further complaints refer to want of privacy, distinctiveness of dress, and loss of liberty. The last objection, he says, appears to be the chief reason for the prevalent the guardians have discretion to do as seems best to them. The law does not appear to hamper them in any way. THE POOR LAW 127 dislike. These objections he considers could be obviated [42.] to a certain extent, as far as the respectable aged are concerned, without any fear of making the workhouse too attractive. " The question of the want of privacy/' he says, " might be met if arrangements were made by which the deserving inmates of a workhouse, instead of sleeping in one dormitory together in common with others, were each given a separate compartment or cubicle, to which they might be allowed to retire at any time they wished." Mr. Knollys considers that it would be desirable that there should also be a further sub- division of classes ; while a common day-room for the deserving and respectable of both sexes where they might associate together, " would be considered a very great boon by the inmates." Sufficient liberty should also be given to the respectable aged as regards a day's leave during the week, and on Sunday they should be allowed to go to whatever place of worship, outside the workhouse, they desired. Such leave of absence, he says, would need to be carefully watched to see that it was not abused. With regard to the question of further separate accommodation for the aged, Mr. Knollys quotes a passage from the report of the Poor Law Commissioners in the year 1839. To place the workhouse on the same kind of footing as almshouses, as far as the aged and infirm are concerned, they con- sidered would be most injurious to the welfare of the poor themselves, and the country at large. The frugality and forethought of the young labourer would be rendered useless, if he knew that the almshouse of the district offered a refuge for his declining years, in which he could obtain comforts and indulgences which even the most successful of the labouring classes could not always obtain by their own exertions. Mr. Knollys expresses his agreement with the opinion of the Com- 128 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [42.] missioners, so far as they hold that the life of the pauper should not be made preferable to the life of the independent labourer. At the same time, he thinks that a system of placing the deserving aged poor in cottages is one which ought at least to be considered. If such cottages were built on the workhouse premises, " it would be very difficult to say where a row of wards ceased and a row of cottages began." Mr. Knollys appears therefore to think that so long as some connec- tion with the workhouse is maintained in order to deter persons from unduly seeking this form of relief, much might be safely done to improve the condition of the Mr respectable aged inmates. Mr. Hedley, Poor Law lley Inspector for the Metropolis, considers that the pro- vision for the aged in Metropolitan workhouses is, on the whole, satisfactory. " The only ameliorations," he says, " I should like to see in the present condition of the Metropolitan paupers (i.e., aged) are, that I should like to see better meals and better arrangements for giving the old people something to do." With regard to the suggestion as to "better meals," Mr. Hedley appears to be alluding to the manner in which the meals are served to the aged i.e., in the common dining-hall, and not to the quality, &c., for in another part of his evidence he says, " My general opinion of them " (the dietaries) " is that as far as quality and quantity go they are excellent." The provision of an adequate means of employment appears to be the most difficult question with regard to workhouse adminis- tration. This is especially so with regard to the aged. What work they have to do is given them, Mr. Hedley says, more as a means of " whiling away the time " than as a task. The " Brabazon Scheme," which provides em- ployment for the aged and infirm, who cannot do any ordinary work, is now established in some of the Metro- THE POOR LAW 129 politan workhouses. This he considers good so far as it [42.] goes, as long as it is strictly limited to the aged and infirm. In some of the Metropolitan unions there are separate establishments for different classes of paupers e.g., for able-bodied, children, sick, and the aged and infirm. This system he considers a good one. But he says it would be impossible to build almshouses on the existing sites of Metropolitan Poor Law establishments. The only means of providing such accommodation for the aged, even if it were desirable to do so, would be in the country, which would be open to the objection that the poor would be removed from their friends. The poor themselves, he believes, would prefer to be relieved in their own parishes. Mr. Lansbury, a guardian of the Mr Poplar Union, thinks that although some institution for destitute aged persons is necessary, "it should be a better institution than those you have now .... I am in favour of them (the aged paupers) going into the country. I , think it would be much preferable. The workhouse at Poplar is situated alongside a railroad, and in one of the very worst parts of Poplar ; and it seems to me that it would be infinitely preferable for those people to be, say, at Ley ton, or somewhere just outside London ; not too far away, because of the friends visiting them, but just round the suburbs of London." By this change it would be possible to give greater liberty to the in- mates, and the old men might be occupied in the . , garden. At present there is no suitable recreation or occupation for the old men in the Poplar workhouse, but the Brabazon Scheme is being introduced for the old women. This would, however, according to Mr. Lansbury, "be more successful if the women were allowed to own the garments and the things which they make under the supervision of the ladies who come down. As it is now, these things are sold to buy other 9 130 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [42.] material to be worked up afterwards." Mr. Lansbury states that ever since he has been a guardian he has felt " that the discipline, the food, and the clothing in the workhouse is not the kind of treatment that we should give to old people ; at any rate, whose only crime is that they are old." For this class the hours of rising and of meals are too rigid, and more variety is needed in diet. The clothing of the aged paupers is also insufficient in k cold weather, in Mr. Lansbury's opinion. He further considers that it is harsh and unnecessary to take away from the old people on their return to the workhouse the little presents of money or food which they may receive outside, although he would prohibit the intro- Mr duction of matches or spirituous liquors. Mr. Pitkin considers that the greatest hardship for old persons in / the workhouse is the compulsory confinement. He believes that they might safely be allowed to go out every day, and that if they were allowed on Sunday " to go to church or chapel where they thought proper .... it would be a great improvement." A similar opinion was expressed by Mr. Burton, who thinks that the indoor paupers " would be a deal better with more Sir exercise and more liberty." Sir Hugh Owen is of the Hugh opinion that workhouses throughout the country have considerably improved in the matter of administration and comforts provided for the inmates. On the whole, he believes that the workhouse is generally best for the aged, as the hardships which were formerly alleged to exist have now been removed. Aged married couples can claim to live together, and in most workhouses separate accommodation is provided for such persons. Mr But this right is frequently not claimed. Mr. Davy vy speaks of the great improvement which there has been in workhouses during the past twenty years. The standard of living outside has risen, the comforts THE POOR LAW 131 in the workhouses have increased proportionately. [42.] There is no reason, he says, why workhouses should not be made more comfortable, so long as the discipline is maintained. This, he believes, would keep those who could live outside from becoming inmates. He speaks positively of the content of the inmates in those work- houses which have come under his supervision. With regard to separate accommodation for the aged, he says : " In the West Derby Union workhouse .... there is a row of cottages which were primarily for the accommo- dation of married couples on condition that they should scrub and clean each cottage." This provision, Mr. Davy has no doubt, is much appreciated by the inmates ; and he sees no objection to such an arrangement. Major Ballantine believes that, except for the loss of Major their liberty, the aged in the Manchester workhouse Ballantine are in many cases more comfortable than the well- to-do members of their own class outside. But it is the restriction of liberty which is felt most, and is at the same time essential to the proper administration of the workhouse. If the inmates, he says, are allowed to go out on leave and to see their friends constantly, I there is great danger of infectious diseases being in- troduced. This being so, and as he considers that the respectable aged should be allowed more liberty, Major Ballantine advocates provision being made for them in j a separate establishment, perhaps in the country, with more liberty and increased comforts. He recommends that inmates of the workhouse should be allowed to qualify for admission into these establishments by exemplary conduct in the ordinary workhouse for a certain number of months, or that the guardians should send aged applicants for relief direct to them if they were satisfied that they were deserving. The only objection, he thinks, which might possibly be raised against such 132 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [42.] a proposal would be the undesirability of holding out greater inducements to the poor to pauperise them- selves. With regard to the amelioration of the lot of aged indoor paupers, he points out that it is in the hands of the guardians to do exactly what they wish, even as far as establishing a separate house for their main- tenance, or increasing their comforts and liberty in the ordinary workhouse ; if an extension of buildings were necessary, the sanction of the Local Government Board would be required, but this sanction, Mr. Hedley says, Mr would be given if asked for. Mr. McDougall is of 3Uga . opinion that the deserving aged should if possible be (Jsept apart from the Poor Law altogether. Failing this, he suggests that they should be separated from the rest of the inmates in the workhouse, and placed in a different part of the establishment, two or four together. The necessary discrimination would be diffi- cult he thinks, but yet possible, if sufficiently careful inquiries were made. Such an arrangement would require little extra accommodation, because, he holds, the number of deserving aged inmates is small. In large towns an amalgamation of workhouses would Dr obviate all such difficulties of accommodation. Dr. Paine, chairman of the Cardiff board of guardians, states that the aged male and female inmates of the workhouse are classified separately from the rest of the inmates. In the workhouse, the aged are allowed tea at their morning and evening meals. He suggests that it would be desirable that the aged should be allowed to have their meals in their own wards, and that the aged women should be given some tea and a teapot, and be allowed to have a cup of tea when they wished. This he believes could be done without incurring any further expense, and would be much appreciated by this class of paupers. He is, however, of opinion that the deserving THE POOR LAW 133 aged who have homes, in which they can live, and have [42.] any one to look after them, should be given out-relief, without any stigma of pauperism being attached to it. Mr. Gage Gardiner considers that certain improvements Mr Gage might be introduced in workhouses as a means of * jrarc * 1 brightening the lives of the aged. Such schemes as the Brabazon Scheme he strongly approves of. He says : " One wishes to hit this line, that the workhouse shall not be so comfortable as to attract people into it, but that it shall be as comfortable as it can be made up to that line." Satisfactory classification, he considers, must depend on the amount of available space. At the same time, he believes that the inmates group them- selves to a large extent. He states that he was con- firmed in this opinion by the testimony of a former inmate of the St. Saviour's Union workhouse, who had been a City merchant, and had failed. In answer to the question whether he had not felt it very distasteful to have to mix with all kinds of characters, he replied : " No. The fact of the matter is, we sort ourselves, and we can always find two or three people who have lived the kind of life we ourselves have lived, and with them we mix." As far as bodily comforts are concerned, Mr. Gardiner con- siders that the aged inmates are well off. Mr. Vallance Mi- believes it is practically impossible to make any satisfac- Vallance tory classification by past character. In the Whitechapel workhouse the inmates are classified according to the Local Government Board regulations, and by conduct in the workhouse. He states that the inmates automati- cally classify themselves, and that the respectable ones make no complaints with regard to their association with the disreputable characters. Mr. Fuller, speaking of Mr the Paddington workhouse arrangements with regard Fuller to the aged poor, says : " The great thing which keeps people from coming to the workhouse is the loss of their 134 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [42.] liberty ; we are not afraid to make their life in the workhouse as happy as it can be." Again he says : "I think we do pretty well everything that they would wish to be done to make their lives bright and happy. We have had the Brabazon Scheme at work for some years now. We are giving them entertainments in the evening during the winter, and we allow the master and matron to let them go out, so long as they do not abuse it. A good many of them find in a comparatively short time that the workhouse is their best home. I think that in the case of many of them they would not like to accept relief out- side. Their friends and relatives have died away, and they are happy among their own people in the work- house. That grows upon them." In answer to the question, " Can anything more be done than is done at present to give a deserving aged inmate of the workhouse more privacy in the way of separate quarters ? " Mr. Fuller says : " I do not think they would wish it. We have married couples who prefer the men to be with the men, and the women with the women. But we give them married quarters accommodation if they wish to avail Mr themselves of it." Mr. Mackay, while agreeing with Mackay j.j ie p O ij C y o f the Commissioners of 1834, approves of workhouses being made as comfortable for the aged as possible. He says : " I think it is the best outlet for the undoubted feeling of commiseration that is to be found in the community, that they ought to make the workhouses as reasonably comfortable as is practicable. I see no objection to that being done ; indeed, I should Prof strongly advocate it." Professor Marshall objects to the Marshall inadequate classification in many of the smaller work- houses ; in the larger ones he considers that the classifi- cation is fairly good. In cross-examination, Mr. Henley pointed out that by Article 98 of the Poor Law, the guardians have power to classify the inmates in any way THE POOR LAW 135 in which they think fit, " with reference to the moral cha- [42.] racter or behaviour, or the previous habits of the inmates, or to such other grounds as may seem to them expe- dient." Professor Marshall says, in reference to this, that he was unaware that " such other grounds " in- cluded merit. "If," he says, "the meaning of these words goes so far as to allow them to classify with regard to merit, then it is all I want ; only I think it is a fact not generally known." relief? VII. Pensions from Benefit Societies, &c., and Poor Law Relief. 43. In the administration of Poor Law relief, espe- Should cially in the matter of outdoor relief, the question of P ensio . ners pensions from benefit societies and how they are and outdoor should be treated, is important. It is maintained by certain witnesses that by granting outdoor relief on a liberal scale to pensioners of benefit societies, thrift is rewarded and encouraged. Other witnesses main- tain that if this is done (1) The fundamental prin- ciple of the Poor Law is controverted. (2) Unsound societies, which give inadequate benefits in the hope of their being supplemented by the Poor Law, are encouraged and helped to exist. (3) Those who have made some attempt at maintaining their independ- ence are rewarded by being made dependent. With regard to the general practice of guardians in such cases, Sir Hugh Owen says : " I think you would find, as a matter of fact, that the guardians would very rarely send a man into the workhouse who had got a pension of any kind, assuming that he did not drink. .... It would be the practice now where a man had secured a pension for himself, except under such cir- cumstances as those I have referred to, to give outdoor Sir Hugh Owen 136 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [43.] relief instead of indoor relief." With regard to the usual practice of guardians in settling the amount of such outdoor relief, he says : " I think in strictness the guardians ought to take into account any income which any person who applies for relief may receive, but it is very usual for guardians to take into account something like half the sum that may be received from a Friendly Society, on the ground that it is an encouragement to those who have joined societies and thus secured some provision for themselves, and that it is desirable that they should be in a somewhat better position than those who have not taken any such action They consider what relief the person ought to have if the pension is not taken into account, and instead of giving the amount less the sum received as pension, they give the amount less half the pension." With reference to this method of granting relief to members of benefit societies, the views of the Local Government Board are set forth in a letter, written in 1870, to Mr. Paget, guardian of one of the Somersetshire unions. In this letter, which Sir Hugh Owen quotes in his evidence, the Board strongly insists that such allowances from benefit societies, c., should, strictly speaking, be reckoned in full when relief is given, but that never- theless on this point guardians may use their discretion. It was the opinion of the Poor Law Commissioners, ex- pressed in a minute circulated in 1840, which is quoted in the same letter, that it would be more in accordance with the principles of the Poor Law, and more beneficial to the labouring classes themselves, if contributors to Friendly Societies, &c., were not allowed to receive relief at the same time both from the funds of their societies and from the poor-rates. Where two sources of relief are open to the same person, great evils arise. This prin- ciple, Sir Hugh Owen considers, is very generally recog- THE P00* f 137 nised by the labouring classes themselves,, in the methods [43.] which they adopt for the distribution of relief in Friendly Societies. Under certain circumstances the pension from a Friendly Society can be appropriated by the guardians if they give relief to a pensioner, but to prevent this many of these societies have adopted rules which practically preclude the payment of the pension or allowance when the member is in receipt of Poor Law relief. Whether the principle which under- lies the usual practice of guardians in giving relief to pensioners is right or wrong, Sir Hugh Owen considers a doubtful question. It is extremely difficult, he thinks, to carry the principle out logically ; strictly speaking, personal savings, house property, and allowances from friends ought to be treated in the same way, but to do so is almost impossible, since there is so much uncer- tainty as to the value and stability of such assets. On the whole, he considers that the practice is undesirable, since the one guiding and fundamental principle of the Poor Law is that relief should only be given to prevent destitution, which principle must necessarily be broken where relief is given to benefit society pensioners. Mr. Knollys considers that, on the whole, the usual Mr practice of guardians works well, but that to dis- Knollys regard the sums received from benefit societies altogether would be undesirable, and lead to bad results generally. He says : " Strictly speaking, of course, if relief is to be given as it should be, absolutely on the score of destitution only, such grants should not be considered ; but I think the present practice of boards of guardians in the matter works well, and I have no reason myself to see why it should be changed." Mr. Davy is against the usual practice of guardians in Mr Davy this matter. He says : " After a good deal of consider- ation I feel bound to say that, in my opinion, the 138 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [43.] doctrine of the Local Government Board, as laid down in their letter to Sir Richard Paget,* as to relief to persons receiving club allowances, is the right doctrine, and that it is the right practice for boards of guardians to take every penny into account in fixing the amount of relief. .... My reason for that is this, that, in the first place, I see an insuperable difficulty in any board of guardians making a distinction between the form of thrift which is exemplified by a contribution to a Friendly Society and any other form of thrift. I cannot see why boards of guardians should make any distinction between savings in a benefit society and savings invested say, in pigs or a cow, or in a ,10 note. I cannot see that there is any distinction in principle. And, besides that, I think that any attempt to subsidise Friendly Societies by increasing the amount of pay would tend to weaken Friendly Societies. To my mind quite the most pitiable cases who apply for relief are those of people who have subscribed to a club for years, and find their club bankrupt and unable to pay anything to them when they are entitled to a benefit. If club payments were subsidised from the poor-rates, I think these weak clubs would be en- couraged. They ought to be suppressed, and the poorer classes should be protected from the risk of being robbed by welshing slate clubs." Mr. Davy also considers that it is dangerous to constitute guardians judges of merit, which such a system involves. If Friendly Societies, he thinks, are to be subsidised by the State or rates at all, it should be on the condition of good administration. This would necessarily entail a Mr certain amount of State supervision. Mr. Fothergill, er1 speaking of the method adopted by the Birmingham * The letter referred to before, quoted by Sir Hugh Owen, as written to Mr. Paget (see p. 136). THE POOR LAW 139 board of guardians, states that when persons who are [43.] receiving an allowance from a benefit society apply for relief, the guardians reckon the full amount which they are receiving, and add what they consider will then relieve their destitution. But in cases where the applicant's family is at the time ill, the receipts from the society are not as a rule reckoned at all, and relief is given accordingly. Generally, however, relief is not given as a reward for thrift, but merely to relieve destitution. It is dangerous, Mr. Fothergill considers, for the Poor Law to overstep its proper functions. It is also doubtful whether "doles of money are at all likely to make men thrifty or pro- vident." Mr. Hamblin, speaking of the action of his Mr own board of guardians at Brighton with regard to Hamblin pensioners of benefit societies, says : " All appli- cants who have tried to assist themselves in life we should be more considerate to than we should to those who had not, and their relief would be considered in that respect, and they possibly would be more gene- rously treated than if they had saved nothing, or tried to do nothing for themselves." This Mr. Hamblin admits is not strictly in accordance with the principles of the Poor Law. And further, since the object of a man paying into a club or society is to prevent him- self coming on the rates, to reward such a man by holding out an extra inducement to him to apply for relief, is to reward his thrift by making him a pauper. But, he says, the guardians do not look at it in this light. According to the evidence of Canon Canon Bury, outdoor relief is now refused in the Brixworth Bury Union, in cases where it is supplementary to aid from benefit societies. The apparent result has been, he states, that the good societies have materially increased in numbers, and that bad ones have already dis- 140 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [43.] appeared, or are in course of doing so. There were formerly several so-called benefit societies, which were no more than gambling societies, most of them dividing clubs, which divided the funds every year. There were rules in some of these clubs to the effect that before relief could be given to a member, he was required to get upon the rates, or at all events to apply for out- door relief. The continued existence of these clubs depended very largely on outdoor relief being given Lord to their members. Lord Methuen is of opinion Methuen fa^ outdoor relief should be given to members of benefit societies who apply to the guardians, but he considers that in each case, before such relief is given, the guardians should take steps to satisfy themselves that the particular society is a sound one. Miss Miss Clifford states that in the Bristol Union guardians generally only reckon in half the amount of pension from benefit societies in settling the amount of relief Mr to be given. Mr. Steele, of the Northumberland and Steele Durham Miners' Permanent Relief Fund, is of opinion that the Poor Law should treat those who have tried to make some provision for themselves in a more liberal way than those who have made no such attempt. But at the same time he considers that, while the law remains what it is at present, it should be adhered to. Mr Mr. Mackay is opposed to the usual practice of guardians in only reckoning in half of the pension first, because it is against the principle of the Poor Law ; and secondly, because bad clubs and societies are thereby encouraged and enabled to exist clubs, i.e., which are financially unsound and give inadequate benefits. The help which their members obtain from the rates often enables such clubs just to keep above water. The aim of a good benefit society, he considers, is the absolute independence of its members ; not so of a bad society. Members of THE POOR LAW 141 Friendly Societies, he thinks, who are in the position [43.] of requiring relief from the guardians in addition to their allowances from their societies should be helped, not by the Poor Law, but rather by their friends or private charity. Professor Marshall thinks that pen- Prof sioners of benefit societies should be rewarded for Marshall their thrift by being given outdoor relief on a more liberal scale. The guardians, he says, " are compelled by law to take no account of merit, though as I repeat here what I got into hot water for saying elsewhere : Thank God, they break the law." Miss Octavia Hill Miss is averse to any subsidising of thrift, whether the thrift Hm ia is in the form of pensions from benefit societies, or any other. If thrift is subsidised, the efforts become half-hearted or cease altogether. Mr. Stead, speaking Mr of the opinion of the High Court of Foresters on this Stead question, states that it would be desirable that members of Friendly Societies and others who have shown any signs of thrift should be treated favourably by the Poor Law authorities ; not, however, by being given larger grants of outdoor relief, but rather by being treated more considerately i.e., by being given out- door relief, or, if it is absolutely necessary to relieve them in the w r orkhouse, by classifying them separately, and relaxing the more stringent regulations in their favour. It appears therefore that grave difficulties are involved, whichever course is adopted by guardians in this matter. If, that is to say, the Poor Law is strictly administered, hardship is apparently inflicted upon deserving persons, while if those deserving persons are treated favourably, the fundamental principle of the Poor Law is disregarded. Mr. Mackay, however, seems to indicate a solution of the difficulty when he says that such cases are not fit subjects for Poor Law relief at all, but should rather be relieved by charity. 142 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [43.] This necessarily implies a co-operation of Poor Law and charity.* VIII. Other Points in the Poor Law. The law of 44. A further point which has been raised in the removal. CO urse of the evidence with regard to the alteration of the present Poor Law, is the Law of Removal and Sir Settlement. Sir Hugh Owen states that, with regard Owen to t ^ ie re ^ ie ^ f t^e a ec * P oor > tne Law of Settlement and non-resident relief are found to be grave difficulties. Primd facie, every pauper should be relieved in the union or separately administered parish in which he or she is resident. A person can become " irremovable " to his place of settlement if he has resided for one year in any part of the union, excluding from the year any time in which he has been in receipt of relief or has been in a hospital or a prison. Under the Act of 1876, a person acquires a "settlement" by having resided in any parish in the union for three years, and under such circumstances in each of those years as would have given him the status of irremovability. * After most of the above evidence had been given an Out- door Relief (Friendly Societies) Bill was introduced into the House of Commons by Mr. Strachey, and backed by Messrs. Barlow, Bartley, C. Hobhouse, and Howell. " The object of this measure is to make it lawful for boards of guardians in England and "Wales to grant relief, notwithstanding that the applicant is, by reason of his membership of a Friendly Society, in receipt of sick pay or superannuation allowance, it being provided that, in estimating the amount of the relief to be granted to such person, the board of guardians need not take into consideration the amount which may be received by him from such Friendly Society. At the conference of Friendly Societies held on March 2ist last, representing 2,509,875 members, with a total capital of /i8, 145, 826, a resolution was adopted in favour of the Bill."- Times, May 9th, 1894. (This Bill has now passed into law.) THE POOR LAW 143 There are cases where persons leave the union to which [44.] they legally belong and go to live in another union. If they become destitute, an arrangement is'sometimes made by which the guardians of their own union agree to allow them relief whilst they are non-resident, in the same way as if they were resident in the union. But as a general rule this form of relief has been regarded by the Local Government Board with disfavour, as in many cases it leads to relief being given after the cir- cumstances of the case have ceased to justify it, and in some cases even after the pauper has died. To a very large extent guardians now refuse to give non-resident relief, as they can make no satisfactory arrangements for the payment of it, or for the proper supervision of the recipient. In the case of aged persons becoming destitute within their first year of residence in a different union to that to which they legally belonged, the guar- dians could, if they thought fit, order their removal. In such cases very frequently considerable hardships would be entailed, the fear of which would often act as a deterrent to aged persons who wished to apply for relief. There is no reason why exceptions to the general law should not be made in favour of the aged, as has already been done in favour of widows. A widow cannot be removed to her place of settlement until twelve months after the date of her widowhood, if she was living with her husband at the time of his death. Such an alteration would have to be made by an Act of Parliament. The Local Government Board has no authority to alter the regulations of the existing statute. Mr. Lansbury, a guardian in the Poplar Union, is of Mr opinion that the present Law of Settlement and Removal an: should be entirely abolished, since it leads to waste of money through disputes between different unions, and acts harshly upon aged persons who are sent to the 144 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [44.] workhouse, when, if they had resided a few months longer only in the union, they would have been given outdoor relief. In his opinion, the respectable aged poor should be removed if it is their own desire, but should not be " carted about the country to find out the exact place where they should be relieved." The other witnesses who have been examined on this point, with one exception, appear to agree that an alteration Mr in the existing law should be made. Mr. Hamblin, Hamblin however, is of the opinion that the abolition of the Law of Settlement, even so far as the aged are concerned, would be a dangerous step, as it might lead to abuses. A few witnesses, notably Mr. Edwards, have stated that in the event of the Law of Settlement remaining as it is at present, non-resident relief should be made com- pulsory. It would appear, however, from the evidence of Sir Hugh Owen, Canon Bury, and others that there would be grave difficulties in carrying this out in a satisfactory manner. The 45. Another point with regard to the Poor Law itself, qualifica- ^hich was raised in the course of the evidence, has guardians, reference to the qualification of guardians.* The main argument in favour of the abolition of the qualification of guardians appears to be that without such a qualifica- tion a more sympathetic class of guardians would be secured. From the evidence of those witnesses who have spoken on this particular subject, it seems that the term " sympathetic " in this case alludes to a willingness to give outdoor relief in preference to relief in the work- Mr house or none at all. Thus Mr. Walker, agent of the Walker National Agricultural Labourers' Union, advocates out- door relief being given more freely than it is at present, * Since this evidence was given the Local Government Act, 1894, has entirely removed the rating qualification for the office of guardian, and abolished ex-officio or nominated guardians. THE POOR LAW 145 and also says : " I think that the alteration of qualifica- [45.] tion for guardians will bring a different class of men on the board of guardians in the rural districts that will be more in sympathy than the present guardians." Mr. Ed Mr . Edwards would also abolish all qualifications for the post of guardian. He says : " As a rule, the board of guar- dians are farmers, and have no sympathy with the poor whatever." If, he says, qualification were abolished, " we should get a body of guardians far more sympathetic with the poor." Mr. Edwards also strongly advocates the granting of outdoor relief, in which matter he con- siders the present guardians treat the poor in a harsh manner. Mr. Jephcott stated that he had no complaint T ^ r to make with regard to the administration of the Poor Law by the Birmingham guardians, " as guardians," but that at the same time he believed some reforms might be instituted by a more popular mode of election. fe When we have wider suffrage, we may turn some of them out .... my opinion, when we have guardians more popularly elected, is not that they will be elected primarily to spend the money of the ratepayers, but, first of all, to remember that the rates are provided for the relief of the poor, and make that their first considera- tion." Mr. Elcock, of the Wimborne Union, says : "The boards of guardians in the rural districts are now some- times composed of a class of individuals who, I am sorry to say, have not much true sympathy with the working man." In reply to a question with regard to the mean- ing of the phrase, " want of sympathy," in this con- nection, Mr. Elcock replies: "A number of them (i.e., the guardians) endeavour to put in vogue the workhouse test, and they never will go beyond the half-crown a week ; they look upon that as being a matter in respect to which they are conforming to an Act of Parliament, as to the half-crown a week. You may endeavour to 10 146 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [45.] enlighten them as much as you will, but you will never get them away from the cardinal point of the half-crown." Mr. Elcock does not complain of the ex officio guardians who attend the meetings, but rather of the farmers who are on the board. It does not, however, appear that the presence of " unsympathetic guardians " has a very appre- ciable effect in the diminution or restriction of outdoor relief in the Wimborne union. Since 1886, the pauperism in this union has been almost stationary ; on January 1st, 1892, the ratio of paupers to population was over 4 per cent., while the number of outdoor paupers was nine-tenths of the whole number. The ratio of paupers to population throughout the country in 1 892 was 2-5. These witnesses appear to wish that the guardians should be chosen mostly from the poor themselves, or at least the labouring Mr classes. Mr. Mackay points out that there is no need to Mackay j lave an y qualification, so long as the guardians are not of the class of persons who may themselves at times be in a position to receive benefit from the Poor Law i.e., who have any personal interest in the distribution of the Mr funds. Mr. Thomas, clerk to the guardians of the Car- Thomas narvon Union, is of opinion that the very close social relations which exist between the guardians of his union and the poor, lead to a lavish administration of outdoor relief, which he considers detrimental to the welfare of the district. He accounts for this peculiar intimacy by the fact that the chapels are places which give oppor- tunities of social and religious meetings, which draw the different classes together. This he approves of; it is Miss O only the result of which he disapproves. Miss Octavia Hill, speaking of the necessity of a restrictive policy of outdoor relief, says that working men hold back from becoming guardians and advocating such a policy, partly from the fear of judging their immediate neighbours, and partly from the narrowness of their THE POOR LAW 147 view of things in general. " I do not think/' she says, [45 ] " I should vote for any of the working men that I could think of at this moment as guardians ; not the lower-class men." Again she says: "I think we may get good working-men guardians in time, but I do not know where you will get them just now. We have done a great deal to corrupt the lower class among them The property qualification has been re- moved, so that they will be eligible, and if any of them wish to come forward, they will very likely be elected, and you will see." Mr. Davy, Poor Law Inspector, ^; however, speaks highly of the working-men guardians at Chichester, where he says in one year the amount of pauperism fell ~ per cent. There appears to be another point in connection with this question viz., the insufficient time which guardians have to give to the judgment of applications for relief. Both Mr. Cox and Mr. Gardiner speak of this, and the evil results that follow. Mr. Fuller, of the Paddington Union, Mr attributes much of the success of the restrictive policy Fuller of outdoor relief adopted in this union to the fact that the board of guardians consists of leisured gentlemen, who can devote much time and trouble to the solution of the problem of pauperism. Mr. Chamberlain, too, Rt Hon J speaks of the necessity of having able and high-prin- i a j n cipled administrators of the Poor Law, who can devote themselves to the work. It is because there are so few of such men that Mr. Chamberlain considers that there is need for his scheme of State pensions. There appears no reason to suppose that working men should not be as high-principled and devoted as any one else, but it does appear doubtful whether they would be able to give the necessary time to the work.* Also, * If many working men become guardians, there may be an agitation for the payment of guardians. 148 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [45.] as Miss Octavia Hill points out, the question of relief Miss O involves the whole problem of pauperism, which re- quires to be looked at from a broad point of view. At present, as already stated, Miss Hill doubts the capa- cities of the working classes, who live so much from hand to mouth, to bring a sufficiently broad mind to bear on the subject ; in course of time, she believes, they will be able to do so. In conclusion, some words of Mr Mr. Knollys, Poor Law Inspector, may be quoted, Knollys wn j cn have reference to the general efficiency of boards of guardians, which, as has been seen, is doubted by certain witnesses. He says : " I am extremely glad, my Lord, that you have given me an opportunity of expressing my very strong appreciation of the great care, and of the time and trouble, which boards of guardians generally give to the very responsible duties that are put upon them. I think that they give the most careful consideration to all questions affecting the welfare of the poor, and in stating that I believe I am stating what is the decided opinion of all my brother Inspectors who have had to do with boards of guardians throughout the country." ?ndirect r 46 ' ^ ^ ew witnesses nave g iven evidence on the payment subject of what are generally known as compound of rates, householders.* The question involved appears to be this : If the occupiers only pay the rates indirectly, will they feel them in such a way as to be interested in * " When the annual rateable value of any hereditament does not exceed 20 if situate in the Metropolis, 13 in Liverpool, 10 in Manchester or Birmingham, or 8 elsewhere, the over- seers may, subject to the control of the vestry, agree with the owner that he shall pay the poor-rate, whether the hereditament is occupied or not Payment of the rate by the owner is to be reckoned as far as the right of voting is concerned as pay- ment in full by the occupier." Aschrott, " The English Poor Law System," p. 150. THE POOR LAW 149 the manner in which they are expended ? Mr. Davies, [46.] of the Dolgelly Union, North Wales, says : " Small M f occupiers nowadays know the rates have to do quite as much with themselves as with the owners, and in fact that they pay heavier rates, comparatively speaking, than even their masters .... they suffer in wages, suffer in everything." This being so, he does not fear that the fact of certain people being indirect ratepayers will lead them to be careless about the question how the rates are spent. Mr. Walker is in favour of the Mr payment of all rates being made direct. Mr. Elcock W ^ er says that an occupier who pays his rates through his Elcock landlord, feels the effect of them just as if he paid them himself, because they affect the amount of wages he receives, if he is a farm labourer who lives in one of the cottages on the farm, or if not, he has to pay higher rent.* Canon Bury, on the other hand, in answer to a Canon question whether he thought it would be advisable to prohibit occupiers compounding for their rates with their landlords, says : " I think this objection would arise i.e., to the prohibition of this custom, namely, the poor who paid their own rates would be strengthened in the feeling which they now have, that the State relief is a kind of fund into which they pay their rates, and from which they are entitled to be relieved after- wards." * The point in question appears to be rather : Does the com- pound householder feel the effects of the rise and fall in the rates from time to time, according to whether the law is adminis- tered strictly or not 1 not, Does he feel the burden of the rates at all? CHAPTER IV PRESENT MEANS OF MEETING OLD AGE POVERTY: CHARITY AND THRIFT I. Charity. Useful 47. As has already been said, a strict method of tioi?of a " administration depends largely for its success on the charity co-operation of charity. In some of those unions in with Poor Law which this system has been carried out, charity appears adl "ion Stra to ^ ave k een created, stimulated, organised, and ren- dered sufficient to meet all requirements. Whether it would be sufficient in other unions, the opponents of Sir a strict administration of the Poor Law doubt. On Longley this subject, Sir Henry Longley, Chief Charity Com- missioner, has given evidence. It appears that the last return of the endowed charities throughout the country was made twenty years ago. According to this return, which does not profess to be a complete statement of all the charities which existed at that time, there were .552,110 10*. 6d. applicable to the main- tenance of almspeople and pensioners. In addition to this there was an aggregate sum of ,365,729 applicable to gifts in money, in kind, and what are termed " general uses of the poor." Since the publication of this return, Sir Henry Longley states, the figures re- lating to the amount of charities have altered con- siderably. They would now include charities which had not then been discovered ; new charities ; and charities which were known, but yet were not in- CHARITY AND THRIFT 151 eluded in the return. There has also been a change in [47.] the value of many of the charities. In some cases they have decreased, where agricultural land is the source of income ; in other cases they have considerably increased, where town property is included. " It would not be too much to say that the almshouse and pension branch has increased 20 per cent." In the dole branch there has been so much variety in the change that it would be difficult, Sir Henry Longley thinks, to say what the total change had resulted in. In many cases dole charities have been converted into pension charities. With regard to the administration of these charities, Sir Henry Longley says : " I have no doubt that both almshouses and pensions are in some in- stances ill-administered, and as to doles, I suppose it is notorious." With regard to the latter form, of charity, he expresses his agreement with the opinion of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Charitable Trusts Act, which sat in 1884: "During recent years there have been many Reports of Royal Commissions and Committees on the effect of many of these charities upon the condition of the poor. The Poor Law Com- mission of 1832, the Popular Education Commission of 1881, the Schools Inquiry Commission of 1866-7, the City of London Parochial Charities Commission of 1881, have all pointed out in strong terms the mischievous eifect of large numbers of such charities. They show that the distribution of doles of money or of articles of food and clothing among the poor are most injurious, undermining their independence, destroying their motives for thrift, and tending therefore to pauperise the class for w r hose benefit they are intended. Other forms of charity, such as that of apprenticeship, have from various causes become of little use ; many other charities which were originally small have, by the in- 152 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [47.] creased value of their property become ludicrously out of proportion to their objects, and are practically wasted." Sir Henry Longley gives three instances of the manner in which such dole charities are administered. In the parish of Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire, 49 per cent, of the population were recipients of endow r ed charity during 1891, and the average sum given was 2s. per head. In the parish of Long Buckley, in the same county, 48 per cent, were recipients of an average sum of 7^d. per head. In the parish of Raunds, also in Northamptonshire, 39 per cent, were recipients of an average sum of 2f d. per head. He believes that two- thirds of the existing dole charities might be diverted to a better purpose. The Charity Commissioners can deal with endowed charities of the value of .50 a year and under, at the desire of two inhabitants of the district, or one trustee. But in the case of charities of over 50 a year they can only propose a new scheme on the initiative of the majority of the trustees, or, in the case of gross abuse, by appealing through the Attorney-General to the Court of Chancery ; but as this is an extremely costly and dilatory method, it is a remedy which is almost useless The Charity Commissioners have sought wider powers to enable them to deal with the larger dole charities, but Par- liament, Sir Henry Longley says, has taken no notice of these recommendations. If the mind of Parliament were made clearly known on the subject, he thinks more could be done in the way of converting dole charities into pension charities. As it is, there is great local opposition to any such scheme, because the poor themselves prefer the doles, which are certain, to pensions, which are not. The County Councils, he says, have taken an increasing interest in the matter of endowed charities. It would be desirable, he considers, CHARITY AND THRIFT 153 if these bodies were given power to invite the Charity [47.] Commissioners to draw up new schemes for endowed charities in their districts. He makes certain further suggestions for the improvement of the administration of endowed charities generally. Annual reports of endowed charities would be desirable, but the expense of such publication would be a difficulty, especially in the case of small charities. This difficulty would be obviated if a greater concentration of charities were brought about. Such a change was recommended by the Select Committee of the House of Commons which sat on the subject of the Charitable Trusts Acts in 1884. They say, on page xi. of their Report : " Your Committee also attach much importance to the concentration of charities within a certain area under one management, so as to lead to greater economy and efficiency of administration, and to prevent the waste arising from the administration of different charities by separate governing bodies, often with diverse aims and at cross- purposes." Sir Henry Longley entirely agrees with this view of the case, and states that the Charity Commis- sioners are constantly attempting to bring about this concentration, but that they are often prevented from doing so by local opposition. He cites the towns of Tewkesbury, Bristol, Coventry, Lichfield, and Salisbury as instances in which this opposition has so far been successful. An extension of the areas of endowed charities in towns, Sir Henry Longley considers, would be in many cases most desirable. This has already been done in the case of the City of London charities, which have been extended to cover the same area as the Metropolitan Police, with beneficial results. But here again local opposition to any such change is strong. In districts where there are large endowed charities, he says a high rate of pauperism is usual, if not an in- 154 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [47-] variable concomitant. An extension of inspection over endowed charities would also be desirable, but he does not think this could be done by the Charity Commis- sioners with their present staff. But to bring about an improved state of things, Sir Henry Longley thinks that a strict administration of the Poor Law is a sine qua non. " I think/' he says, "that neither endowed charity nor private charity can be relied upon, as I think they ought to be relied upon, to fill the gap, unless they are stimulated by a strict administration of the Poor Law." Both endowed and private charity should be applied to deserving cases, to enable them to keep off the poor- rates. This, he says, was the original intention of the founders of endowed charities viz., to relieve what are technically known as the "second poor." That is to say, the poor who are not destitute, and consequently in a state of pauperism, but rather those who are just above the line of destitution and in a state of extreme poverty. Unless there is a strict administration of Poor Law relief, it is impossible for charity to do what it ought to. Where there has been a strict administration of the Poor Law, co-operation between the guardians and the managers of the charities in the district has invariably followed. In other unions, Sir Henry Longley says, there has been very little attempt at such co-operation. The consequence is, that many of the endowed charities are distributed without any personal care or charity whatsoever, and become too much d. a month (in addition to his sick pay contribution). For this subscription the money would be returnable in the case of death before he is sixty-five ; the contribution, if unreturnable, would be 1 1 ^d. per month. That is to say, a young man of eighteen, if he wished to insure CHARITY AND THRIFT 169 against sickness and old age, would have to pay 2s. l^d. [50.] per month. His sick pay and contributions would cease at sixty-five,, and his pension of 5*. would commence. If a man of twenty-five so insured, his monthly sub- scription would be 2y. 8 Jrf. A few members contribute for a pension of 10,9. a week at sixty-five, others for a pension of 7*., but 5*. is the usual amount. Mr. Thomas Mr Ballen Stead, Permanent Secretary of the Ancient Order of Foresters, gives the number of members of the society who applied for Poor Law relief during the last five years. In England, it appears that 490 members had so applied i.e., an average of 98 per annum out of a membership of 576,842. Of these 490 cases, 318 applications were due to chronic sickness or disablement ; 37 to insanity ; 40 to old age i.e., incapacity for work not due to any specific illness ; 8 to destitution ; 10 to illness of applicants' wives and families ; 77 were un- accounted for. In Wales, during the same period, out of the 31,990 members only 8 applied for relief from the guardians ; of these 3 were due to insanity, and 5 to chronic sickness. In Scotland, only 11 members had applied for relief out of a total membership of 44,026. Five cases were due to chronic illness or disablement ; 4 to insanity ; 1 to improvidence ; in 1 case no cause is given. In Ireland there are 1554 members, and in the Isle of Man there are 686 members. In neither case has there been any appli- cation for poor relief from any of the members. Mr. Stead is of opinion that Friendly Societies are quite capable of providing for old age, and in time will do so. He says : " We are beginning now to open, in connection with our Order, courts in which every member pays for his superannuation as well as sickness and funeral I believe that in a very short time all the societies will agree ; it may not be a question of 170 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [50.] a year or two, but very shortly the societies will all agree not to take members unless they pay for a super- annuation allowance. That is our solution of the ques- tion We should not have them in the society unless they paid for a pension At the younger ages, the increase in the provision is so small that it would hardly be felt ; and as I very often put it, when working men thirty years ago could pay their contribu- tions for sick and funeral benefits, surely in these days, when wages are much higher than they were thirty years ago, they can afford to pay a few pence in addition to pay for their pensions We think that in course of time, just as we have built up huge member- ships in the sick and funeral benefits, so in time there will be built up a large membership for pensions ; because, if we make it compulsory, they cannot get the other benefits without having their pension as well." During the last five years the number of new admissions to the society has varied annually from 45,000 to 50,000. The secessions vary from 25,000 to 30,000. The average age for joining is from sixteen to twenty-five (excluding juvenile societies). The principal cause for secessions, Mr. Stead considers, is " carelessness " i.e., many young men do not realise the full advantage of remaining members, and leave. A certain number secede from inability to pay their subscriptions. "But," Mr. Stead says, " we have made it a point to prevent that as far as we possibly can. We always endeavour, if we have a member unable to continue his contributions to his court on account of being out of work or owing to financial inability, to find a means of assisting him. We have a special fund in most of our branches to help those members to retain their membership. No man need ever go out of our society, or out of any other of the well-conducted societies, simply and purely from want CHARITY AND THRIFT 171 of money to pay his contributions." The great majority [50.] of persons coming upon the rates who belong to this society are aged. But the total number of pauper members has been shown to be very small compared to the total number of the society, and it is also small compared with the number of aged persons in the society. Mr. Stead therefore argues that the aged members do in most cases provide for their old age. Thirty years hence the number of aged persons in the society will be materially increased, because the number of young persons has of late years so much increased. But Mr. Stead thinks there is every prospect that in thirty years hence the proportion of aged members receiving poor relief will be just as small. If, that is to say, the aged can provide for themselves now, they will be able to do so thirty years hence. About ten or twelve years ago, a superannuation fund was started on a 4 per cent, basis. The scheme was in operation for nine years ; during that time three members took advan- tage of it. In August 1 892 fresh tables were drawn up on the basis of a 3 per cent, interest. The pensions were divided into two classes, returnable, in case of death, before sixty or sixty-five, and non-returnable. The pensions can commence at either of these two ages, according to the amount of contributions which are paid. Members can pay for their pensions by payments over three years only i.e., in quarterly payments for three years. But this scheme has not yet been taken advan- tage of by a single member of the society. Mr. Stead considers that this is due to " the usual indifference of youth to the necessities of old age," and to the fact that "the new scheme has not had an opportunity yet of being thoroughly understood by the Order." Mr. Stead is opposed to any State or rate subsidy for Friendly Societies, as a means of encouraging old age provision. 172 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [50.] Such subsidy would entail control, which he believes Friendly Societies, as a whole, would strongly object to. Rev The Rev. Robert Hart gives some account of the Dunmow Friendly Society in Essex. This society con- sists now of about 1000 members. The management is in the hands of honorary members. All members have to subscribe for all the benefits of the society ; that is to say, for (l) weekly pay in sickness ; (2) payment at death ; (3) a weekly pension at sixty-five. If a boy joined at fifteen years of age he would have to pay 1.9. Qd. per calendar month for 8*. a week sick pay, and 4.9. a week pension after sixty-five, and .4 at death for his relations. If he joined at twenty-one years of age he would have to pay 2,9. Ojrf. ; these sums include l^d. which each member has to subscribe towards the management fund. Mr. Hart states that he believes the ordinary pension of 4.9. or 5,9. a week at sixty-five meets the needs of the poor and is adequate to sup- port them in comfort, with the help they receive from relatives and friends. As already mentioned, he is of opinion that if a labouring man will only join early enough, he can easily afford to belong to this society, and make provision for sickness, old age, and death. The popularity of such pensions is increasing. The great increase in pensioners during late years, Mr. Hart considers, is evidence that the system is becoming more and more appreciated. There are now 157 pensioners belonging to the society. As far as Mr. Hart knows, no Mr pensioners of the society are on the rates. Mr. William Steele gteele, who is Secretary to the Northumberland and Durham Miners' Permanent Relief Fund, states that on December 31st, 1892, there were some 114,320 members belonging to this fund. The whole of the underground men in the district are members, but not all the surface men. The proportion of members to the whole number CHARITY AND THRIFT 173 of miners in the district is about 114 to 130. The fund [50.] provides for disablement through accidents, death, and old age, but does not make any provision for sickness. The superannuation fund was started in 1874. Since that date about 6700 aged men have been relieved, at the cost of about ,310,000. The annual subscriptions amount to about 26,000, and are increasing. Ten years' membership is necessary for old age benefit. The average annual wage amounts to about 60. This, Mr. Steele says, is by no means an exceptionally high rate of w T age, when the dangerous and difficult nature of the work is taken into consideration, and the amount of food which is required to maintain the miner's physical strength, not to mention the rapidity with which clothes are worn out. Subscriptions to the old age benefit fund are levied as part of the general subscription of 4rf. a week to the society. This form of deferred annuity, Mr. Steele says, is popular among the miners, but the reason he gives is that the subscriptions for it are incorporated with the subscriptions for the other benefits of the society. He considers that it would be doubtful if any man would subscribe for a deferred annuity alone. The allowance for old age is not sufficient ; it could be made so if the coal-owners and royalty-owners sub- scribed. But they do not, with very few exceptions. Mr. Steele does not think that the miners could do very much more for themselves than they are already doing, although he says that at the next annual meeting the subscription is going to be raised, owing to a deficit in the fund, according to strict actuarial calculations. As it is, most of them belong to other Friendly Societies. He states that 60 per cent, of the aged miners do not apply for Poor Law relief, because they dislike bearing the stigma of pauperism : 40 per cent, apply, of whom perhaps 20 per cent 174 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [50.] receive relief, and the other 20 per cent, are refused. Probably there are not more than twelve to twenty aged members who are inmates of workhouses. When they go into the workhouse their allowance is stopped. Mr. Mr Fatkin, the Manager and Actuary of the Leeds Permanent Fatkm g ene fj t Building Society, states that he has held that office since 1869, and that a very great increase in thrift has taken place in Leeds during this time. In 1871, the members and depositors in the Leeds Permanent Benefit Building Society had 417,310 placed to their credit. "Twenty years later, in 1891, the members and depositors in the same society had 1,500,000 standing to their credit ; and, in addition, they had, during the twenty years, withdrawn for the purpose of buying or building property, support during sickness, old age, &c., above 5,000,000." This money, the witness asserts, had been subscribed chiefly by the working classes. "Since the establishment of the society, in 1848, the average weekly payments of investing members have never exceeded 3*. 6d. per week per member, and we have had thousands of members who have not subscribed more than an average of 1*. a week each You can take it as an absolute fact that 90 per cent, of those that are subscribing 3*, or 3,y. 6d. per week belong exclusively to the wage-earning classes." In addition to this society, there are other successful building societies in Leeds, and savings banks. The head offices of the Yorkshire Penny Savings Bank are there, and "during the year 1892 there were 120,022 deposits made at Leeds, amounting to 1,203,454 10^. 3d. ; and there are in Leeds, in connection with this bank, 25,947 open accounts, with credit balances amounting to 1,201,936." Mr. Fatkin quotes these and further figures to show the progress that thrift is making amongst the working classes, and the large amount that CHARITY AND THRIFT 175 they can save by associated effort. If this progress con- [50.] tinues in Leeds, he believes that " twenty-five years hence the workhouses " there " will be occupied by the idle and improvident only." No scheme of old age annuities will, however, in his opinion, find favour amongst working men, whether State-supported or in connection with independent Friendly Societies. A scheme of this kind was set on foot in the Leeds Permanent Benefit Building Society many years ago, by which "any person could deposit a sum of money, and receive in return a given annnuity for any number of years, not exceeding forty, with power to bequeath or withdraw the balance due, with 3 per cent, interest, at any time." Although this has been well advertised, "there are not ten working men who have availed themselves of the scheme." The reason for this disinclination Mr. Fatkin believes to be that the men like to retain command over their money, with power to draw out small sums at any time. His conclusion therefore is, that the cure for old age pauper- ism is to be found in the further development of working men's associations for thrift on the lines already in existence, and not in any direct provision for old age, such as a pension scheme. Sir Hugh Owen, Permanent sir Secretary to the Local Government Board, speaking of Hugh the general effect of Friendly Societies on pauperism, says : " I think there can be no doubt that the fact of the number of persons subscribing to Friendly Societies having increased to so great an extent has been an important fact in reducing pauperism ; and all those who are most strongly in favour of a strict administration of the Poor Law would say that one of their objects is to induce persons to make provision for themselves by becoming members of such societies." Mr. Knollys, Mr Poor Law Inspector, and Secretary to the Local Govern- ment Board, expresses his agreement with two extracts 176 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [50.] from Mr. Moorsom's report as to Mr. Henley's Lanca- shire district, which Mr. Loch quotes in the course of the evidence. Referring to district No. I, in the Chorlton Union, Mr. Moorsom says : " Many of the in- habitants are in sick clubs, but very few of the members of sick clubs ever apply for relief ; on the other hand, a very large number of paupers are members of burial clubs, and the effect of this has been to show a low rate of pauper funerals, whereas when the relieving officer entered upon his duty, thirty-three years ago, pauper funerals were numerous." Again he says, speaking of another union in the same district : " A great many persons are in sick clubs, particularly in clubs belonging to the works in which they are employed. The Lanca- shire and Cheshire Miners' Permanent Relief Societies give relief to many. Very few paupers are or ever have been in clubs." As already stated, Mr. Knollys agrees with this, and points out that although few benefit societies give definite old age pensions, yet they Mr not only reduce general but also aged pauperism. Mr. Hedley Hedley, also a Poor Law Inspector, is of opinion that it is very rare to find inmates of workhouses who have been members of any of the large Friendly Societies. A certain number state that they have been members of Mr societies which have broken up. Mr. Senior Fothergill, Fothergill Superintendent of the Outdoor Relief Department in the Birmingham Union, states that it is very rare that members of benefit societies or trade unions apply to Mr Cox the Birmingham guardians for relief. Mr. Joseph Cox, Guardian of St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, makes practically the same statement : " Now and again such a case crops up, and sometimes the fact is withheld from the relieving officer, and relief is given inadvertently in that way until some case arises which shows exactly the position of affairs, and then of course the matter is reviewed CHARITY AND THRIFT 177 immediately. But the bare fact that they keep a know- [50.] ledge of the facts from the relieving officers and the board of guardians shows that they are not among the best class of people who are connected with Friendly Societies." Mr. Phelps, a Guardian of the Oxford Rev L R Incorporation, gives the same account ; he says : " In the course of the last twenty years we have had about six people in the workhouse who have been receiving assistance from benefit societies Up to a month ago (March 1 893) I could have said that I never remem- bered a case of a man in receipt of an allowance from a benefit society applying for outdoor relief, but a case did occur about a month ago of an old man who was receiving 6*. 6d. from a benefit society existing in the gasworks. He had married a young wife, and his wife, I regret to say, was extremely anxious to be rid of him. She induced him to apply to the guardians for relief. The guardians offered the workhouse, but he died before he could be moved." Mr. Gage Gardiner, Guardian and Mr Secretary of the Charity Organisation Society in the Gardiner parish of Newington in the St. Saviour's Union, states that it is very rare for a member of a Friendly Society to apply for relief from the guardians for himself. Occa- sionally an application is made by such a man when his children are ill ; he applies for an order for the infirmary for them, but not directly for himself. Canon Bury, Canon speaking of the Brixworth Union in Northamptonshire, states that the unsound benefit societies are more and more dying out, and that " almost all the labourers now belong to benefit societies," but not to trade unions. He thinks that the more Friendly Societies are left to themselves the better, though he is in favour of registra- tion and periodical valuation by the Government. With regard to other means of thrift and provision for old age, Canon Bury strongly disapproves of deferred annuities, 12 178 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [50.] and points out their unpopularity among the working classes. He states that very few purchase such annui- ties, and says : " My own idea is that they are too wise to do so." The reason he gives for this opinion is that there are many very much more useful means of saving Dr money and providing for old age. Dr. Paine, Chairman Fame of the Car j iff Board of Guardians, states that 11,000 persons belong to benefit societies in Cardiff, out of a total population of 128,000, and that the number has been increasing every year. All the various lodges of Odd Fellows, Foresters, Good Shepherds, and Hibernians have together invested funds to the extent of upwards of 60,000. Most of the Friendly Societies in Cardiff, he says, now give about 3*. 6d. a week to members who are aged and past work. With regard to members of Friendly Societies coming upon the rates, Dr. Paine says : " A member of a Friendly Society making appli- cation for relief is almost unheard of," although occa- sionally the widows of members apply for assistance in addition to the lump sum of ,10 or <20 which they re- Lord ceive at the death of their husbands. Lord Methuen, who Methuen j s no j. on ]y an ex qfficio guardian, but also one of the prime movers in the Wiltshire Benefit Society, is of the opinion that the Wiltshire labourer can provide for his sickness and his old age, and yet live a decent and comfortable life, if, that is to say, he begins to save young enough. The Wiltshire Benefit Society now gives old age annui- ties. In 1889 the number of subscribers to this branch of the society was 226; in 1891 the number had in- creased to 571 ; the number of pensioners was 91 out of a total membership of 6500. The society has existed since 1884, and is self-supporting. Lord Methuen con- siders that, provided the State exercises a certain super- vision over benefit societies, so far as seeing that they are solvent and financially sound, the benefit societies CHARITY AND THRIFT 179 themselves can provide for the old age of their members, [50.] and will do so more and more. Mr. Frome Wilkinson Rev J states that many of the village benefit societies which used to exist were unsound ; they were often attached to a public-house. These, he says, are fast dying out, and the labouring man now joins the larger benefit societies more than he used to. Old age provision, he says, is not part of the duty of Friendly Societies .... "it was not the original aim or purpose of Friendly Societies to provide for old age, except under certain exceptions." * Although no definite old age provision is made by most societies, yet, Mr. Wilkinson says, few members of these societies ever come upon the rates. Mr. Wilkinson makes two suggestions with regard to the alteration of the Friendly Societies Act : (1) That sick pay should cease at a certain age ; (2) that the State should see that the tables of new Friendly Societies are actuarially sound. Mr. Bartley, M.P., who was one of Mr the original founders of the National Penny Bank, points out how unpopular deferred annuities are as a means of provision for old age ; but notwithstanding this he does not believe that unthriftiness is a characteristic of the English people, if opportunities of thrift are put in their way. The National Penny Bank, for instance, which has fourteen branches in the Metropolis, and has existed now for eighteen years, has been most successful. It has nearly 100,000 depositors, and about 30,000 is paid out in interest each year. This institution is worked upon purely commercial lines, and is consequently self- supporting and permanent. Every opportunity is taken to let the poor know of the existence of these banks. * But several witnesses, closely connected with the large Friendly Societies, point out that although this old age provision was not originally contemplated, yet the larger societies are now recognising their responsibilities in this direction. 180 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [50.] They are generally placed at the corner of a street, and are brilliantly lighted up. The depositors come from all trades in London. The minimum amount which can be paid in is one penny. The savings are taken out for various purposes, but perhaps most at Christmas-time. Few depositors, Mr. Bartley states, leave their money in the bank until their old age. He does not think that benefit societies can directly provide for old age ; at the same time he is of opinion that thrift is increasing among the working classes. In the past, the lax administration of the Poor Law, the lowness of w r ages, and the existence of insolvent benefit societies have largely militated against thrift. There has been an improvement in all these respects, and if the children in schools were taught more of the need of insurance, there is eveiy reason to believe that the habit of thrift would spread considerably. Notwithstanding, he advocates a State-subsidised provision for old age, which will be con- Mr sidered later. Mr. Mackay, w r ho for fourteen years has been a member of the Charity Organisation Society in St. George's-in-the-East, says of the Friendly Society move- ment : " Of course the Friendly Society is regarded with great enthusiasm by the working people, and I think mainly because of the mutual principle which is con- cerned in it." He considers the cases to be rare in which a man who has made even partial provision for himself for sickness and old age requires Poor Law relief. He is probably a man of regular habits, respected by his family and his neighbours, and finds a comfortable home and willing hands to help him. Although deferred annuities are unpopular, Mr. Mackay considers people's banks most useful in encouraging habits of thrift among the working classes. In the custody of savings banks there were no less than ,120,852,000 in 1891. He alludes to a system of Penny Banks in CHARITY AND THRIFT 181 Germany, which appear to have been most successful [50.] in that country. The money invested is not handed over, as in this country, to the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer, but is reinvested in petty industries in the country, mostly as an aid to peasant proprietors. Mr. Mackay had heard of such things in connection with costermongers' clubs, which had been most successful. Canon Blackley states that although Friendly Societies Canon do not make any definite provision for old age, except in a ac ey few cases, nevertheless members of such societies seldom come upon the rates, which he maintains shows that in some way or other they do make some provision for old age. He points out, however, that the practice of giving continuous sick pay must lead to grave financial results, as has been already mentioned. On the other hand, he states that the larger Friendly Societies are making strenuous efforts to rectify this, and are succeeding in their attempts. He also points out that this change, in the right direction has come from the societies themselves, and not from outside. He recom- mends that the State should compel any new society which was started to secure actuarially sound tables on which to work. He adds one more reason for the un- popularity of deferred annuities viz., that the man who purchases such an annuity in an ordinary society has no guarantee that the society will be solvent forty years hence. If the State provided such annuities, this last difficulty, he thinks, would be obviated. Mr. George Mr Edwards, Secretary to the Norfolk Labourers' Union, wards is of opinion that Friendly Societies could give old age annuities, provided that the sick pay was stopped at sixty-five ; and that the labourer could subscribe to this fund, provided that he began early enough. He gives some account of the existence of unsound Friendly Societies, to which the present aged men mostly 182 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [50.] belonged, but he says they are dying out, and the Mr labourers are now joining the larger societies. Mr. Walker, Agent of the National Agricultural Labourers' Union, is practically of the same opinion as Mr. Edwards, and gives the same account of the decrease in unsound clubs and the large increase in financially sound societies. He believes if sick pay were discontinued at sixty-five, and an old age allowance given, more persons would join. Mr. Walker considers that it would be desirable that the Friendly Societies Act of 1875 should be so altered as to make it necessary for all societies "to have tables prepared by actuaries that shall be solvent to meet the demands that they promise." Canon Canon Hinds Howell points out that thrift among the Hmds poorer classes is, so to speak, a matter of the future. The present aged poor are not now in a position to become thrifty, if they have not been so. But the young men, he says, are now joining good benefit societies very largely ; while few members of these Mr societies ever come upon the rates. Mr. John Da vies, Davies Guardian of the Dolgelly Union, North Wales, speaks of the large numbers of working class people who join Friendly Societies, and also of the stability of these Mr societies in the district ; but Mr. Thomas, Clerk to the Thomas Guardians of the Carnarvon Union, states that in this union the number of benefit societies, c., is small, relatively to the whole population. He attributes this Miss partly to the lax administration of the Poor Law. Miss Hili ia ^ ctavia Hill is of opinion that "the growth of benefit societies has been very considerable in the last few years. But it would be desirable, she thinks, that such societies which contain the savings of the poor should be made secure under State supervision, but in no way subsidised. The security, she considers, is much more important than the amount of interest. Mr. Cham- CHARITY AND THRIFT 183 berlain considers that the work which Friendly Societies [50.] have done in] the past is most valuable, and believes R t Hon J their work will grow considerably, but he does not Chamber- think that the progress made so far in meeting the requirements of old age has been enough to justify the belief that Friendly Societies can, unassisted, solve the problem of aged pauperism in an adequate manner and a reasonable time. As already mentioned in connection with the subject of wages, Mr. Price Hardy, who is Mr Actuary to the Hearts of Oak Benefit Society, thinks that Hardy a great proportion of the working population namely, the agricultural and casual labourers cannot afford to belong to benefit societies, much less to make pro- vision for old age. Further, he does not believe that the Friendly Societies as a whole are able to make adequate provision for old age, although there are some notable exceptions. The better societies, he says, are increasing, but the increase is too slow to overtake the necessities of the population. The direct provision for old age in the shape of a deferred annuity, he states, is unpopular. And this appears to be the general opinion. But indirect provision in the form of continued sick pay is, he says, generally popular, although many of the societies which adopt this plan are not, strictly speaking, financially sound. On the whole, he appears to be of opinion that Friendly Societies should provide for sickness, and not be aided by the State, but that old age provision should be on an entirely different system, with the State at the head of it. The hardship which is occasionally inflicted upon the aged poor by the failure of the Friendly Societies of which they are members when they are too old to join others, is illustrated by the evidence of Mr. Pitkin and Mr. Nokes. The former p Mr ^ belonged to a local club which has already broken up ; and Mr " I belonged to a club, but they broke up, the members Nokes 184 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [50.] ran old and the funds ran out, and I was too old to join another, so I have not been in one the last few years." The society to which Mr. Nokes belongs was, when he gave evidence, "on the verge of being broken up It is what they call a sick Friendly Society. It is held at the Crown, at Catshill. I went into it about thirty years ago, a little over; there w r ere 150 members then, now about forty odd of the members ; very little money, very little prospect of carrying on very little longer There is about forty or forty- four members, and they are all old members, some much older than I am, and if that goes when that breaks up, of course, there is nothing coming from that. Then that would be totally broken up after more than thirty years' pay, and of course, if anything happened to my health, I would have to apply to the union, either for outdoor relief, if they would allow it me, or to go into the workhouse." In so far, however, as the failure of these local societies is due to the younger men enter- ing the large affiliated orders, it is a necessary evil, which will lead to a more satisfactory condition of things. That this is sometimes the case is shown by the evidence Smith ^ ^ r< Smith, who states that his " father was for many years in a sick club, but, when the new societies made a start, such as the Hearts of Oak, the Odd Fellows, and the Foresters, the young men joined them, therefore the sick club failed, and the dividend was Is. At eighty-nine years of age he was obliged to ask for parish relief." There still appears, however, to be a con- siderable preference amongst working men for local societies, the management of which they can retain B^ton m ^ ie ^ r own nan ds. Mr. Burton, who is secretary for a society of this kind in which there are " about 300, nearly all miners," admits that the Friendly Socie- ties in his neighbourhood usually fail when the members CHARITY AND THRIFT 185 come to be old men ; " that is where we have had a [50.] number of Friendly Societies broken up at the time that the old are really in need of it." At the same time he adds that, " as a rule, the working classes in our district are in favour of managing their own affairs ; and I believe it inclines them to take an active part in the management, though they may not comprehend the stability of the society nor the financial position of it." The question of joining an affiliated order had been discussed by the members of his society, but " they have had that objection ; they prefer managing their own affairs." 51. Mr. Charles Drummond, formerly Secretary to the Trade London Society of Compositors, and now Labour Cor- Mr respondent to the Board of Trade, gives some account Drum- of the provision for old age which is made by trade unions. He states that trade unions are more and more recognising their obligation to secure adequate provision for their aged members, and those who, from other causes, are incapacitated for work. Old age benefits appear to be very popular among members of trade unions. " I believe," Mr. Drummond says, " it is the most popular benefit of any that is provided by trade unions that have benefits at all. There are some unions that do not provide benefits, that are trade unions per se ; but where a superannuation fund exists, I believe it is the most popular benefit of any." Pro- vision for old age is looked upon as a duty, to a great extent, in order to keep members from coming upon the rates. All members are eligible for this benefit, on certain specified conditions, by subscribing to the general funds of the union. " I think I might almost go as far as to say that nearly all trade unions provide superannuation benefit, but 95 per cent, pay it only to members who are incapacitated either by old age or infirmity, and there 186 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [51.] are very few indeed that provide superannuation as a matter of right on arriving at a given age." Reserve funds set apart for old age benefits are very rare in trade unions. As far as Mr. Drummond can ascertain, there are only about half a dozen unions in which the old age benefit fund is separate from the general funds of the union. The Trade Union Act specially provides that all the funds shall be at the disposal of the members, the primary object of the trade union being the maintenance of the wage fund. It is for this reason that actuarial advice is precluded. When a strike is contemplated, the subscriptions are generally doubled for some months previously, in order that the aged members may not suffer. The younger members invariably take care that their aged members shall not suffer by a strike, and if necessary they are always prepared to put their hands into their pockets to prevent this happening. In the majority of trade unions a man must have been a member for a certain number of years before he is eligible for a super- annuation allowance. In some cases he must also be of a certain age before he is eligible. The ratio of pen- sioners in trade unions is less than the ratio of aged persons to the entire population ; this is so, notwith- standing the fact that the average age of pensioners in trade unions is fifty-five. Mr. Drummond accounts for this (1) by the fact that the old age benefit is one of the most modern of all benefits in connection with trade unions, and at the present time the full tale of aged persons is not as yet made up ; (2) by the fact that the numbers of members of trade unions have rapidly increased in the last few years e.g., early in 1889 the number of members of the Carpenters and Joiners Union was 26,000; in 1892, the number was 37,000. In course of time, Mr. Drummond thinks that there is 110 doubt that trade unions will provide for all their aged CHARITY AND THRIFT 187 members, and the proportion of aged to all the members [51.] in the unions will arrive nearer the proportion of aged to the whole population. Mr. Drummond is of opinion that it is perfectly possible that " by far the largest part of the skilled labour of the country can by trade unions, or in some other way, make its own provision for old age/' while probably most of those w r ho belong to trade unions also belong to Friendly Societies. The unskilled labourers, who are not yet organised in trade unions, can in the great majority of cases, and do in large numbers, belong to Friendly Societies, which are increasing in numbers and becoming more financially sound and permanent. 52. At the present time the State, through the Post Post Office no, . i *. i f . i insurance Office, gives deferred annuities, for which there is abso- schemes. lute security. It does not, however, appear that the Post Office scheme has met with any great success. This opinion is borne out by Mr. Cardin, Receiver and Mr Accountant-General of the Post Office, and Mr. Lang, an d Mr Controller of the Post Office Savings Bank Department. Lan S Referring to the passing of the Government Annuities Act in 1882, they agree in stating that many improve- ments were made, both in the increased simplicity of the "forms" required, and in the establishment of " returnable " as well as " non-returnable " annuities, but they admit that the increase of business under this Act has not been so great as was expected. They attribute this to the general unpopularity of deferred annuities, which is seen not only in England but also in France, arid not to any particular method adopted by the Post Office. At the same time, they are of opinion that the premiums necessary for Post Office insurances are too high, while the interest given is too low. The former question is now under the consideration of the Treasury authorities. The insurances are of two kinds. Endowment 188 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [52.] Canon Bury Rev J F Wilkinson Mr Hartley Miss Octavia Hill Mr Brabrook Mr Cardin and Mr Lang insurances can be purchased either by an annual subscrip- tion, or by payment of a lump sum. The former method is most patronised. A certain number of the working classes insure in this way, but few ever purchase deferred annuities. Various objections are raised by certain wit- nesses to the Post Office system, which, however, Mr. Cardin and Mr. Lang appear to meet. Canon Bury objects to the system (1) because the interest is too low ; (2) because the forms are too complex, and cannot be understood readily by the working classes ; (3) because the scheme is not sufficiently advertised or locally "pushed." Mr. Wilkinson objects on the score of the lowness of the interest, and maintains that the working man generally prefers to insure both for sickness and old age, if he does so at all, in the same society. Mr. Bartley, while pointing out the great success of the Post Office Savings Bank, in that 81,000,000 sterling is de- posited in it, attributes the failure of the deferred annuity branch to the absence of sufficient advertisement. Miss Octavia Hill attributes the fact that the Post Office has not been more successful than it has to the fact that the working classes are afraid of their neighbours learn- ing the extent of their savings, and object to confiding their private affairs to an official over a public counter. She suggests that if the "books" could be sent in a more private way, or to some place where the investors could receive them privately, it would be a great advan- tage. She also objects to the smallness of type used in the notices. Mr. Brabrook is of opinion that the low rate of interest is a deterrent, and also that the working classes generally prefer to manage their own affairs. To these objections, Mr. Cardin and Mr. Lang make the following rejoinders. They state that great efforts have been made to publish the advantages offered by the Post Office Savings Bank in a clear and simple CHARITY AND THRIFT 189 way. The Department has already spent thousands of [52.] pounds in advertising. Thousands of circulars have been sent to various employers throughout the country. Large posters have been distributed, printed in large type, so far as is possible. But it is difficult to do this always. " The Department meets with this difficulty, that if we give a small amount of information, we are asked why we do not give more, and they come to the conclusion that the only thing that can be done is that which is stated." If all the information were published in large type it would be too bulky. Efforts have been made to illustrate the advertisements, and further efforts are now being made in the same direction. Railway stations and police stations might be made use of, and also factories and workshops, if the employers were willing ; this question is at present under the consideration of the authorities. The agency of school managers, teachers, &c., is most useful, and great success has attended experiments in this direction, so far as the Savings Bank Department is concerned. There is no reason why the same thing should not be done in connection with the annuity and insurance schemes. The Education Depart- ment are willing to co-operate ; the matter now rests with the Treasury authorities. With regard to the objection of publicity raised by Miss Octavia Hill, Mr. Cardin considers it to be often much exaggerated. No local postmaster is allowed to keep a copy of the sums which he receives as entered in the savings bank. At nearly all offices there is only one clerk in the establish- ment who knows anything about what goes on in the Savings Bank department. At small country offices it is true that the postmaster, who may also be the local shopkeeper, does all the business himself, but this is un- avoidable in small offices. It is, however, quite possible for a man to invest his money at the Post Office in the 190 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR Mr Fatkin [52.] adjoining village. This, Mr. Cardin states, is very fre- quently done. The envelopes in which the books are sent have now been changed, and are less conspicuous ; they can ahvays be left at the post office to be called for, if the insurer expresses a wish that they should be. Mr. Fatkin considers the Post Office system of deferred annuities not only unsuited to the working classes, " but exceedingly unprofitable." Taking the case of two men who at the age of twenty-one begin to pay l annually, in the one case into the Government Annuity Fund, and in the other into the Post Office Savings Bank, he gives the following table to show "the relative financial position of these two men at various periods during the forty-four years over which their subscriptions extend " : Annuitant, Depositor in Savings Bank. Amount due to A.B., or his Nominee, at Withdrawal or Death. Amount due to C.D., or his Nominee, at Withdrawal or Death. Age 31 after 10 annual payments . * d. IO O O * *. 1141 ,, 41 ,, 20 ,, ,, 51 .. 30 ,. 65 ,, 45 20 o o 30 o o 45 o o 25 10 ii 43 18 i 81 10 4 "The Government says to A.B.,the annuitant, on arriving at sixty-five years of age, ' You can elect to take 45 in cash, or you can have 8 per annum during your life.' C.D., the depositor in the savings bank at 2j per cent, interest, can at sixty-five years of age elect to take .81 10,y. 4>d. in cash, or he can purchase a Government annuity of 8 8*. per annum, or he can invest in a private annuity company." With regard to the unpopu- larity of Post Office annuities, Mr. Fatkin points out that CHARITY AND THRIFT 191 during the seventeen years following the passing of the [52.] Act in 1864, "only 11,646 contracts were entered into for the purchase of Government annuities, being an average of less than 700 per annum. No one, I think, will deny that the Friendly Societies did more good for the working men in any one year (between 1864 and 1881) than the Government accomplished through the deferred annuity scheme during the whole period of seventeen years." CHAPTER V GENERAL RESULTS OF MR. BOOTH'S INQUIRY INTO THE CONDITIONS OF THE AGED POOR* I. Statistics of Old Age Pauperism. Proportion 53. MR. BOOTH'S recent investigations into the con- ^moniS? 3 dition of the aged poor go to support his previous con- the aged, elusion, that not less than 30 per cent, of the total number of persons above sixty-five years of age in England and Wales are in receipt of Poor Law relief. Since a considerable section of the population, which may be roughly assumed to be one-third, " is lifted so far above parish relief as to yield a very small percentage of pauperism in old age/' it follows that the rate for the remainder of the population is above 30 per cent., possibly 40 per cent, or 45 per cent. The percentage of old age pauperism is indeed not the same in all districts, varying in different localities from 5 per cent, to 85 per cent. ; but that the bulk of the population live in districts in which this percentage approaches very nearly to 30 per cent, is shown by the following table, extracted from one in which Mr. Booth has grouped the whole number of persons returned in the 1891 census as over sixty- five years of age, according to the percentage of old age pauperism in the union in which they dwell. Having thus established the general percentage of pauperism * Conclusions based upon, and summary of some portions of " The Aged Poor : Condition." By Charles Booth. Macmillan & Co. MR. BOOTH'S INQUIRY 193 Percentage of Old Age Pauperism in Unions. Number of Aged Persons in Unions. Actual Number. Percentage of Total. Below 10 per cent. 10 per cent, to 15 ,, 15 ,, ,, 20 ,, ,, 9,747 63,844 182,647 i per cent. 5 13 Total below 20 per cent. . 256,238 19 per cent. 20 per cent, to 25 per cent. 25 ,, 30 30 35 270,139 273,665 270,681 20 per cent. 20 ,, 20 ,, Total from 20 per cent, to 35 per cent. 814,485 60 per cent. 35 per cent, to 40 per cent. 40 45 .. 45 - .. 50 Over 50 ,, ,, 127,004 7 I >59 3i,934 71,702 9 per cent. 5 2 ,, 5 Total above 35 per cent. . 301,699 21 per cent. Grand total 1,372,422 IOO [53.] amongst persons over sixty-five years of age, Mr. Booth goes on to prove that the percentage of pauperism increases with age, from sixty years onwards. The figures which he gives to show the amount of pauperism at different ages during twelve months, based upon those contained in Mr. Burt's return of 1 890 for one day, and Mr. Ritchie's return of 1893, may be sum- marised in the following table : 13 1Q4 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [53.] Estimated Number of Paupers at each Age. Percentage of Population at each Age. Age. Male. Female. Total. Male. Female. Total. 60 to 65 43,481 57.996 101,477 12.2 I39 13.2 65 to 70 45.814 7L732 117.546 17-5 23.0 20.6 7 to 75 53-312 77.379 130,691 28.8 34-1 31-3 75 to 80 39.344 52,693 92,037 38.6 40.1 39-4 Over 80 25,160 36,470 61,630 42.2 40.7 II. Causes of Old Age Poverty. Failure of 54. The above statistics indicate the existence of a physical very large amount of poverty amongst the aged ; and strength. Mr. Booth has endeavoured to ascertain what are the conditions which usually cause, or accompany, old age poverty. His investigation is of a threefold character, consisting of (1) the classification of the official statistics relating to old age pauperism in various groups, with a view to bringing out any connection which may exist between it and certain other selected conditions ; (2) the examination of written returns as to the conditions of the aged poor in various unions or portions of unions in England and Wales ; and (3) a detailed examination into the conditions of the aged poor in certain selected villages. Amongst the conclusions arrived at by Mr. Booth, or which appear to be deducible from the results of his inquiries, it appears that the main cause of old age pauperism is old age itself, with the failure of physical strength which usually accompanies it. This has been already shown to some extent by the preced- ing table, in which increasing age is seen to be accom- panied by an increasing percentage of pauperism. It is further proved by the following figures, which repre- sent the number of paupers over the age of sixty who MR. BOOTH'S INQUIRY 195 Age. Estimated Number of Paupers in Receipt of Medical Relief only at each Age. Percentage of Population at each Age. Male. Female. Total. Male. Female. Total. 60 to 65 65 to 70 70 to 75 75 to 80 Over 80 4-637 2,889 3,254 2,643 2,447 4,334 4,189 4-057 3,000 2,998 8,971 7,078 7,3H 5,643 5-445 I.I 1.8 2.6 4 .I I.O 2-3 3-3 1.2 i-7 2.4 3-7 [54.] are in receipt of medical relief only. " Medical relief without food is always most common where other forms of out-relief are least given. At the highest 3 J, at the lowest 1 1 per cent, of the old people are relieved in this way in the urban and rural divisions. These have medicine in their own homes, or the doctor visits them/' The old people in the villages investigated are classified in the following table in respect of their age and the Age. 65 to 70 70 to 75 75 to 80 Over 80 Health. 4 s SCHEMES OF STA^!l^*teSIoSs 235 pensions in the shape of their trade societies and in the [66.] shape of Friendly Societies." A great objection to Mr. Chamberlain's scheme is, in his opinion, the hard-and- fast line that it draws in all cases, whereas " the condi- tions of trades and occupations vary so much that no set scheme will be satisfactory to the majority of them/' Thus, in many trades men are unable to earn a liveli- hood long before the age of sixty-five. The Trade and Friendly Societies are also strongly opposed to a State- aided scheme, whether in competition or in co-operation with themselves, as in the latter case they believe the State will " hamper them with provisions that will not be for their benefit, by wanting some management or control." The establishment of such a scheme Mr. Stevens would consider a very great disaster indeed to the country by discouraging self-help and thrift. III. Canon Blackley's Schemes. 67. Canon Blackley's scheme of compulsory national Canon insurance was first published in 1878 ; since that time ^ rst ey it has undergone various alterations. It was originally scheme. suggested that all persons from the age of eighteen to twenty-one should be required " to contribute to a fund, State collected and State secured, a sufficient amount to entitle each contributor, when physically unable to earn wages, to a weekly sick pay of 8*., and to an old age pension of 4*. a week." The scheme was examined fully before the Select Committee of the House of Commons during the years 1885-7. As a result, the sick pay portion of the scheme was condemned. Since that time the sup- porters of the scheme have dropped the sick benefits, and only adhered to the old age pensions. This part of the scheme met with a favourable reception before the Committee. The original scheme provided for a pay- 236 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [67.] ment of .10 between the ages of eighteen and twenty- one, which would have been sufficient to secure the benefits promised, according to the rate of interest at that time. This sum, Canon Blackley says, was merely intended to be a tentative one. Since that time the rate of interest has fallen, consequently the deposit needed is now higher than it was then. But a new element has been introduced into the scheme which makes the payment of this increased deposit perfectly possible that is to say, the element of State aid. The original scheme did not contemplate any State aid except that of the collection of contributions, and State security for the benefits offered. This would not have cost the State a penny. Since, however, State aid has been suggested, the promoters of the scheme have accepted it. If the State pays half the deposit, one of the great objections to the scheme is, Canon Blackley thinks, done away with viz., the impossibility of the great bulk of the population being able to pay the required deposit. Canon Blackley, however, insists upon the fact that the promoters of this scheme, while willing to accept State aid at the outset, do so in the hope that by degrees the aid will be diminished, and finally, as the condition of the people is improved, will cease entirely, because the contributions of the insurers will be alone sufficient to supply the required pension. That the scheme should be compulsory Canon Blackley considers essential that is to say, if it is to adequately meet the needs of the case. The people unassisted cannot be trusted to make pro- vision for themselves. It has been said, Canon Blackley states, that the object of this scheme is to promote thrift, but he maintains that the advocates of the scheme have never contended that it would do anything of the kind. " It is a very common thing to say, you SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS 237 cannot make .a man thrifty by Act of Parliament, but [67.] the answer to that is that I never suggested such a thing. You cannot alter his character by insurance, but you can alter his condition. You can make a man provided, but you cannot make him thrifty ; and my answer is, that if you make a man provided in early life there are possibilities of thrift, but not necessarily con- sequences. In some people, thrift will follow, in a great many it will not, but it is no blame to the scheme as proposed that it should fail to make all men thrifty." Canon Blackley states that he has addressed about 400 meetings on the subject of his proposed scheme. His audiences were composed of all classes of society, both in the towns and in the country. At first, he says, there was a good deal of opposition on the question of com- pulsion. This very soon disappeared, and with one exception all the 400 meetings were unanimous in favour of some such scheme being introduced on the lines which he had laid down. 68. Besides this scheme of compulsory national in- Canon surance, Canon Blackley suggests another scheme for ^ggQ^J dealing with the deserving aged poor, which he says is scheme. not in any way connected with the compulsory insurance scheme, nor is it intended to supersede it. He first propounded this scheme in a paper read at a meeting held in Lambeth Palace, in November 1892. The scheme suggests that a system of co-operation between charity and the State should be established, by which means the deserving might be distinguished from the undeserving, and the former provided for, half out of charitable funds and half by the State. Whatever the charitable body was, whether the Church, the Parish Council, or some similar body, there should be a central organisation in London, with local organisations in each parish. Inquiries into each case would be con- 238 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [68.] ducted by the local body, who would report to the central office. If the case were a deserving one, the local body would contribute, say, 1*. 6d. a week, the central body would contribute another Is. 6d. a week, and the State 2*. 6d. a week. If the local body stopped its subscription, the central body and the State would also stop theirs, taking it for granted that so long as the local body helped the case it was satisfied with the merits and good behaviour of the recipients. The entire pension would be paid through the local post- office in a lump sum. This would do away with any stigma which might attach to the pensions if they were rate-aided, and not State-aided, and adminis- tered by the relieving officers and not the post-office. One of the great objections to any scheme of State pensions is the cost of management and collection. To obviate this, Canon Blackley proposes that postmen should sell insurance and savings stamps when on their rounds. If such letter carriers were given a small com- mission on the stamps which they sold, they would be induced to take a certain amount of trouble in collecting the payments from persons in their district. These payments would only have to be made once a quarter, so that the extra work entailed would not be very great. If this scheme were adopted, Canon Blackley does not think that a single extra official would be needed. The present staff could quite easily do all that was required without hindering the delivery of letters, or going out of their regular beats to any material extent. Evidence IV - Mr ' Booth's Scheme. of Mr 69. Mr. Charles Booth proposes that the State should Charles g ran t f ree an( j universal pensions for old age. The scheme, scheme provides (f that every one born in England or SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS 239 Wales, who has not for any length of time resided [69.] abroad (unless as a soldier or in the service of the State) Mr shall, when sixty-five, be entitled to a pension of 5.9. a week." There would be nothing to prevent drunkards, prostitutes, or criminals from acquiring such pensions, provided only that they had not received Poor Law relief within a certain number of years previously ten years was originally suggested, but this might be altered. In the case of those who had previously been paupers within the fixed period, their pension would be handed over to the guardians, who would give it to them if they thought fit, either as outdoor relief with supervision, or as indoor relief, or in time freely and on the same footing as other pensions were given. If a pensioner abused his pension by spending it on drink, &c., the pension would then be paid to the guardians, who would give indoor relief and use the pension to provide for the costs of the maintenance of the pen- sioner. The mode of application for pensions would be as follows : The claimant would personally appear before the Superintendent Registrar and state his age, the places he had recently lived at, and the names of two or three respectable people who would be prepared to answer for his credibility, &c. The claim would then be referred to the Registrar of the sub-district, who would make further inquiries into the case. On re- ceiving the local Registrar's report, the Superintendent would then grant the claim, or refuse it, according to the evidence. It would be impossible always to arrive at the accurate ages of the claimants, and complete accuracy would have to be dispensed with. But, as many would forget their age, and be unable to prove that they were as old as they really were, the number of persons who would make themselves out older than they were would be counterbalanced. For practical 240 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [69.] purposes, Mr. Booth considers that sufficiently accurate information could be obtained. He also considers that few would decline to receive the pensions,, even if they were well off, and consequently he does not think that a further distinction between the classes and the masses would be created by certain people holding aloof, so as to be considered above receiving such pensions. With regard to the cost of this scheme, Mr. Booth estimates that, as according to the census of 1891 there were 1,373,601 persons in England and Wales above the age of sixty-five, the total cost of pensions of 13 a year each would amount to nearly .18,000,000. There would, however, be some slight reduction in Poor Law expenditure, which Mr. Booth hopes would increase as time went on, because he believes this scheme would encourage thrift. He estimates that between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 would be saved in this way. In addition there would be the cost of administration. There are every year about 135,000 persons who reach the age of sixty-five. The cost of administration would practically be the proving or settling of these 135,000 claims. Mr. Booth considers that l a head would meet it in fees to the registrars. The total cost of administration would therefore amount to about 150,000. The dis- tribution of the money he considers would be effected without any expense to the State. He says : " The distribution of the money could be done without expense, because the banking accounts, through which it would be open, would, I believe, be profitable to any bank who undertook them. Whether the Post Office savings bank would regard it in that way I am not sure, but I do feel very sure, as a man of business, that any savings bank would be willing to accept an account of this sort which gave them a voucher to draw upon the public purse for a certain sum and pay it weekly to a SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS 241 recipient. I feel sure it would bring them other [69.] business." The reason which he gives for thinking that the Post Office might not be willing to undertake the distribution gratis is that " they are not actually a business concern/' The economic soundness of the scheme Mr. Booth considers a sine qua. non. " Only if it can fairly be held that universal pensions would have no adverse effect on work, wages, thrift, self-respect, and energy," and if it can be shown that the problem of poverty could be successfully grappled with by their means, and finally reduced, only on these conditions would it be worth while to attempt the introduction of the scheme. But he thinks there is no reason why these conditions should not be satisfied. The effect of such pensions 011 wages, he maintains, would not be considerable. All aged persons would be on the same footing, for all would be receiving the pension, so that one aged man could not cut out another by being able to work at a lower wage because of the pension. Wages would no doubt be affected to a certain extent, on the border-line of sixty-five. But where the aged come into competition with men in full force, it is doubtful, he thinks, if there would be any effect on the wages of those men, or any material effect on the wages of the aged people. Separate arrangements, Mr. Booth adds, would have to be made for Scotland and Ireland. The cost of the scheme for the two countries would be an additional six and a half millions. It is proposed that these .15,000,000 should be raised mostly from taxation and partly from the rates ; perhaps .4,000,000 from the latter source. The particular method of raising the sum, Mr. Booth does not think important, so long as it falls equally on all persons in proportion to their means. He has no doubt that the sum could be raised Mr Mr. Booth's scheme is supported by Mr. Burton, who Burton 16 242 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [69.] is a guardian of the Ashley Union. He states that there is a general wish for a universal pension scheme amongst the working classes, and that the funds should be raised by taxation, of which all paid their share. He does not favour a contributory scheme, nor a voluntary one, which he thinks would break down. These pensions should not depend upon destitution, and, in Mr. Burton's opinion, would act as an incentive to thrift rather than the reverse. Evidence 70. The following objections to Mr. Booth's scheme To^M? as a w hl e J or to particular features of it, were made by Booth's other witnesses. Mr. Booth's scheme of universal pen- S M em o s * ons Miss Hill considers " the most gigantic scheme of Hill inadequate relief ever devised by any human being." The pensions would not promote thrift, they would discourage relatives from assisting the aged, and it would be unreasonable that the well-to-do should have a right to an annuity in order to save the sensitiveness of other people who are not well-to-do. To Mr. Mr Booth's scheme Mr. Mackay puts forward three objec- kay tions (I.) He says : " I do not believe it is necessary. It would be enormously costly. In order to get rid of a small percentage of pauperism, you are proposing to make, as I contend, every one an old age pauper. I might say this must be taken in connection with the argument I have used with regard to the better ad- ministration of the Poor Law, that at Bradfield you get the old age pauperism of persons over sixty reduced to 4 per cent, of the population of that age, whereas Mr. Blackley calculated, from some other unions which seemed rather favourable to his views, that it was 42 per cent. ; so that if by good administration you can reduce old age pauperism to 4 per cent., there seems to me to be very little need of any scheme of this sort." (II.) " And another argument which seems very strong to me SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS 243 is this, that I think it would be a great injustice to the [70.] poor to deprive them of this opportunity for developing their provident habits and institutions. Suppose a man sixty years ago, at the time when the Poor Law was on a different footing to that on which it now stands, had got a law passed that sickness was a proper public charge, and that a man should not be expected to pro- vide what was necessary for his sickness, you would never have had the ' Friendly Societies ' ; and I per- sonally look forward to the poor obtaining just the same kind of advantage from looking steadily in the face this difficulty with regard to old age, and I do believe they are now doing so." (HI.) "And also I should like to say about the sum which has been named, 5*. ; I cannot follow exactly the argument why giving a man 5*. is likely to make him save 5*. My observation has always been that if you give a man 5*., when he next wants 5*. there will be a tendency for him to ask some one else to give him another 5*., and that does not lead to the totally different operation which is desired namely, that of saving it for himself." Mr. Stead considers Mr. Mr Booth's scheme to be logical, and also equitable, but he does not think there is any apparent need for it at the present time. Mr. Cox, Guardian of St. Leonard's, Mr Cox Shoreditch, is of opinion that some system of State pension of 5*. a week for the respectable aged, would undoubtedly keep many off the rates. But he thinks that there should be some guarantee that the recipients had shown thrift in their previous life, for if a pension of 5*. a week were granted to all aged persons it would encourage the thriftless and the careless. He is therefore opposed to Mr. Booth's scheme of free and universal pensions. Of this scheme Mr. Chamberlain Rt Hon J says : " I have been very much interested by the scheme which bears Mr. Booth's name, and which is 244 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [70.] logical, and which would undoubtedly do what it pro- fesses to do. But it has to my mind one fatal objection, and that is that the House of Commons would never provide the money for it. I should not myself think that any statesman or any Government would ever be found in any time that I can look forward to, to propose additional taxation to the extent of twenty or twenty- four millions a year for such a purpose I think it would be out of the range of practical politics.'' Canon Canon Blackley objects to Mr. Booth's scheme on the grounds that it would be too costly more costly in all probability than Mr. Booth's own calculations; and that it would lead to general pauperisation. If a man is expecting to come into some money, Canon Blackley maintains he is not so likely to save and be thrifty as the man who knows that he must depend on his OW T II efforts. Mr 71. Mr. Price Hardy suggests a modification of Mr. Hardy's Booth's scheme. The chief points of difference are that scheme. (I.) Pensions should only be given to those aged persons who are proved to be impecunious that is to say, to all those who have not sufficient means to support them- selves. Each applicant would have to submit him or herself to examination on oath. Mr. Hardy thinks that the examination would practically be made once and for all, as it is rare that an aged person who is impecunious once will ever recover his position. (II.) All pensioners would have to give up work. This Mr. Hardy considers to be essential to the successful work- ing of the scheme ; first, as a means of ascertaining that the case is genuine ; secondly, to prevent the pen- sioners interfering with the ordinary labour market. (III.) The amount of pension would be raised to 10$. a week, except perhaps in the case of aged married couples, when the pensions would be on a reduced SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS 245 scale. The cost of the scheme, Mr. Hardy thinks, [71.] would not be much more than the cost of the present Poor Law. Although the scale of Poor Law relief is below 10*. a week per head when the cost of officers' salaries, buildings, &c., is reckoned, each aged pauper costs very nearly this sum per week. It is estimated that the relief of the aged paupers costs annually about 2,000,000. Fifty per cent., Mr. Hardy considers, would be added to the number of those who are already being relieved, entailing an additional cost of about .1,000,000 per annum. This cost it is proposed should be met by taxation i.e., it should be a national and not a local charge. An authority w r ould have to be con- stituted, Mr. Hardy thinks, to administer this fund. " It is a matter of indifference," he says, " where the locus of such an authority is found." The important point, he maintains, is that the burden of responsibility should be borne by the nation and not by local bodies. Mr. Hardy states the following objections which have been raised to this scheme, and gives the following answers. It is objected (I.) that the scheme perpetuates the Poor Law system ; (II.) that it does not distinguish between those who are impecunious through misfortune, and those who are impecunious through misconduct ; (HI.) that it discourages thrift. But (I.) in an ideal state of society there would doubt- less be no need of any legal provision for the poor ; so long as society is not ideal there will be this need. It is merely a question as to what form the legal provision shall take. (IL) It is impossible for one man to judge another as to the manner in which he has used all the opportunities which he has had. The fact that a man has reached old age is some proof that he has not lived an absolutely dissolute and vicious life, and that he is consequently worthy of some consideration. (HI-) 246 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [71.] Thrift is merely a relative term ; a man may have fulfilled his duties in early life in an exemplary way such duties as the education of his children, provision for sickness, help for his wife, and so on and yet may not have been able to provide directly for his old age. The fact that he has not done so is really no criterion of his want of thrift; it is often just the reverse. The instincts of human nature to acquire property are in- eradicable. The fact that a man knows that he may be provided for in old age will not stop his struggling to succeed in life, and provide for himself. V. Schemes of Mr. Hartley, Mr. Frome Wilkinson, and Prof. Marshall. Mr 72. Mr. Bartley, M.P., has introduced a Bill into Scheme! Parliament entitled " The Old Age Provident Pensions Bill." The object of the Bill is to encourage thrift, to supply pensions, and ultimately do away with the greater part of old age pauperism. The pensions are to be granted free of any contributions, but on certain condi- tions. Those persons who have earned sufficient wages to enable them to provide for their old age, but have not done so, he proposes, should be treated as paupers in the workhouse. Those persons whose earnings have rendered it almost, if not quite, impossible for them to make old age provision, and widows, &c., the Bill divides into three classes. (I.) Those who have lived all their lives without any Poor Law relief. (II.) Those who have in any w r ay shown indications of thrift, such as belonging to Friendly Societies, &c., or having any money in a savings bank, even though they have re- ceived Poor Law relief. (HI.) Those who have by any special misfortune been unable to provide for their old age. To those of the first class a maximum of 7*. per SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS 247 week should be given, irrespective up to a certain point [72.] of any savings which the man had made himself. Before such a pension was granted the applicant would have to satisfy the administrative authority that he was really in need of one. If a man had saved as much as 1 0*. a week,, he would probably be considered not to require a pension. If a man had only saved 3*. to 6s. a week he would probably be given one. In this case the latter person w r ould be better off finally than the man with 10*. a week, for he would be receiving in all 13*. a week. To obviate this difficulty, the administrative authority might have power to grant a portion of the pension of 7*. a week only, so as not to place the man who had not saved sufficiently in a better position than the man w r ho had done so. The recipients of medical relief would be disqualified for these pensions. This is considered important, because medical relief is so often taken at the smallest provocation, which is bad for the recipients and opposed to thrift. To the second class a pension of 3*. 6d. a week would be given, plus an addi- tional sum not exceeding I*. 9^- per week, which sum shall be equal to the amount of their savings. They would thus secure 5*. 3d. a week in addition to their savings, which might amount also to Is. 9d., making a total income of 7*. a week. The administrative autho- rity would have to judge whether the personal savings were at all adequate with reference to the past circum- stances of the applicant. To the third class a pension of 3s. 6d. would be granted. Aged widows and single women would come under the same conditions as men. In addition to these pensions, the Bill provides that the administrative authority shall contribute half the cost of the pensioner's funeral up to the sum of 2 10*. on condition that the other half is paid by a friendly or burial society to which the pensioner has subscribed. 248 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [72.] The Bill also contains temporary provisions for those who are already sixty-five. " All persons complying with section 4, who at the date of the passing of this Act exceed sixty-five years of age,, shall be deemed eligible for the benefits of section 5 of this Act (viz. } Is. a week), notwithstanding that they may have received Poor Law relief since they completed their sixty-fifth year." It is proposed that the County Council should be the local administrative authority. If the Bill were passed a com- mittee of the Council would probably be appointed for the purpose. The probable cost of this scheme, Mr. Bartley considers, is almost impossible to conjecture. If, however, all the persons over sixty-five years of age who are in receipt of poor relief at the present time qualified for Class I., there would be a saving of about .2,500,000 on the present cost of the Poor Law. If all qualified for Class II., the cost would be 3,500,000, but the Poor Law would be saved 2,500,000, so that the cost would amount to 1,000,000. If all took the pension under Class III. the cost would be a net decrease of about 250,000 a year on the present Poor Law expenditure. These calculations are made on the supposition that there are 1,300,000 persons in England and Wales of sixty-five and upwards, and that 245,000 of these, or one in five, are in receipt of Poor Law relief at the cost of about 2,500,000. Although the Bill would save some 2,500,000 on the relief of the aged, it would not touch the relief of lunatics, and the deaf, dumb and blind, which costs about 2,000,000 annually. Further, there will remain the cost of the Poor Law officials, who w r ill, at least for some years, have to be retained, besides the cost of the maintenance of a few workhouses. Altogether Mr. Bartley estimates the remaining Poor Law expenses at about 4,000,000 per annum. The cost of the new administrative body, he considers, might possibly amount SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS 249 to 1,500,000, though he does not think it would [72.] amount to so much. The impossibility, however, of making any accurate calculation as to the probable cost is realised, Mr. Hartley states, when it is considered that the whole aim and object of the Bill is by a gradual process to encourage thrift, so as to diminish Poor Law relief, and also finally to do aw r ay w r ith the necessity even of State or rate aided pensions. When the thrift of the country had reached this point, Mr. Hartley con- siders that the time would have arrived to reconsider the system, and probably do away with it. While admitting the many difficulties involved in the proper administration of this scheme, he is of opinion that with strict inquiries and a considerable amount of care these difficulties could be overcome. Mr. Mackay states Mr that the two chief objections to Mr. Bartley's scheme are that (I.) It is exceedingly hard to define what thrift is. Every kind of thrift would have to be taken into consideration e.g., having brought up a family well, belonging to a benefit society, possessing house property through a building society, and so forth. The present arduous duties of the guardians, he maintains, would thus be made still more arduous and practically impossible. (II.) Giving rate aid to partial provision tends to encourage unsound clubs and partial efforts on the part of the poor, ultimately leading to pauperism. 73. The Rev. J. Frome Wilkinson suggests that the Mi- relief of the aged should be taken out of the hands of ,j7 me Wilkm- the present Poor Law authorities, and should be kept son's entirely separate from ordinary relief. A district scheme - council elected for the purpose should control the granting of pensions to the aged ; 5*. a week should be given to all persons above the age of fifty who were certified by doctors to be unable to earn their living through incapacity. The morally worthless should be 250 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [73.] offered the workhouse. The district council should be the judge of the merits of each case, and should decide whether a pension should be given or merely the workhouse. A smaller area should be substituted for this purpose than the present union, so that there might be a closer personal knowledge of the people on the part of this district council. There would then be a greater chance, Mr. Wilkinson thinks, of a strong working-class representation upon these councils, which would be of great value in deciding questions of pensions. The cost of these pensions should come from the Imperial taxes, but should be locally administered. Mr. Wilkinson suggests that the required sum might be raised from ground values and royalties and a readjust- ment of the death duties, as well as from a graduated income-tax, so that every one would contribute some- thing towards their pensions. Mr. Wilkinson does not think that the local bodies would administer such pensions any more laxly than if they were raised by local taxation, for all persons would be entitled to a pension if they could meet the required conditions, about which there would be very little difficulty. With regard to the cost of this scheme, Mr. Wilkinson con- siders that, whereas Mr. Booth calculates that his scheme would save .3,000,000 a year on Poor Law expenditure, this scheme would save .5,000,000, though perhaps the total cost might be slightly larger. But he says, " I believe it is the duty of the State to relieve the aged, and it is not to be put aside whether it costs 1,000,000 more or 1,000,000 less." In addition to providing pensions, he suggests that the district council should be empowered to build cottages where it is necessary, for the reception of the aged pensioners who are capable of looking after themselves, but have no family or friends to live with. Such cottages should be let to them for SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS 251 about 1*. a week, which should be deducted from the [73.] 5*. pension. The reason he gives for this suggestion is that in many villages all the available cottages are used by those in full work. Such a scheme of State pensions he considers would encourage rather than discourage thrift and providence. The Friendly Societies would at once be placed on a financially sound basis, as they would cease to grant continuous sick pay. And again, if the State provided the bare necessities of life, men would not despair of saving sufficiently, which many do at the present time, and consequently make no attempt to save at all. 74. Professor Marshall proposes a scheme to meet the Professor question of old age pauperism, which is based on the co-operation of the Poor Law and charity. Where suit- able Charity Organisation Societies exist, he suggests that they should be semi-established, and have a certain degree of public authority and public responsibility given to them by the State. The Local Government Board would in each case be the judge of the suitableness of the existing societies. The existence of suitable societies is the first essential to the successful working of the scheme. But Professor Marshall thinks there is at present every reason to believe that the number of such societies will increase rapidly. In order that these two bodies may work together successfully, and that the Charity Organi- sation Societies may not be "too oligarchic," which Professor Marshall thinks they are at present, he suggests that four-fifths of the members of the Charity Organisation Society should be elected by the sub- scribers, and one-fifth by the guardians or some external authority, this one-fifth to consist of working men, if possible, with Friendly Society experience. In return, the Charity Organisation Society should, when reconsti- tuted, have the power of electing an equal number of 252 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [74.] persons to serve on the board of guardians,, so that perhaps two-fifths of the two bodies might consist of the same people. Where it w r as not possible to get the material for a thoroughly effective Charity Organisation Society, visiting committees,, subsidiary to and under the control of the guardians, might be elected ; in course of time these committees might be separated from the guardians and be formed into Charity Organisation Societies. No Charity Organisation Society in any par- ticular district would be forced to co-operate with the guardians. All applications, made either to the guar- dians or to the Charity Organisation Society, would be investigated first by the latter body, the guardians granting temporary relief if necessary. When the committee of the Charity Organisation Society had made their investigations, they would then report to the guardians and recommend the kind of relief to be given. The guardians would not be bound to take their advice, but probably would do so " if they were sensible men." Professor Marshall thinks that there would be little chance of the two bodies running counter to each other, owing to the fact that two-fifths of the two bodies would consist of the same persons. Professor Marshall suggests that applications should be classified under three heads. Class A, to consist of the normally deserving, who are not considered likely to create a dangerous precedent. These should be treated by the guardians in a liberal manner, perhaps by the granting of adequate outdoor relief, taking into consideration the merit of each case, in the matter of thrift, &c., and rewarding it accordingly. If indoor relief were con- sidered more suitable to any particular case, the work- house should be called a " hospital," the food should be better, the classification better, and the liberty greater. Class C, the third of the three classes, should consist of SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS 253 the immoral, idle, and worthless. These persons, Pro- [74.] fessor Marshall thinks, ought to be treated in the workhouses with severer discipline and less comfort than is the case at the present time. Class B should consist of those cases which if relieved by public funds liberally would create bad precedents, if relieved in the workhouse would be treated unfairly and harshly, but which can and ought to be relieved by private charity. The Charity Organisation Society would undertake to relieve these, and would not send them to the guardians at all. The great value of this co-operation, Professor Marshall considers, would be in the very probable improvement in the standard of persons who would be engaged both in the work of the Charity Organisation Society and also in the work of Poor Law administration. Professor Marshall's proposed scheme of semi-established Charity Organisation Societies in co-operation with the present Poor Law can hardly be called a scheme of State pensions, except in so far as the Poor Law would be outstepping its original function^z.e., of merely relieving destitution by granting extra relief to the deserving in order to reward merit and thrift. Otherwise there is nothing in the scheme which does not exist at the present time, and has done so for some years, in certain unions. He does not propose that there should be any compulsion brought to bear either on the guardians to co-operate with the Charity Organisation Societies or vice versa. His objection that the Charity Organisation Societies are too oligarchic would not appear likely to be obviated by semi-establishing these societies, according, at least, to what Miss Octavia Hill says on MJ SS O the subject. Speaking of working men holding back Hil1 from co-operating with the Charity Organisation Society and taking a definite and strong line with regard to the granting of relief, she says : " One of my sisters, who 254 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [74.] knows a great many working men of a far higher class than I know, is dreadfully disappointed with their hanging back from the Charity Organisation Society. They are always telling her how much they know about the applicants, but they will not co-operate : she cannot get them to do it ; she tries." The reason Miss Hill gives, which has already been alluded to, is the want of moral courage in the working clssses to do anything which is unpopular. She says : " I do not like to say anything against them, but I have been struck with the great want of moral courage among the lower orders of working men in doing anything which is not quite popular. Of course, it is more difficult to them as they are very near the applicants ; but I feel very often, on committees and places where I deal with them, that we have to do the unpopular things for them." VI. Other Schemes. Dr Paine's 75. Dr. Paine, Chairman of the Cardiff Board of and Mr Guardians, suggests that the deserving aged poor should schemes, be relieved from a fund allocated for the purpose out of the rates, under the name of " Pensioners." The un- deserving should be relieved as now, and be treated as paupers. The pensioners should retain all their rights as citizens. The amount of each pension should depend on the circumstances, though it should never exceed the cost of the maintenance of an inmate in the workhouse viz., 4*. 4fd. If the relatives would contribute some- thing towards the cost of maintenance a proper sum should then be added, up to a total of 4d. a week, he would then have to come into the workhouse. Good character, good surroundings, and some attempt at thrift, would be the chief conditions on which such pensions would be SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS 255 given. The inquiries with regard to the circumstances [75.] of the applicants would be made by the relieving officers ; the guardians would be the final judges of the class to which the applicants should belong. Dr. Paine considers that a larger staff of relieving officers would be required, but that Id. in the pound, if allocated to this purpose, out of a total poor-rate of 8d. in the pound would be sufficient to meet the requirements. Mr. Beavan, member of the Cardiff Corporation and guardian of the Cardiff Union, suggests a further development of the scheme proposed by Dr. Paine. Instead of the aged poor being divided into two classes, Mr. Beavan suggests that they should be divided into three classes. Class I. to consist of the most deserving and unfortunate. These he proposes should be given a pension of 5*. a week, and if they had no homes and no friends to look after them, they should be provided with almshouses to live in, distinct from the \vorkhouse. There should be a sepa- rate staff of officers so far as supervision was necessary. These pensioners should neither be disfranchised nor called paupers. Class II. should consist of the respect- able but unthrifty i.e., those who might have made some provision for themselves, but did not do so. These should be relieved in the workhouse, but with a more liberal diet and less strict discipline. They should be allowed leave of absence more frequently, and should be permitted to go in and out of the workhouse much as they wished. Class III. should consist of the vicious i.e., those who had come upon the rates in their old age owing to their bad habits and character. These should be treated, as at present, inside the workhouse. With regard to the cost of the scheme, Mr. Beavan has made no real calculation, but he thinks that it would be con- siderably more than Dr. Paine had suggested ; at the same time he believes that the ratepayers would willingly 256 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [75.] pay Sf/.., 3d., or 4-d. in the pound rather than that these people should be forced into the workhouse. Schemes 76. Mr. Lansbury considers that a pension adequate b^working f r their needs should be given by the State to all men - persons above the age of sixty. The duty of paying M , r this pension should be entrusted to " the County Coun- Lansbury ,, cils ; or, if they come into being,, the district councils ; but the amount should come out of central, and not local, funds. The pension should be compulsory for all aged persons, who should then be prohibited from earning money, or even from enjoying their past savings. Mr. Lansbury does not state the amount of the pension which he would propose, but if it "was only 5.9. or 10*. a week " he would say it was inadequate ; his " whole point is, whether the pension is sufficient to maintain a man in decency and comfort," and it would probably therefore have to vary with the different rates of living in the different parts of the country. Mr. Lansbury is, however, careful to explain that this proposal is part of a general socialistic scheme, and until the whole organ- isation of industry is based on a socialistic basis, it is not applicable. Until then he " would prefer that, instead of the workhouse system of to-day, and the jumbled-up outdoor relief system, we should give a national pension of 5*. to each person that came along," as in Mr. Booth's Mr scheme. Mr. Pickering, who represents the views of Idco-iag j.j ie mmers m Leicestershire, is in favour of compulsory old age insurance, the contributions towards which should be stopped from wages at the pay-office. His " opinion is that the working classes do not so object to compulsion as people seem to represent they do, if it is a right cause and a right way They would not object to any scheme that would secure them that is what they say to me any scheme that would secure an equivalent to the workhouse pay, or a little more." The SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS 257 workmen he represents think, however, that whilst their [76.] contributions should go towards the pension, the State should give the remainder ; and that although the con- tributions stopped out of their wages should be in pro- portion to their amount, the pension should be the same for all. Mr. Manley advocates the adoption of a universal Mr State pension, to be paid to all persons over the age of Manle y sixty-five, irrespective of character and position in life. In addition to this pension, which should be 5s. a week, he suggests that some provision should be made by which they could increase the amount of their pensions, by " a contribution at a fair rate, without any cost to the State, that would exactly cover what they added to their pen- sion." Mr. Manley does not think that " a continuous payment over a long period could be depended upon " for this extra benefit, but would allow each person to pay as much as, and when, he could. Mr. Crompton Mr suggests " in preference to any other mode of dealing with the deserving aged poor .... the payment of a pension to all needy persons who have reached the age of fifty-five." This pension should be not less than 10,y. a week, and should be given to all aged persons, irre- spective of their means, but conditionally upon their having " led a steady life." In order to ascertain whether this was the case, a searching inquiry into their antece- dents would be necessary, and a special staff of inspectors would be required for the purpose. The cost of such a scheme, the witness believes, would be about 30,000,000. Mr. Crompton afterwards modified the statement of his scheme by limiting the pensions to " those who cannot earn a living." He would not, however, fix any hard- and-fast line of income at which no pension should be paid, but would leave the question to the administrative authorities to decide. He considers that the pension should be given to supplement savings, but has not con- 17 258 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [76.] sidered the question whether it should be given to sup- Mr plement low wages. Mr. Grout, wire-worker, suggests another free pension scheme, but limits the class of recipients to those who are "working men." The defi- nition of this term he admits to be such a great diffi- culty that he suggests a limit of income should be taken e.g., ,100 or .150 per annum. The amount of pen- sion should be 10^. a week for those living in London, and less for those living in the country. By this means a proportionate and equal scale of pensions would be arrived at. At sixty-five years of age all " working men " should be given the pension whether they are still earning wages or not. But pensions should also be given, Mr. Grout thinks, at an earlier age to those who are permanently disabled. Their inability to work would have to be decided by a doctor, who would give them a certificate to that effect. It should also be pos- sible for a man or woman eligible for a pension to con- tribute further sums to the State, which should secure him an additional pension. He admits that apparent hardships would be inflicted on those near the border- line of the required income, but he considers this to be a necessary evil. He also suggests that there should be a State benefit society for sickness insurance, at the ordinary rates, to meet the cases of those who from ill health, &c., cannot join ordinary benefit societies. If any loss were incurred the State should bear that loss. He adds further that those who could never work should not be excluded from the benefits of a State pension Mr e.g., the deaf, dumb, blind, and crippled. Mr. Edwards, Edwards secretary of the Norfolk Labourers' Union, considers that State pensions would be desirable on two condi- tions : (1) That they should begin when a man was incapacitated for work, and not at any fixed age ; (2) SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS 259 that they should be entirely paid by the State, as the [76.] agricultural labourer, at all events in Norfolk, eould not possibly subscribe a fraction towards the fund out of his present wages. 77. Canon Hinds Howell suggests that the present Schemes of outdoor relief should be supplemented by pensions Hinds from the Imperial taxes. If this were done, the guar- Howell, dians should still continue to have the administration of Cardin and relief, and should give it once and for all to aged per- Lan |^ and sons who were deserving, and should not make them Fatkin. come up before the guardians once every quarter for the renewal of it. This Canon Howell considers to be " a hateful system." Messrs. Cardin and Lang suggest that if State aid is to be given at all, it might be given in the form of Post Office annuities at reduced rates or at higher interest. The machinery for such a work exists and is sufficiently elastic, they think, to take in all classes. If such aid were given, they suggest that it should be limited to those whose incomes are below .125 or 150, or a sum fixed by Government. The difficulty of ascertaining the amount of income they do not consider by any means insurmountable. Mr. Fatkin, manager and actuary of the Leeds Permanent Benefit Building Society, does not approve of any scheme of State pen- sions. If, however, it is decided to adopt any scheme of the kind, he urges that it should be one expressly de- signed to promote thrift, and with this object he sug- gests that the pension should consist of 6d. per week for each year of independence after sixty-five, up to a limit of 5,y. ; " that is, that if a person arrived at seventy-five years of age, I would allow him 5*. per week at seventy- five if he kept off the rates until he attained seventy- five years of age ; if he had attained seventy-three years of age, I would allow him 4*." After once claim- 260 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [77.] ing the pension the amount cannot afterwards be in- creased ; thus, if at sixty-seven years of age a person elects to take 1*. a week, he can receive only that amount for the rest of his life. The choice should, however, be given to every person of entering the workhouse if they preferred it. Miss 78. Miss Hurlston gave a detailed description of the 2hemefor conditions of women's labour in the Midlands, with the women, view of showing that it would be impossible for working women to pay the contributions necessary in such a pension scheme as that of Mr. Chamberlain. She sug- gests therefore that a scheme should be set on foot in which each working woman should contribute 2d. a week, whilst equal sums should be paid by her employer on the one hand and the State on the other. This pay- ment should be compulsory upon both the women and their employers. The age at which the pension should begin should be fifty-five, and in the case of death be- fore that age the woman's own contributions, but not those of the employer or of the State, should be return- able. Such a scheme, Miss Hurlston thinks, would be practicable, though it would be difficult to adopt. The opinions expressed by the working women themselves with regard to the scheme, she sums up as follows : " The ages at which payments for pensions should com- mence and cease are generally favoured at fourteen and fifty-five respectively The amount of pension and age at which it should become payable is fixed by the women with common consent as 5*. at fifty-five. .... The methods of payment and rate of contribu- tion have been suggested to me by the women them- selves as one penny per week from fourteen up to seventeen or eighteen, and thereafter twopence per week until reaching the age of fifty-five Each woman shall be provided with a receipt-book in which SCHEMES OF STATE PENSIONS 261 her employer, being empowered to deduct a certain [78.] sum as contribution from her wages, shall enter week by week the said contribution as having been received by him. The advantages to women of a returnable over a non-returnable pension seem to be regarded by them- selves as many and great." CHAPTER II OLD AGE PENSION SCHEMES IN OPERATION IN OTHER COUNTRIES. Introduc- 79. BEFORE drawing any final conclusions with regard tor y- to the advisability of adopting any old age pension scheme in England, it may be well to supplement the above summary of evidence taken before the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor, with a slight account of the nature of the State Old Age Pension schemes which are already in operation in Germany and Denmark, and of the results of these institutions so far as they can be ascertained at present. Moreover, since the connection between State pensions for the aged and the general system of poor relief is necessarily a close one, it will be useful to give in each case a short description of the nature of the Poor Laws in the country. It so happens that the two countries which have already experimented in old age pensions are of peculiar interest from an English stand- point, since it is to Germany that the advocates of State intervention have been accustomed to look as their model, whilst Denmark presented a nearer parallel to England than any other Continental country in the large part which self-help and voluntary effort played in the institutions for the benefit of the working classes. I. Germany.* Poor Law 80 - The German Poor Law confines itself mainly to Adminis- tration^ * For further details, and for the list of authorities for this SCHEMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES 263 establishing the general principle that all destitute Ger- [80.] mans are equally entitled to relief in every State in the Empire. The areas of chargeability and administration are local unions consisting of one or more parishes, and district unions comprising either the whole State or an area fixed by the State Government. A destitute per- son must be relieved by the union in which he becomes destitute until removed to the union to which he be- longs, and if he has no settlement in a local union he is chargeable to the district union. Beyond this point the Federal law leaves every State free to adopt whatever system of administration it prefers, and the consequent want of uniformity and absence of central control and central sources of information, are generally thought to call for reform. Mr. Davy, who has made a special study of foreign Poor Law systems, points out three chief characteristics of the Prussian system, in his evi- dence before the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor, as follows : " The Prussian Poor Law makes it the duty of a union to relieve every destitute person in it who is chargeable ; it puts the administration of relief into the hands of the municipalities, so that all over Prussia it is not a distinct body who are chargeable with Poor Law relief, but a committee of the municipality ; and thirdly, and this, to my mind, is the most important point, it provides that every citizen of a parish, who has the right of voting, is bound to undertake any unpaid office in the Poor Law administration for which he may be chosen, and to serve for three years, or for such longer periods as may be laid down in the regulations of the parish. If he refuses without reasonable ground, he is liable to lose his municipal vote for from three to six years, to be declared unfit to undertake any honorary office, and to be section, see the author's Report to the Labour Commission on the Labour Question in Germany [C 7063 vii.]. 264 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [80.] compelled to pay from one-eighth to one-fourth more municipal taxation." The prevailing type of adminis- tration in many of the most important centres, including Berlin, is that which takes its name from the town of Elberfeld, where it has been established in its pre- sent form since 1854. The chief characteristic of this system is the principle of minute personal investigation and supervision of all cases requiring relief. This prin- ciple was accepted, and put into operation so far as possible, in the first attempt made at Poor Law organisa- tion in Elberfeld at the beginning of the century. The funds were at that time derived chiefly from voluntary contributions, although the deficiencies, which were of frequent occurrence, were made up by the municipal authorities. In 1843 the municipal council decided to raise the required funds in future by means of taxation, and in 1854 the Poor Law system was re- organised. As now constituted, the administration is in the hands of nine members, chosen by the municipal council and including the mayor, four members of the council, and four citizens. The town is divided into 26 districts, and each of these into 14 sections. There is an overseer for each district and a visitor for each section, these offices being compulsory and unpaid. The visitors thoroughly investigate the circumstances of each case, with a view to giving all necessary help without in any way encouraging dependence. They use their influence with any relations of applicants for relief who ought to contribute to their maintenance, and also endeavour to find work for those who have previously exerted themselves to obtain it without success. Each visitor is usually entrusted with only two cases at a time, since the essence of the system con- sists in an intimate personal relation between almoner and recipient, and "its virtue lies in its educational SCHEMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES 265 value." Some further details are given by Mr. Davy : [80. "14 of those sections and 14 almoners, with an overseer, constitute a relief authority ; the pauper or the applicant makes an application to the almoner of his section ; the almoner investigates the circumstances, and writes down all the facts upon a card, and, if necessary, relieves the applicant immediately in kind. Every fortnight the 14 almoners of each district meet to consider and to decide on the cases to be relieved, and the next morning all the minute-books are taken and put before the president of the Pool- Law authority, who examines them with a view of securing uniformity ; once a year the minute-books of the almoners and overseers from 26 districts are examined by the central authority and also revised. .... There is no such thing as a relieving officer ; the whole system is based upon voluntary service ; and it is an outdoor system, in this sense, that there is no test, they have no workhouse, and the workhouse is not used as a test of destitution. If the almoners are in doubt whether a person is as destitute as he represents himself to be, they have to find it out by more minute investigation of his circumstances, and not by the rough- and-ready means, as it may be put, here, of the offer of the workhouse, to see whether he is destitute or not. That is the gist of the system ; but I should like to point out that, although having no workhouse, still they have a great deal of indoor relief." The proportion of indoor relief is, in fact, larger in Elberfeld than in English manufacturing districts, but the immensely larger scope of public relief in the former case must be taken into account. The municipal institutions include the poorhouse, the town hospital, schools for orphan and deserted children, and a shelter for the homeless. The workhouse (Arbeitshaus) in Germany is distinct 266 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [80.] from these, being a penal institution, under police con- trol, though in some unions it is made use of in dealing with able-bodied applicants for relief. The poorhouse (Armenhaus), on the other hand, is mainly intended for old and infirm persons, and any who are able-bodied are allowed to work for private employers, their wages being credited to the Poor Law administration. For houseless families a shelter is provided in return for two hours' work daily from each inmate. The annual expense of the entire system in communal rates, apart from the voluntary contributions, which still form the larger part, is from 2s. to 2s. 6d. per head of the popu- lation. The whole of the work of personal supervision is, it must be remembered, gratuitous, and the circum- stances of Elberfeld are peculiarly favourable to the success of such a system, since the poor are distributed throughout the town, and the total population is not much over 100,000. With regard to the manner in which the relief is given, Mr. Davy says : " At Elberfeld, where there is a great deal of public spirit, they evidently take immense pains to select the right men for the post The relief is certainly given under condi- tions which are very much more careful (than in England), because the almoner exercises a constant supervision over the affairs of the pauper. They ought to know precisely what he has got and what his relations are getting. There is no board that I have ever attended where there was so keen a desire to make the relations contribute towards the support of their sick as there is at Elberfeld." With regard to the effect which the granting of outdoor relief has on independent labour at Elberfeld, Mr. Davy says : " It struck me that there was the same weakness in the administration at Elber- feld as there is in an English union, that there was a competition with the independent labour market." SCHEMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES 267 The recipients of outdoor relief are not prevented from [80.] working, consequently Mr. Davy thinks that the in- dependent labourer must in some degree be injured. With reference to the amount of relief given at Elber- feld, he considers it to be adequate, "because the almoners assist them (the paupers) in many ways other- wise, besides a mere money grant. They give them what they want. What a poor person wants is very often not money ; what he wants is help or advice or assist- ance, to get him over some difficulty ; and the Elber- feld system will meet him in much the same way as a proper charity will meet the difficulty." With regard to the manner in which the Poor Law authorities at Elberfeld deal with their aged poor, Mr. Davy says : " Their method of dealing with the old is very much the same as the method of dealing with the old under the Poor Law, plus an active charitable agency." The results achieved by this method in Elberfeld have led to its adoption, with slight variations in detail, in many other towns and districts in Germany. In Berlin, as in Elberfeld and elsewhere, the governing body is closely connected with the municipality. The city is divided into 213 Poor Law districts, each administered by a committee, with almoners or visitors numbering from six to twenty. The results here have not been very satisfactory, owing perhaps to the size of the city, and the large proportion of cases which it is difficult to help by outdoor relief, but which cannot be sifted out, the " workhouse test " being absent. It is only in Altona that this test is used, and there a destitute applicant who refuses indoor relief is handed over to the police. In Bremen there is a system by which the able-bodied poor can enter a " voluntary workhouse," where paid employment is provided, somewhat below the current rate of wages. Although in Germany the 268 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [80.] State undertakes functions and adopts methods which may appear to trench on the province of private charity, the administration of the Poor Law is further supple- mented by the work of charitable societies, especially the Society for the Care of the Poor (Verein fur Armenpflege und Wohlthdtigkeif) and the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism (Verein gegen Verarmung) in Berlin, and the associations of women (Frauenvereine) throughout Germany. The latter undertake the care of children and of the sick and infirm, and the manage- ment of institutions for the benefit of women. These charitable agencies co-operate with the Poor Law autho- rities, but a closer connection between official and un- official methods of relief is desired by the Society for the Care of the Poor. The general results of the Poor Law system have given rise to a desire for further reform. In country districts the funds available for purposes of relief are very inadequate, and, according to the report of the Society for the Care of the Poor, this is because the areas which are required to be self- supporting are too small. In towns, on the other hand, there is said to be too much rather than too little provision for the poor, and pauperism is increasing. It appears further that there is a great danger, as indicated by Mr. Davy, of injuring the poorer wage-earners by allowing persons living in a workhouse to compete with them, and by supplementing wages by small outdoor allowances. It would certainly require all the careful scrutiny characteristic of the Elberfeld system to coun- teract the evils which might thus arise. On the whole, it appears that a very high standard of citizenship is required to ensure the satisfactory carrying out of so large an amount of burdensome and unpaid work, which in Berlin, at any rate, is said to occupy as much as two hours a day. SCHEMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES 269 81. The German law of Old Age and Invalidity Insur- Old age ance forms part of a comprehensive scheme, by which \ n ^^n the working classes are insured against all the chief insurance. risks which are incidental to their lives, the other portions of the scheme being covered by the Sick and Accident Insurance Laws. Although the first of these laws was not passed before 1883, their spirit was in accordance with the tendency of Prussian legislation for many years past, which had always imposed a certain amount of State control upon even voluntary Friendly Societies and insurance funds. After the formation of the German Empire the attitude of the Imperial Government was, on the whole, favourable to the free or voluntary system, and reluctant to put forward any uniform or far-reaching scheme. Since, however, in- surance funds were compulsory in certain industries and in certain of the German States, it was seen that hard- ship sometimes attended migration from one locality to another, or the transition into another occupation ; and there was a strong feeling amongst the supporters of workmen's insurance that the existing law was both anomalous and inadequate, accompanied by a wide- spread desire that some provision should be made for the infirm and aged, other than that afforded by the Poor Law. The necessity for reform in these directions, and in the law regarding the liability of employers, helped to influence the legislative proposals of the Government, though the Imperial message of 1881 leaves no doubt that the desire to afford some positive evidence of their goodwill towards the working classes, and thus to counterbalance the socialist propaganda, was the paramount object of the framers of the insurance laws. The Sick Insurance Law was passed in 1883, and the Accident Insurance Law the following year, but the third and most important part of the compulsory insur- 270 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [81.] ance system was only taken into consideration in 1887 by the Imperial Insurance Office, which then submitted to the Prussian Economic Conference ( Volkswirtschaftsrat) a memorandum " On the Principles of Workmen's In- surance against Old Age and Invalidity." A Bill on the subject was consequently introduced into the Federal Council in 1888, and became law in the follow- ing year, though it was not till 1891 that it came into full force. It makes insurance against infirmity and old age compulsory for all persons who depend for subsistence on employment by others, and whose yearly income does not exceed 2000 marks. Insurance for persons carrying on an independent business without employing workmen, and for small employers, is as a rule optional, but may be enforced by the Federal Council. Miners' Friendly Societies and the pension funds attached to certain large industries are recognised as a substitute for the institutions created by the law, if they provide equivalent benefits and institute courts of arbitration. The Federal Council exercises consider- able discretion as to the application of the law, and the precise position of every class of persons is not yet com- pletely defined. It has been decided that messengers and others who perform temporary services for a number of persons are exempt, as carrying on an independent business, as also are washerwomen, sempstresses, and other such female workers, except when employed in the houses of their customers. The work of a mechanic is the type of employment for which the insurance law is principally intended, and the more intellectual kinds of employment are excluded from its operation. The Federal Council and the Imperial Insurance Office are the supreme legislative and executive authorities with regard to the law of insurance ; the actual administration is left to district insurance institutes, of which there are SCHEMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES 271 thirty-one in all. The governing bodies in each district [81. are an executive board which comprises one or more Government officials, and a committee which is equally representative of employers and employed. In con- nection with each institute there is a commissioner appointed by the Government of the State and approved by the Imperial Chancellor. His office is to watch over the interests of the other institutes and of the State. There is also a court of arbitration in each insurance district, composed of employers and employed in equal numbers, and with a Government official as president. The functions of the Imperial Insurance Office consist chiefly in drawing up regulations under the Act, in interpreting doubtful clauses, deciding appeals, and publishing statistics. The benefits secured by insurance include an allowance during old age or infirmity, and in the case of persons not subject to the sick insurance laws, medical care during sickness, with a view to pre- venting permanent loss of health. The qualification for an invalid pension is subscription to the fund for five years, and for an old age pension, subscription for thirty years, but the payments may be to a certain extent intermittent in each case. A contributory year is reckoned as forty-seven weeks, a margin being left for contingencies, and, since these periods are reckoned consecutively, regular payment throughout the calendar year shortens the total period of subscription. The payment of premiums does not cease on qualification for an old age pension, unless the insured person is also totally unable to work, and is therefore qualified for an invalid pension. An old age pension does not become due till the completion of the seventieth year, but an invalid pension may be granted at any age after the necessary payments have been made, provided that the illness is not self-caused, and that the disability to work 272 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [81.] is proved to the satisfaction of the insurance institute. This proof is found to be difficult, and a much smaller proportion of the claims to invalid pensions are granted than of those to old age pensions. The amount of the pension varies according to the premiums paid, and these are graduated in four classes according as the wages of the insured person fall between limits of which the mean is 300, 500, 720, and 960 marks a year. The premiums range from about 1 \d. to 3d. a week, of which half is paid by the insured person and half by his employer. The invalid pension consists of a fixed sum of 50 marks paid by the State, a fixed sum of 60 marks paid by the district insurance institute, and a sum ranging from ^d. to 1 \d. for each week of the period during which the insured person has contributed. The annuity obtainable after five contributory years would thus be equivalent to 5 14?. 8|d., or from that up to 7 Os. 3d. according to class, and after fifty years, from <7 17*. to 20 15*. 6d. For the old age pensions the State contribution is the same, but the insurance institutes contribute no fixed sum, but only a certain proportion, ranging from ^d. to l^d. of the premiums paid during the 1410 weeks which are necessary to qualify for the pension. The annuity obtainable thus ranges from 5 6s. 5d. to 9 Us. The scheme is intended to be ultimately self-supporting, the State subsidy being granted temporarily in order to bring it into immediate operation. The amount of the subsidy was estimated at 320,000 in the first year, rising to 3,450,000 in the eightieth year, when it is anticipated that a balance can be struck between the liabilities and the accumulated capital, and that the subsidy can be gradually withdrawn. The premiums pay- able by employers and employed have been fixed for ten years at their present rate, and are to be SCHEMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES 273 readjusted at the end of that period, and subse- [81.] quently every five years, by each insurance insti- tute. The amounts must be such as to meet the expense of the allowances, cover the cost of administra tion, and provide a reserve fund. All calculations as to the probable claims on the funds are based on Behm's tables relating to railway workers, compared with the invalidity statistics obtained from the census of occu- pations for 1882. The payment of contributions by employers and employed is effected by a system of affixing stamps to a receipt card which is issued yearly. When full, the cards are returned to the insurance insti- tute until required for the substantiation of a claim* The cards are numbered consecutively to enable the history of each individual to be traced. When the pension becomes due and the claim has been estab- lished, the district post-office advances the allowance, and recovers the amount at the end of the year from the insurance institute. Under the transitional provi- sions of the Act its advantages are extended at once to persons who would have been qualified for pensions if the scheme had previously been in force. Those "to whom the Act applies, who become invalids within the first five years, or reach the age of seventy within the first thirty years of its operation, are to be treated as having paid the required contributions, provided that they have been employed for a certain number of years in their trade. The lowest wage class is taken as the basis for calculating the invalid pensions payable under this clause, while for old age pensions the actual rate of wages is taken into consideration. The Imperial In- surance Office has published a guide to the insurance laws, containing certain tables showing the actual work- ing of the Act in 1891 and 1892, and the results anticipated in the future. The pensions granted in 18 274 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [81.] 1891 amounted to more than nine million marks, and in 1892 to more than twenty-two millions. In that year 11,200,000 persons were insured. It is remarkable that the calculations of the probable financial results do not allow for any material increase in the cost of management in the next fifty years, although the figures for 1891 and 1892 show that such an increase has already taken place, and although the great increase which is anticipated in the amount of contribution pay- able per head seems to point to additional claims on the fund. The calculations cannot be said to establish the possibility of a complete withdrawal of the State sub- sidy w r ithin the estimated period. Criticisms 82. The total effect of the scheme up to the present of th ^.^ w time can hardly yet be ascertained, but its working has results. / already been found to involve both financial and ad- / ministrative difficulties. The calculation of probable liabilities is a task of extreme complication, and doubt has been thrown on the value for this purpose of statistics based largely on experience of railway em- \ ployment only. Moreover, the conclusions thus obtained \ with regard to the probable invalidity and mortality of \ men have been applied to women without any modifica- ) tion. Further, even if the contributions can be accu- rately adjusted it is impossible to ensure their regularity, or to forecast the extent of interruption, especially from want of employment. The administrative difficulties presented are chiefly owing to the numerous oppor- tunities for litigation offered by the Act. The insured may raise a protest at almost every step of the pro- ceedings, and his case may be carried to several courts. Disputes may also arise between the insurance insti- tutes and the sick and accident insurance societies, or the Poor Law authorities. In many districts a difficulty has been experienced in providing a sufficient staff of SCHEMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES 275 officials, and the employers complain of the work which [82.] devolves upon their clerical staff. Strict official super- vision is also necessary in view of the probable increase of "malingering." From the point of view of the value of the scheme to the working classes, it is to be regretted that it excludes so large a proportion of the classes which form the chief burden on the Poor Law, and especially, to some extent at least, married women and widows. It is true that a woman who ceases to earn wages on her marriage may receive back the amount of her previous contributions, but by so doing she forfeits all claim to a future pension in old age or invalidity; or if, instead of receiving this sum, she prefers to keep up her claim to a pension, it can only be at a higher rate of contribution. A widow again may, on the death of the husband, receive back the amount of his contribution, but a comparatively small lump sum of this nature cannot provide for her old age. Even to the classes which it reaches, the benefit is comparatively slight. There is a very general opinion in Germany that the pension is too small, and the age at which it can be claimed too far advanced, for the scheme to be a really remedial measure for the poverty of old age. The allowance was not indeed intended by the framers of the law to constitute a sufficient income, but only to supplement other resources, and the re- mainder must be provided by the Poor Law whenever there is no other source of income. There is little accordingly to show that the old age and invalidity insurance scheme has caused any saving in the cost of Poor Law administration. At Cologne, the Poor Law expenses are said to have increased, owing to the labour involved in ascertaining the claims of applicants for relief upon the insurance fund and the Poor Law re- spectively. Mr. Graham Brooks, who has made a 276 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [82.] special study of the German insurance laws on behalf of the Commissioner of Labour of the United States,* gives the opinion " that at this stage in the development of the insurance laws no adequate body of pertinent facts can be appealed to which proves that the actual burden of charity has been lightened by this legisla- tion/' although he makes haste to add " that it would be unjust to the legislation to discredit it for not having produced such results at this date." The employers meanwhile complain very strongly of the burden which the law imposes on industry, and in some instances they state that they are obliged to pay the whole of their workmen's contributions. On the other hand, it is contended by the Social Democrats that the total cost of insurance falls on the workmen, owing to in- creased taxation and reduced wages. Workmen, it is stated, would be much worse off under the new law than formerly, if the employers contributed no more than the legal minimum. The Social Democrats there- fore prefer the Poor Law, which derives its funds to a greater extent from the upper classes, and provides larger allowances. Finally, it is stated by Mr. Graham Brooks, that whilst the working classes in Germany show " a strange lack of interest and no hint of grati- tude or enthusiasm " with regard to the Sick and Acci- dent Insurance Laws, " the apathy of the insured " often passes in the case of the Old Age and Invalidity In- surance Law, "into open and uncompromising dislike." This feeling is strongest and most widespread in Bavaria, where, after "making such allowance as one must for the exaggeration of local feeling that is in many respects peculiar to Bavaria, owing to her tradi- tional dislike to the extension of Imperial power, there * His report constitutes the Fourth Special Report of the Commissioner of Labour, 1893. SCHEMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES 277 remains a deep and earnest movement against the law, [82.] both in its principle and practice." Mr. Brooks adds that "as this report goes to print, September 1893, there seems no lessening of the discontent against the Old Age and Invalidity Law. Many cuttings from the press of all parties in different parts of Germany have the same monotonous complaint against its vexatious obligations. A statement made by the Imperial Bureau, July 1, 1893, shows that since the law came into effect 245,013 persons applied for old age pensions, but only 193,114 cases were allowed; 42,984 cases were refused, and 3810 remain under consideration, while 5105 'were satisfied in other ways.' In the same period invalid pensions have been claimed by 59,247 persons. Of these, 34,746 cases were allowed, 15,938 were refused, 5722 are under consideration, 2841 met in other ways. Among this number who were granted invalid pensions, 1025 already had received the old age pension. The fact that in so brief a space of time nearly 60,000 claims should be refused has given some ground for the criticism that a law whose enforcement carries with it so much and so widespread disappointment as is implied by these refusals is of questionable nature." Mr. Brooks states, however, that " it is replied that after a few years the conditions of applying for and receiving the pension will be far more exact." II. Denmark.* 83. The Poor Law of Denmark presents several points Poor Law of close resemblance with that of England, both in trafion!" principle and in the method of administration. Whilst, however, the English law, in recognising the bestowal * For further details, and for the list of authorities for this section, see the author's Report to the Labour Commission on the Labour Question in Scandinavian Countries [C. 7063 xiii.]. 278 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [83.] of relief as a duty incumbent upon the State, has at no time recognised any right to relief upon the part of an applicant, "the foundation of the Danish law/' according to Mr. Andrew Doyle, " has always been the declaration that the pauper has a right to relief." This principle was laid down by the law of Christian V. in 1683, and again in the Constitutional Charter of 1866; and the new Poor Law of April 9th, 1891, emphatically declares that the community at large (det Offentlige) is bound to afford assistance to every person who is unable to procure the necessaries of life for himself or for those dependent on him. Under the early law, three distinct systems of poor relief were in operation one for rural districts, another for towns, and a third for Copenhagen. In each case disastrous results were produced by the in- discriminate granting of relief to all destitute persons ; and this was not remedied when, in 1868, the municipal institutions of Denmark were remodelled and the Poor Law administration in towns transferred from the " poor districts" to the newly established elective town councils. Under this system the burgomaster administered poor relief in person, with the assistance of unpaid overseers, who, being for the most part small shopkeepers, were unable to investigate the cases brought before them. Medical relief, in particular, was given with most in- jurious facility, and often to persons who were quite capable of providing for their own requirements. The institutions for indoor relief were of four kinds. By the law of Christian V. every parish was obliged to provide a poorhouse (Fattighus) which closely resembled the parochial workhouse under the old English Poor Law, and appears to have been as unsatisfactory as the latter. It was with a view to their improvement that the pauper-farms (Fattiggaard) were instituted. In these establishments, which are still in existence and are SCHEMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES 279 being constantly extended, the inmates are employed in [83.] agricultural or industrial work, under the constant supervision of a resident inspector. It is difficult to make any precise distinction between these institutions and the workhouses (ArbejdscmstaHer) with regard to which no special regulations are laid down by law. The workhouses, however, appear as a rule to be under stricter discipline and to be more coercive in character than the ordinary pauper-farms. A fourth kind of in- stitution, the compulsory workhouse (Tvangs Arbejds- anstali) is used as a house of correction for refractory paupers. The Poor Law of 1891 lays down that the deserving poor are to be relieved in their own homes, or to be sent to the workhouse only if this is conducive to their own welfare. Within the workhouse, old or infirm persons and children are to be kept entirely separate from the able-bodied or disreputable inmates, and aged married couples are not to be separated unless at their own desire. This law also provides for the appoint- ment of relieving officers (Tilsynsnwetid) to investigate the condition of the poor, to assist them by advice or more substantial aid, to see that the relief given is properly expended, and to report to the guardians (Fattigbestyrelserne) as to the nature and amount of relief required. The relieving officers may be of either sex, and are appointed by the guardians. In order to mitigate as far as possible the hardships suffered by the deserving poor, the law imposes upon rural communes the obligation of procuring rooms, at ordinary rents, for persons who are able to pay their way, but are unable to find a dwelling in consequence of the fear that they should at any time come upon the rates. It further provides that relief given to the families of conscripts in time of war, or to shipwrecked sailors on their journey home, is not to be regarded as poor relief in the sense 280 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [83.] of entailing civil disabilities. Upon the other hand, however, civil disabilities are extended by this law to the person from whom an individual who is relieved has a right to claim support. Thus a man whose wife and children became chargeable to the parish, would be himself accounted as a pauper and deprived of civil rights. An attempt is made to restrain the perpetuation of the pauper class by prohibiting marriage in the case of any man who has been in receipt of poor relief during the last five years, and has not refunded the cost of such relief. Old Age 84. It will have been seen that the Danish Poor Law Pensions. of lggi went fer m the direction of g rantm g relief to the deserving poor without any accompanying hardship or disqualification. This principle was, however, carried a step further by a supplementary law, passed three months later, " with respect to the relief in old age of the deserving poor, who do not come under the Poor Law administration." This law presents a startling contrast to the legislative proposals of the last ten years with regard to insurance, in which the principle of self- help met with the fullest recognition, whilst in the present law a premium is actually placed upon destitu- tion. As Mr. Graham Brooks observes, " nowhere has the self-help principle been more energetically or more successfully pushed," than Denmark ; " nowhere upon the Continent have the people had a more intelligent training in the principles of the private initiative. An extraordinary number of institutions exist, founded either by private munificence or by the working men themselves. Until very recently the State may be said to have done absolutely nothing in this direction except to appoint an inspector of savings banks."* It may be interesting therefore to trace the steps which have * Fourth Special Report of the Commissioner of Labour, 1893. SCHEMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES 281 brought the Danish Government to its present position. [84.] In 1882, a committee, appointed by the Government, recommended the establishment of a State pension fund, which should be open to all. The expenses of administration were to be paid by the State, but no State subsidy was guaranteed. In the following year, a Government Bill was brought in by the Minister of Finance, by which it was proposed to establish a State pension fund, open to all classes alike, and especially designed to assist persons who had secured a small capital by means of their own thrift. It was in this Bill, however, that a definite proposal of State help was made for the first time. A State subsidy of two million kroner was to form a fund out of which premiums could be paid up to 300 kroner. But since it was doubtful whether workmen would be able to pay the rest of the premiums, the principle of a general fund, open to all, was abandoned, and a Bill was brought in which under- took to provide pensions for the poorer classes only. The decision as to the necessary qualification of poverty for receiving the pension was to be entrusted to the directors of the fund, and would necessarily have in- volved minute investigation into the circumstances of the applicant. The Bill was, however, not passed, and the matter was allowed to rest until attention was again directed to the subject by the German insurance legisla- tion of 1887. The Social Democratic Federation then came forward with proposals to show that the State must bear the whole burden of any pension scheme which was to be of real benefit to the working classes. Wages, they urged, were too low to allow even the most prosperous artisans to make provision for their old age, and they therefore claimed for every workman the right to State support when his working days were over. Several private Bills followed, introduced by MM. Rubin, 282 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [84.] Neergaard, Bramsen and others, in all of which the State was to do much and the individual little. M. Rubin's scheme, for instance, provided for State pensions at the age of sixty-two without previous contributions, three different scales of pensions being fixed for Copen- hagen, other towns, and country districts. The adminis- tration w y as to be in the hands of local committees, appointed by the town or parish councils. The principle of a non-contributory State pension was adopted by the Government in the law of 1891, by which relief is granted under certain conditions to any person over the age of sixty, who is unable to provide himself and those dependent on him with the necessaries of life, or with proper treatment in case of sickness. In the form in which the Bill was first introduced, assistance w r as made conditional on the applicant's having been a member of a sick fund for five years previously, but in its final form the law entirely ignores the principle of self-help upon the part of the recipient. The conditions upon which the pension is granted are that the applicant must not have undergone sentence for any dishonourable transaction ; that his poverty must not be caused by his own fault, either by extravagant living or by undue provision for his children or others ; that he has resided in the country for ten years previously to applying for the old age pension, and that during that period he has not received poor relief or been found guilty of begging and vagrancy. The relief granted " must be sufficient for the support of the person relieved, and of his family, and for their treatment in case of sickness, but it may be given in money or in kind, as circumstances require, or consist in free admission to a suitable asylum or other establishment intended for that purpose." One-half of the cost of relief is to be borne by the communes, whilst the other half is to be defrayed by a State subsidy, SCHEMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES 283 which is not, according to the terms of the law, to [84.] exceed two million kroner (111,110) annually. It is, however, pointed out by Mr. Spender, in " The State and Pensions in Old Age," that "if the law remains in force, and is carried out in accordance with its spirit, this experimental estimate may need to be considerably increased. We have already seen that M. Rubin's scheme, which contained no disqualifying test, con- templated an expenditure of nearly double this amount. But the Danes, like others, are as yet very much in the dark as to the effect of their law, and the cost of carry- ing it into execution."* Applications for relief are to be made to the magistrates in Copenhagen, and, outside Copenhagen, to the communal authorities, who decide as to the merit of the applicant's claims. 85. This law did not come into force in all its details Criticisms until the beginning of 1892, so that it is difficult at &n Sjta" present to judge as to its results ; but certain objections results. were made with regard to both the principle and the detailed provisions of the Bill at the time when it was introduced, which have received a certain amount of confirmation since. Thus it was urged that by making the receipt of a pension depend upon the destitution of the applicant, thrift and self-help are discouraged on the one hand, and a check given to assistance from relatives and private charity upon the other. That this has been already found to result from the operation of the law would appear from an article in the Nationals- konomisk Tidsskrift for March and April, 1894, by M. Cordt Trap, in which it is stated that at least two instances are known in which provident funds formed by employers for their workpeople have been broken up since the law was passed, and the savings drawn out and squandered. The Friendly Societies (Selvhjcelps- * Spender, " The State and Pensions in Old Age," p. 107. 284 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [85.] foreningerne) also complain that it is becoming more difficult for them to retain their members. M. Roeder, who was one of the first to take part in the practical administration of the law, has expressed an opinion that its operation tends to unloosen the ties which bind parents and children, and servants and masters, together, and that it is further likely to lead to a reduction of wages. Upon the other hand, it appears that hardship has arisen in some cases from the refusal of assistance to aged persons whose children do support them to a certain extent, but are unable to do so sufficiently. Again, it is urged that the condition that the recipients of pensions must not have received any Poor Law relief during the previous ten years, places persons between the ages of fifty and sixty in a position of peculiar difficulty. In many occupations a workman appears to have very little chance of employment, or at least of earning other than very low wages, after fifty or fifty-five years of age, and he is therefore either driven to exhaust any savings he may have made, in his struggle to avoid Poor Law relief before the age of sixty, or, by accepting such relief, is deprived altogether of his claim to a pension. A further objection appears to be the vague- ness of terminology, which leaves it to the administrators of the law to decide, upon the one hand, what consti- tutes destitution in the sense of the law, and, upon the other, what amount of pension is to be considered " sufficient for the support of the person relieved, and of his family, and for their treatment in case of sickness." The pension scheme finally cannot be considered as much else than an extensive system of outdoor relief, under which almost as much latitude is allowed to the administrators of the law as is left to the guardians and relieving officers under the English Poor Law ; and, as Mr. Spender points out, it will depend upon the nature SCHEMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES 285 of the administration whether or not the receipt of a [85.] pension is as degrading in its effect, and accompanied by as much stigma of dependence, as Poor Law relief. Although the pensions are intended only for the deserving, it appears probable that the communes, which are obliged to bear the whole burden of Poor Law relief, but are entitled to State aid in giving pensions, will tend to give relief in the latter form as far as possible, until the distinction between the two is prac- tically obliterated. PART III CONCLUSIONS CHAPTER I THE EXTENT AND CAUSES OF THE PRESENT EVIL Extent of 86. FROM the foregoing summary of the evidence Old Age ff i ven before the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor, Pauperism. & / and of the results of independent investigations into the same subject made under the direction of Mr. C. Booth, it appears that the proportion of aged persons in receipt of Poor Law relief in England and Wales is excessive, amounting to not less than an average of 30 per cent, of the entire population above the age of sixty-five. Since, moreover, a considerable section of the community are practically excluded from the possibility of becoming paupers in old age, it would seem that the percentage of aged paupers amongst the remaining classes of the population must be a good deal above this general average. It is true that certain deductions from such numbers would seem necessary, to meet the case of medical relief, which by force of custom is often given to persons who are far removed from a condition of destitution, and received by them in the belief that no stigma of pauperism attaches to it.* It is also pointed * It may be well to quote here the 26th section of the report of the majority of the members of the Aged Poor Commission : EXTENT AND CAUSES OF PRESENT EVIL 287 out by Mr. Loch in his Supplementary Memorandum, [86.] added to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor, that the accuracy of the statistics in the return, usually known as Mr. Ritchie's return, for 1891-2, is very doubtful, as the migratory character of the poorest classes in towns, and the consequent difficulty of avoiding duplication, or even triplication, of entries, make the year's count considerably larger than the real number of paupers relieved. But after making due allowance for these facts, an amount of old age pauper- ism remains which indicates widespread conditions of poverty and suffering amongst the aged members of the working classes. That this is a serious social evil is admitted on all hands, but the nature of its causes, and ^ consequently of the remedies which may be expected to effect a cure, are subjects concerning which many con- flicting views have been expressed. 87. Broadly speaking, the opinions given with regard Causes of to the causes of old age pauperism fall under two heads, p ld Age according to the answer given to the question : Is it possible, under existing conditions and with existing opportunities, for a working man not only to support himself and his family, with due regard to their physical and moral welfare, during the time when he has full wage-earning capacity, but also to make provision for the time when old age impairs or altogether destroys that capacity ? To those who consider that this is "26. It is noticeable that medical relief (which does not now involve general disfranchisement), although varying very re- markably in amount in different unions, accounts, when taking the whole country together, for 6 per cent, of the total number of aged who are relieved in the year. And it must be remembered that in very many cases the actual medicine is supplemented by special food or stimulants given on the medical officer's recom- mendation." (Royal Commission on the Aged Poor: Report, vol. i. pp. xiii.-xiv.) 288 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [87.] possible, the causes of old age pauperism appear to be moral, and in the majority of cases preventible by the individuals concerned. To those, on the other hand, who consider this impossible, these causes seem to lie in economic and social conditions, which are for the most part beyond the control of the individuals in question. Amongst such conditions the low rate of wages in certain trades, particularly in agriculture, is that to which most importance has been attached ; and it is repeatedly asserted that it is impossible for the agricul- tural labourer to live in decent comfort and yet provide for old age on a wage which does not exceed from 12*. to 15*. a week.* That this, .however, is not the case, must be the conclusion drawn from instances quoted by other persons, of agricultural labourers, earning 12*. or 13*. a week, married and with families, who bring up their children well, have clean and tidy homes, and are able to insure for an old age annuity, as well as to belong to a sick club. Even though such cases are not impos- sible, however, it may safely be assumed that they are of necessarily rare occurrence, involving both unusually strong moral qualities in the individuals themselves, and some unusual external stimulus, if only in the form of advice and encouragement. Wages, it must be ad- mitted, are in certain cases, and notably in those of agricultural and casual labourers and in the majority of female trades, so low as to render provision for old age a matter of extreme difficulty, and considerable self- denial, if not absolute privation, in earlier years ; and a certain amount of old age pauperism must be ascribed to this cause. In other trades again, in which wages are high, it is asserted that the period of wage-earning capacity is so short that it is equally impossible in such cases to make * It will be shown below that this estimate is probably lower than the true average wage of agricultural labourers. EXTENT AND CAUSES OF PRESENT EVIL 289 provision for old age. For agricultural labourers the [87.] wage-earning period is generally much more prolonged than in most other employments, and even when an agricultural labourer gets past earning full wages, he can often get employment at odd jobs in the country, and where he is known as a decent fellow an effort is very frequently made to provide him with such work as he can do. But in other kinds of work the increased stress and rapidity of industrial operations is undoubtedly much felt by the aged workers, and renders it difficult for them to find employment at a comparatively early age. It may, however, be replied that it is precisely in these trades that the attempt to provide for old age through associative effort, in the form of the super- annuation benefits in connection with Trade Unions, has been undertaken with most success. In addition to these economic causes which affect particular industries, there are also some which affect particular localities, such as those which have been shown to render old age in towns more poverty-stricken as a rule than old age in rural districts. Upon the other hand, there is a large mass of evidence to prove that in the majority of instances destitution in old age is attributable, in part at least, to some mental or moral defect in the in- dividual concerned, who has lacked either the foresight or the self-control to make the required efforts to pro- vide for the future ; and that in many cases it is the direct result of intemperance or crime. It may indeed be true, as is sometimes asserted, that a considerable amount of such moral weakness is in its turn due to economic causes ; but whilst it is impossible to decide in individual instances to what extent this is the fact, there appears to be no sufficient ground for believing that it is invariably, or in any instance exclusively, the case, or for supposing that any merely economic remedy 19 290 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [87.] would fully meet the evil. In laying full weight upon the moral causes which conduce to poverty and pauper- ism in old age, it must, however, be borne in mind that the responsibility even of these causes does not rest ex- clusively with the paupers themselves. For repeated evidence shows that the general condition of the aged poor in any district, as well as the readiness with which they seek for Poor Law relief, depends to a large extent upon the nature of the administration of the Poor Law, and particularly upon the amount of care and atten- tion devoted to the consideration of the best methods of relief by the guardians ; upon the extent to which private charity is given and the manner in which it is dispensed ; and further upon the opportunities for thrift which are placed within the reach of the work- ing classes. Thus Mr. Booth states that his reports from country districts " bear witness to the extent to which the comfort of the people, and especially of the old .... depends on the character, disposition, and actions of the landowners, on the wisdom and kindli- ness of the well-to-do generally, and of the clergy in particular." * * Booth, "The Aged Poor: Conditions," p. 416. CHAPTER II THE REMEDIES SUGGESTED FOR THE AVOID- ANCE OF OLD AGE POVERTY 88. THE methods which are already in existence, or ciassifica- which have been proposed, for solving the problem of old age poverty, may be grouped according to three different principles of division. First, with regard to their nature, the same distinction may be made as has been adopted in respect to the causes of the evil ; and the remedies may be divided into those which are moral and those which are economic. Secondly, the classifi- cation may be based upon the object which is in view, and in this case the remedies fall into two main groups. In the first are those which aim at attacking the root of the evil by placing old age so far as possible beyond the reach of actual privation upon the one hand, and of a humiliating position of dependency upon the other ; whilst in the second group are those remedies which aim at the alleviation of such destitution in old age as cannot be, or at any rate has not been, avoided. Thirdly, the basis of classification chosen may be the principle which underlies the remedies ; and three divisions may be made according as this principle is socialistic or indi- vidualistic, or combines the two. As the second of these methods of division, resting upon the object aimed at, is as a rule the easiest to apply, as well as in some respects the most fundamental in character, it is the one which 292 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [88.] I have adopted for the main division of the remedies in existence or suggested, with a subdivision in each group according to the third method mentioned. It will be sufficient in the case of each remedy to point out whether the effects which may be expected from it are mainly moral or mainly economic in character. I. The Action of the State. Universal 89. Amongst the methods in existence or suggested Pensions ^7 which poverty in old age may be avoided, the most far-reaching, and in theory perhaps the simplest, is the proposed plan of universal non-contributory pensions for all persons above a certain fixed age. The line of argument adopted by the advocates of this method is as follows. A large proportion of the aged poor are suffering from destitution due to causes over which they had no control, and in such cases it is unjust that their necessary relief should be accompanied by any degrada- tion, such as now attends the reception of Poor Law relief, or even to a less extent of private charity. Since, however, the investigation of the causes which have led to each individual case of destitution would be a work of too great magnitude to be undertaken by the State, and since, moreover, the materials for such an investiga- tion are often inaccessible, justice to all the deserving aged poor can only be ensured by a method of State relief which does not take into account the question of desert. Again, it is argued, if such relief be given to the destitute because they are such, it will, on the one hand, be impossible to dissociate this relief from some stigma of social inferiority, whilst, on the other hand, it will come too late to save the recipient from the suffering involved in sinking into this condition. Therefore the relief must be given to all persons alike, THE REMEDIES SUGGESTED 293 irrespective of their necessity for it, and, further, it must [89.] be given if possible before this necessity becomes urgent. The logical conclusion to this line of argu- ment is the suggestion, frankly adopted by some of the witnesses before the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor, that the State should give to each individual who reaches a certain age, which should be fixed at the lowest point at which the capacity for self-support may be reasonably expected to cease, an allowance sufficient to place him for the rest of his life beyond the possi- bility of enduring privation.* Mr. Booth's universal pension scheme is the form in which this proposal is best known to the public ; but it may be noticed that it falls short in two respects of the demands of the more thorough-going advocates of the prin- ciple upon which it is based. These are the age at which it becomes due, which is said to be too high to meet the case of persons engaged in some forms of industry, and the amount of the pension, which is so low as to act as a mere palliative rather than as a preventive of poverty. Whatever the details of any scheme of this nature may be, however, there are certain observations which will be equally applicable to it. The first and most important of these is that the principle upon which it is based is entirely new and foreign to the constitution of society in this country. It rests, in fact, upon the assumption that at a certain period of life the duty of maintaining every individual lies not with that individual, his family, or other indivi- * Mr. Henry Broadhurst, M.P. , who wrote a separate report from those signed by the other members of the Aged Poor Com- mission, expresses the belief "that the only adequate way of dealing with the situation is frankly to recognise the maintenance of the aged as a public charge, to be borne by the whole com- munity." (Royal Commission on the Aged Poor: Report, vol. i. p. xcviii.) 294 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [89.] duals, with whom he may have entered into voluntary association, but with the State. If this is true in the case of persons rendered incapable of self-support by old age, why should it not be equally true of children, of the infirm, of all other classes, in short, \vho from what- ever cause are unable to maintain themselves ? The principle is, indeed, only tenable if, as admitted by one witness before the Aged Poor Commission, it is regarded as part of a general scheme of State socialism. But apart from this fundamental difficulty of principle, there are numerous practical questions which present them- selves. First, with regard to expense, it appears that the cost of even Mr. Booth's scheme, with its high limit of age and small scale of allowance, would, on his own showing, be so great that it is generally considered to place the proposal beyond the range of practical politics. Next, with regard to administration, the difficulties and expense involved in proving the age and identity of every applicant are obviously enormous. Again, upon what conditions are the pensions to be received ? Are they, as intended by Mr. Booth, to be enjoyed at the same time as earnings, and, if so, will they not tend to depress the rate of earnings in old age, and consequently to some extent of wages generally ? Or, as suggested by other persons, must all earnings cease at the age when the pension becomes payable ; and, if so, will the measure be considered beneficial, or even just, by those individuals who are still in unimpaired possession of their faculties at the prescribed age, and capable of earning an income greatly in excess of the amount of the allowance ? Finally, it must be asked what will be the moral result of such a scheme ? Will it not sap to some extent the foundations of such moral qualities as industry, thrift, and self-reliance in the character of the nation ? THE REMEDIES SUGGESTED 295 II. The Action of the Individual. 90. Such persons,, upon the other hand, who urge that Self-help it is within the power of the individuals concerned to tary effort. provide for their old age by the exercise of thrift in early and middle life, claim for the principle of self-help the following advantages over any system of State pen- sions. First, that while any universal scheme of State provision for the aged involves a costly and complicated administrative system, provision made by individuals, whether alone or in voluntary associations, is made in the simplest and most economical manner. Secondly, that while one heroic remedy, such as that of universal pensions, must be applied without discrimination to every case alike, including those in which it is unneces- sary and therefore wasteful, the methods of self-help and thrift are various, and can generally be modified to suit each individual. Thirdly, that the withdrawal of a large amount of capital from productive enterprise, which would be inevitable, at any rate at the first intro- duction of universal old age pensions, would seriously endanger the prosperity of the country ; whereas every individual who makes provision for his own old age does so, as a rule, by adding to the total productive capital of the nation. Fourthly, it is possible that the institution of old age pensions, to be given irrespective of previous character and circumstances, would have an injurious moral effect in removing those motives to industry and self-restraint in earlier life which are afforded by the prospect of providing for old age. Finally, the advocates of self-help maintain that whilst the introduction of pensions can only be a gigantic experiment in an untried method, the means they advocate have been already proved and found successful, and require only further extension and improvement. To prove this, they point 296 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [90.] to the great development which has taken place within a comparatively short time in the Friendly Society and Trade Union movements, and to the fact that, directly or indirectly, such forms of association do in the majority of cases make some provision for the old age of their members ; and, further, to the large amount of capital accumulated by the working classes which is deposited in Savings Banks, or invested in Building or Co-operative Societies. But, it is argued by their opponents, such means of provision for old age are within the reach of only the more favoured members of the working classes, and can never therefore afford a complete solution of the problem. To deal with this question fully it is necessary to consider separately the conditions under which such provision can be made. The 91. First, there must be an economic possibility of possibility savin g in youth and middle life ; a margin, that is, of saving, between the amount of earnings and of necessary expenditure. It appears from the preceding summary that this margin is generally considered to exist in the case of most members of the working classes, with the exception of agricultural and casual labourers, and of a large proportion of female workers. Even in the case of agricultural labourers earning such low wages as 1 2s. or 13*. a week it has, moreover, been found possible in certain instances by careful management to diminish the expenditure so far as to leave a sufficient margin. It would appear, however, that the average wages of agri- cultural labourers are above this level. With regard to the great improvement which has taken place in their general condition during the last twenty years, the evidence given before the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor is, on the whole, in agreement with the results of the very thorough investigation into the con- dition of the agricultural labourer carried out by the THE REMEDIES SUGGESTED 297 Royal Commission on Labour. These results, with [91.1 regard to the amount of earnings, are summarised by Mr. Little in his final report, dated April 12th, 1894, as follows : "The current rate of weekly wages is the standard of payment for ordinary labourers given and taken in the absence of any agreement. This rate varies often by as much as 2*. a week in the same neigh- bourhood, and frequently by 1*. a week in the same parish. At the time of the inquiry this rate varied from 10*. a week in Bromyard, Cirencester, Dorchester, Langport, Pewsey, and Wantage, to 18*. in Garstang and Wigton, the average of the 38 estimates of the mean rates for all districts being 13*. 5d. a week, .... The wages of labourers are, however, very generally augmented to a greater or less extent by opportunities of earning extra money at piece-work, or at certain seasons ; by various allowances, such as a cottage and garden rent-free ; by gratuities as rewards or encourage- ments ; by refreshment of meat or drink ; by the pro- vision of fuel, and in many other ways and all these additions must be taken into account in estimating earnings. The result of a careful investigation of all the evidence on the subject, leads me to estimate the average earnings of the ordinary labourer as 15*. lid. a week, with a maximum of 20*. 9^- a week in Glendale (Northumberland) and a minimum of 12*. 6d. a week in Langport (Somerset). The earnings of shepherds are estimated to range from 23*. 6d. in Glendale to 14*. in Langport, and those of carters, cattlemen, and others in charge of stock, from 20*. 9^- in Glendale to 14*. in Langport. These estimated earnings of ordinary labourers are those of average men who work regularly and diligently throughout the year. In many districts where piece-work is common there is little doubt that a first-class labourer can earn considerably more than the 298 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [91.] estimated sums." * Again, with regard to the actual value of the money wages, Mr. Little writes : c< If in some parts of the country wages are now lower than they were ten years ago, they are certainly higher than at any period previous to 1873-4, and there is reason to believe that the average earnings within the reach of a willing and capable worker are in most districts considerably in excess of what they were twenty years ago. Any comparison of the present conditions with those prevailing thirty and forty years ago would be still more favourable to the present period. . . . The most effective agent in bringing about the improved condition of the agricultural labourer has undoubtedly been the cheapness of all the prime necessaries of life. His wages will purchase more bread, meat, butter, cheese, sugar, tea and clothing than could have been bought for the same money twenty years ago, and it is probably no exaggeration to state that l6s. will buy as much of the principal commodities which a labourer consumes in the proportions in which he requires them as could have been bought for a sovereign in 1871-2." f If this is so, it does not appear unreasonable to believe that any addition to the present earnings, or any increased opportunity for saving, such as that recently afforded by the freeing of elementary education, might be utilised for the purpose of providing for old age without imposing any injurious burden upon agricultural labourers. The case of the casual labourer is, however, somewhat different, in so far as the rise in rents in * Royal Commission on Labour: Fifth and Final Report. Part I. [C 7421]. " The Agricultural Labourer (England)," pp. 206, 207. f Royal Commission on Labour: Fifth and Final Report. Part I. [C 7421]. " The Agricultural Labourer (England)," p. 216. THE REMEDIES SUGGESTED 299 towns, where casual labourers are principally found, has [91.] swallowed up the greater part, if not all, of the saving in expenditure due to the fall in the price of other necessaries of life. The only hope of improvement in this case appears to lie in diminishing the amount of casual labour so far as possible by the improved organisation of industry, and by the action of Trade Unions.* With regard to female labour, again, a rise in wages must be hoped for, chiefly through the extension of organisation and the education of public opinion upon this question. 92. It is, however, generally speaking, of little use to Means the working classes that their earnings should be large of 1 " v ^ s . t " enough to enable them to save, if facilities are not (a) Friendly afforded for the secure and advantageous investment or " their savings. That such facilities are at present far greater than they were twenty or even ten years ago there is no doubt, nor does there appear to be any sufficient reason for supposing that they will not continue to increase. The various forms of working-men's associa- tions, and the extent to which the accumulated savings of the working classes are entrusted to them, will be dealt with at greater length in a subsequent volume, and can only be touched on here. The most important of them are the Friendly Societies, Building Societies, Co-operative Societies and Trade Unions ; and the follow- ing figures, taken from the Report of the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies, &c., for the year 1892, and refer- ing to the registered societies only, give some idea of their comparative number and wealth. From the * For a full discussion of the problem of casual labour, see the Author's book on " The Unemployed." London : Macmillan & Co. 1894. 300 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [92.] "o ^ S j 8 Nature of Societies. II 88 & B 11 11 11 3^0 ll g fe Societies under the Friendly Societies Acts : Friendly Societies (not ' collecting) .... Collecting Societies . 47 23,998 43 4,203,601 3,875,215 22,695,039 2,713.214 Other Societies . . . I III 557 241,446 594,808 Building Societies .... Co-operative Societies . . . 2,694 1,810 2,382 i,597 587,856 1.136,907 51,546,007 18,915.793 ego 401 086 817 1,515,319 evidence which was given before the Royal Com- mission on the Aged Poor, it appears that but few Friendly Societies attempt to deal directly with the pro- blem of old age by providing annuities or superannuation benefits, but that their indirect effect upon the question is clearly shown by the comparatively small number of their members who apply for Poor Law relief. It also appears that the small amount of direct action taken by these societies in this direction hitherto, has been due rather to the indifference shown by their members in the matter than to any inability on their part to deal with it. The larger societies are now taking the matter into consideration, and there does not seem any reason to doubt that they will succeed in overcoming the difficulties attending it. The suggestions made with regard to this subject by the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies in his evidence before the Aged Poor Commis- sion may be again quoted in this connection. The condi- tions of old age insurance should, in his opinion, be more elastic than they are present. A fixed age at which the annuity is to begin is both unpopular and undesirable, and tables might be prepared showing the amount of annuity which could be secured at different ages. Moreover, if from medical and actuarial advice it appeared likely that a member would not live many years, the amount of the annuity might be increased. THE REMEDIES SUGGESTED 301 Sick pay would have to be stopped after the payment [92.] of the annuity had begun. Further,, the money might be made returnable, which would be a greater induce- ment to insurance,, but this would necessitate higher con- tributions. It appears from the evidence that although in the past the failure or dissolution of Friendly Societies has been one cause contributing to the poverty of the aged members of the working classes, unsound Friendly Societies are rapidly dying out, and the larger societies are now conducted on strict actuarial principles, which renders their solvency a matter of practical certainty. With regard to the opportunities for this form of invest- ment enjoyed by agricultural labourers, Mr. Little states, in the report already referred to, that " In no less than 34 districts out of the 38, a large proportion of the labourers are said to belong to some benefit society, and this is particularly the case with the younger men. Very frequently the older men, who are not now members of such a society, have formerly belonged to some club which was founded upon an unsound financial basis and has been broken up. Local or village clubs are still numerous, but the younger men have a distinct preference for the larger societies, such as the Odd Fellows, Foresters, &c., which have branches or affiliated lodges generally distributed over the country."* In a paper on State-aided Pensions for Old Age, read at the South Midland Poor Law Conference at Oxford, on November 21st, 1894, by Mr. W. Chance, J.P., the table on p. 302 is given, which, as the writer says, " shows at a glance the cost of the old age benefits of some good and sound societies The table gives the sums payable by male members of Friendly Societies to secure old age pensions. As * Royal Commission on Labour : Fifth and Final Report. Part I. [C 7421]. "The Agricultural Labourer (England)," p. 215. 302 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [92.] vn c o W w ilfii | | !l l^lf 1 O/*- '" 2 M- 8 2 g^X' jj *! J " s? 3.B w D D *5 ^ C s'l 1 1 5" 8 c/5-2 lij C 5 .^ rt 8E "y o i> O oS ^> |g ^ 0) M tjf|| VO* c ^ii- s ! Illli J CO | |3 1 ai| v ex**" 1 *"* 2f g Jrt S r^ ^ "^ rt & E ^ o <-> sj 5 o u g s H ^'5 S M rt rt , i , _ ft rtijl *O CO rt c il 3 3 .Si Nvw C! CU 3 H U I) >> iT N 3 rt $ ^ ^ ^ c fl s^ 9 - H %*g ^1| !^ i O U %* o ^ 2J S c'c^' rt j*- *o Co r|1 l^iif 1 4 CO in i_ co |>g *- rt a |bl|Ii rt c i w M ^ *- * > ^n *- 'rt ^* E ^ ntributions not return every four weeks froi . every four weeks frc (Or 2|rf. a week.) CO ll 1 every four weeks unc . every four weeks at (2\d. and 3^. a week, rt"o ^ u-^ rt lij 111 :ions and all sick bene aliens are payable e: the Court for funeral iion for a son of three ceases to pay for hi | Open to ar 6 "S'l? H H aftrs ^^2g^ H M fi|i%l B _,_ here, however, is that even when the relief is declared to be on loan, the guardians cannot recover the sum in a court of law, because it forms part of the salary of the medical officer. This difficulty might be avoided if the medical officer were paid by the case ; but such a change appears to be open to other objections, and some alter- ation of the law upon the subject would seem necessary. II. The Action of the Individual. The scope 107. Whilst it is the duty of the community as a whole to provide for the relief of destitution in the case charity, of any one of its members, it is the privilege of private charity to take account of the circumstances and THE REMEDIES SUGGESTED 329 character of each individual in need of help, to interpose [107.] before the stage of destitution is reached, or to assist those who have fallen into it to regain an independent position. In the case of the aged especially it is the function of private charity to save the deserving poor from the degradation of receiving Poor Law relief, and in particular to hinder the painful breaking off of family ties, and uprooting of old associations, which so inevitably attend removal to the workhouse. The fact that mere destitution is sure to be relieved by the State, sets charity free from the obligation to attempt to relieve every case of distress, and enables its efforts to be concentrated upon giving efficient help where it is merited ; whilst the knowledge that its action will be superseded in such cases by charity should strengthen the hands of the State in maintaining a Poor Law system which is likely to promote, rather than to hinder, the efforts of the respectable poor to preserve their inde- pendence. The form in which charity can render most efficient help, and is probably most free from any admixture of evil consequences, is when it is the outcome of a kindly personal relationship between individuals. The best example of this is perhaps to be found in the assistance which is often so freely given by the poor themselves to one another, even when the ties of relationship are slight, or altogether absent. It is also to be seen in the provision made by employers for their old servants or workpeople, with regard to which Mr. Booth states that " their care is a recognised charge on all industrial undertakings of character and long standing, and is usually met by the provision of suitable light work at wages based rather upon the needs of the recipient than on the value of the services rendered- This kindly social usage applies in town as well as in country, but less efficiently, and at best it is very far 330 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [107.] from complete. It depends mainly on industrial stability ; as to the employers, on persistence of business manage- ment in one family or under one tradition ; and as to the employed, on continuity of occupation under the same master. These factors are found less, and increas- ingly less, in urban than in rural communities, and the effect on the condition of the old is very serious."* May a substitute for this custom not be found, however, in the formation of profit sharing or joint insurance schemes by employers for their workmen, as a means of providing for old age ? We have already seen that one of the most disastrous results of the State Old Age Pension scheme in Denmark, is the breaking up of such insurance funds, and the consequent destruction of much of the kindly relationship between employers and employed. In the country a similar personal goodwill frequently directs the charitable help given by landowners to their tenants and by the clergy to their parishioners ; but in towns the well-to-do of all classes can seldom have the opportunity of becoming personally acquainted with their poorer neighbours. If therefore they are neither to neglect their obligations in this direction nor to run the risk of doing harm by encouraging the undeserving and improvident members of society, it is necessary that private charity should become systematic and organised in character. This necessity has given rise to the forma- tion of the various Charity Organisation Societies and similar associations, whose admirable work has been described in the summary of the evidence given before the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor. Here also must be mentioned the carefully organised systems of parochial charity established by some of the clergy, in both town and country parishes, and the systematic care of the poor undertaken by some other religious bodies. * Booth : " The Aged Poor : Conditions," p. 321-2. THE REMEDIES SUGGESTED 331 In this connection, I may refer to an article in the [107.] Charity Organisation Review for April 1894, on "Private Charity and Pensions/' in which the writer shows how in a certain very poor district in London the most de- serving aged persons are provided with adequate pen- sions through organised charity : " The help comes from many sources. There are local pension societies and endowed charities to whom applicants are referred ; the clergy of the various churches and chapels often con- tribute ; the relations of the applicants, who may hitherto perhaps have given only a little casual and irregular help, will often, on special application from the com- mittee, contribute more regularly and substantially ; the sympathy of the charitable public at large can be en- listed by advertisement in the Charity Organisation Review, or by private correspondence. From one source or another the needed funds have not failed hitherto to be forthcoming, although the work of obtaining them is doubtless difficult and monotonous to those on whom it falls Now, if the resources of charity are so large, even under present conditions, when organisation is very imperfect, and when large sums are wasted in ineffective almsgiving, for want of concert and a definite grasp of the purpose to be aimed at, we can understand how much they might be strengthened by a better system, when the efforts which are everywhere being made after greater harmony and effectiveness in the administration of charity have had more time for development, and when clearer knowledge and experience have given a more intelligent direction to public sympathy with the needs of the aged poor." III. The Action of the State supplemented by Individuals. 108. However good the work which may be done by Need of co- the administrators of the Poor Law upon the one hand, 332 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR [108.] or by the dispensers of private charity upon the other, amongst the best results have been obtained when the two classes workers. f workers co-operate with and supplement each other. That this frequently occurs is seen from the evidence given before the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor, in which numerous instances w^ere cited of Poor Law guar- dians who were also members of the local Charity Organ- isation Committee, or who had themselves established some system of private charity. As an account of these cases has been given in the summary of the evidence, they need only be referred to here as examples which might well be followed in other districts. The State again can give assistance to private charity by exercising some supervision, if only of an optional nature, over the administration of the endowed charities, many of which tend to have a most mischievous effect. The action which may be taken by the Charity Commission in the direction of reforming the endowed charities w r hen necessary, and the need of more extensive powers for this purpose, were pointed out by Sir Henry Longley in his evidence before the Aged Poor Commission. A passage in the Sixteenth Report of the Charity Commissioners upon this subject seems to be of so great importance that it may be quoted in full. " We are, indeed, con- stantly engaged in making schemes for the reformation of dole charities, but they are isolated and are insignifi- cant in extent compared with the vast number to be handled. We are very often baffled in our endeavours to reform them, and are also hampered by the narrow limits of the law, even when the bulk of the parties concerned are willing to apply them more usefully. We feel that the subject is one which requires some more certain and decisive action than any which can now be applied to it, and if the legislature is of opinion that doles in general are productive of more poverty and THE REMEDIES SUGGESTED 333 ultimate misery than they relieve, and that the true way [108.] of giving relief is by helping the poor to help themselves, to endeavour to give them health and strength of body, intelligence and cultivation of mind, and habits of thrift, forethought and self-respect, they will probably find some course by which funds now employed in the former of these courses may be diverted to the latter." It is also to be desired that some link should be formed between the administration of endowed charities and voluntary charity, in order that the spheres of their operation may not overlap. In answer to the question : " Is one of the difficulties of managing endowed charities to ensure that there should be a certain element of personal charity connected with the gift ? " Sir Henry Longley replied : " I think it is ; I think the administra- tion is apt to be too much cut and dried." "Have you any suggestion by which this kind of alliance between the personal element which is to be found in most towns at any rate and the managers of endowed charities could be encouraged ? " "I think I should answer .... that the trustees should seek the co-opera- tion and assistance of such bodies as the Charity Organisation Society or other distributors of voluntary charity." If therefore the administrators of the Poor Law, the trustees of the endowed charities, and the donors of private charity in each locality will act in union, and if the two latter classes will, as Sir Henry Longley advises, concentrate their efforts chiefly upon the relief of the poor in sickness and old age, there appears little reason to fear that the funds forthcoming will prove insufficient, that deserving cases will be neglected, or that the recipients will be demoralised by indiscriminate or excessive almsgiving. APPENDICES 336 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR X H t Q OH PH G a COMMISSIO c c POrt rt o? ^ M" Td T3 33 ^8 00 OM-l S i i i c o iO ON O rt * N 3- >-< O 00 t> M VO O PO N VO ~^- iO rt- t> O^ 35 S 6 P I O 1 fa 1 w = ..1 rt 1 io o e APPENDIX I 337 r?r (^ m t^. .a 8 a TJ M sg QJ H <-) O. O< i ^ VO OO CO "^J" io VO VO* ooo M |_j o S w I .a SB to vo H4 M 22 338 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR ' o 00 1 c? in ^ O N * m 00 cr > O"l . rt W O^*^ T? >~ >*> gi S* rj o n 00 | ! 1 H o r ro O N a\ 00 t^ ^ *O ^1" ^O CO 00 OO CO 1 ^ cn CO , ' . M H a G j " -I "8 "o .0 13 3 1 fl ^ 'G op |j a G "So 1 s 1 s H 00 i c Q. 1 *rf I 1 1 hairmar Faith's ll >1 Jrt G c O (U o -5 J_, forthum ;rmanen 1 W & 1 *o O O -M _LW IS -1 ^ ^ n ^ I Q M O H o Position or Interest Agent for the Natii Labourers' Union. Clerk to the Guardians Union. Chief Commissioner of Rector of Drayton, anc Board of Guardians, Norwich. Founder of the Pro\ Society ; Manager of Member of the Coi Merionethshire. Chairman of the Boarc the Newark Union. Relieving Officer of the of the Newark Union, General Secretary of th< and Durham Miners' Fund. C/3 C/3 * . s g W i i . B H rt CJ > O U 1 1 M o a 1 o 4> E 1 H )_, I OT G a H U | '> 3 , i M CO t-> tO H CO M T3 M M CO CO M M | | oo m c .2 g ^ 1 OT *. w o en Ancient O , Westmin Permanent Secretary of the of Foresters. Vicar of St. James-the-Les Wireworker, Shoreditch. a !!. a p j i! .1 1 ss i SS S CT O O rf 340 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR s a ^i- O ONCQ ro ro N vo ro t~- \D TJ- O vo vo CO Oro 10 co O\ H ro ro 10 ^?T? -^ T? irjioio t^ n- CTiiO VOO 4 ^ tU ^ O vo ro in co > >o M O ro ro f -" >>*& S 53 S I g" 5 *IJ O ^ II o " T 1 Receiver Gener Controll Depart Member li il s a5rfl > slhaa>8)* 4 l^|l O< S Cu v-< jj ^ l o OH ^ < to 1 " tf Le of r t Sou I Irg|3 e *-s 2 3 .0^ W o|i:- 3 ^ PQ be rt S 1^ ^a 55 c/5 O O g W HH ra (=H & W_VH FH J^W w y^ U CO O O < H J % in w 5 ri a ^ c^ APPENDIX II CIRCULAR ISSUED BY THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD RELATING TO WORKHOUSE ADMINISTRATION LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD, WHITEHALL, S.W., 29 1 /i January, 1895. SIR, I am directed by the Local Government Board to state that in view of the important changes made in the system of the election of Poor Law Guardians by the Local Government Act of last session, and of the fact that many of those who have been elected as Guardians have had no previous experience in the administration of the Poor Law, the Board deem it desirable to bring under the special attention of the Guardians certain points connected with workhouse administration. It is undoubtedly the case that since workhouses were established under the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834, the cir- cumstances connected with the administration of relief, and the character of those for whom accommodation in workhouses has to be provided, have so materially changed, that arrangements originally adequate and in accordance with the spirit of the times have ceased to be so. It may be pointed out that whilst work- houses were in the first instance provided chiefly for the relief of the able-bodied, and their administration was therefore inten- tionally deterrent, the sick, the aged, and the infirm now greatly preponderate, and this has led to a change in the spirit of the administration, although it is still based on the General Con- solidated Order of 1847. The Board feel sure that the Guardians will bear in mind this change in the character of the inmates who are under their charge. The Board direct me to remind the Guardians that, subject APPENDIX II 343 to the rules and regulations of the Board, the guidance, govern- ment, and control of the workhouse and of the officers and servants, and the inmates, are placed in the hands of the Guardians, and that the responsibility for the management of the workhouse and the welfare of the inmates rests with them and the officers under their control. Under a General Order issued in January, 1893, authority was Visiting given to every member of a Board of Guardians to visit the Committees - workhouse at any reasonable time that he might think proper, but this does not affect the duty of the Guardians to appoint one or more visiting committees from their own body, or the duty of the Committees so appointed to carefully examine the workhouse, to inspect the reports of the Chaplain and Medical Officer, to examine the stores, to afford as far as practicable to the inmates an opportunity of making complaints, and to inves- tigate any complaints which may be made to them, and from time to time to write such answers as the facts may warrant to certain questions in a book provided by the Guardians for the purpose. The manner in which these duties should be performed is very clearly set forth in a circular letter which was issued by the Poor Law Board on the 6th January, 1868, which the Board trust will have the careful attention of the Guardians. There are, however, two points to which the Board would specially refer. The Committee should bear in mind that sur- prise visits are of great value to enable them to ascertain the real character of the administration of their workhouse, and if they ordinarily meet at fixed intervals they should be careful that visits of this nature are also made. It is also important that opportunities should be given to the inmates of the workhouse to make any communication they may wish to members of the Committee, without any officers being present at the time. By the Order of January, 1893, above referred to, the Guardians were expressly empowered, from time to time, to appoint, in addition to the Workhouse Visiting Committee, a Committee or Committees of ladies, whose duty it should be to visit and examine those parts of the workhouse in which the female inmates and the children are maintained, and to report to the Guardians any matters which may appear to the Com- mittee to need attention. The Board consider that the appointment of such Committees has been attended with great advantage. 344 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR Classifica- As regards the classification of the inmates of workhouses, the L0n ' regulations specify the classes to which separate wards or buildings and yards are to be assigned, but the Guardians are also directed, so far as circumstances will permit, to further subdivide any of these classes, with reference to the moral cha- racter or behaviour, or to the previous habits of the inmates, or to such other grounds as may seem expedient. This is a matter to which Guardians should give careful consideration. It seems desirable once more to call attention to the arrange- ments that should be made for married couples, as misconception appears still to exist as to their separation in workhouses. The Poor Law Act of 1847 provides that where any two persons, being husband and wife, both of whom shall have attained the age of 60 years, shall be sent into any workhouse, such two persons shall not be compelled to live separate and apart from each other, and by the 39 & 40 Viet. c. 61, it is further provided that the Guardians may permit any married couples to live together, either of whom shall be infirm, sick, or disabled by any injury, or above the age of 60 years. The sick and The altered character of the inmates of the workhouse in the infirm. present day, which has been previously referred to, has brought the question of the infirmary wards and the arrangements that should be made for the care of the sick into special prominence. The due performance, by the Medical Officer of the work- house, of the duties attaching to his office, is, of course, of para- mount importance in ensuring proper administration in the sick wards, and amongst the principal of these duties is that of advising the Guardians, by written reports, upon the dietary of the inmates, the drainage, ventilation, warmth, and other arrangements of the workhouse, and as to every defect which he may observe in the arrangement of the infirmary and sick wards, and as to the performance of their duties by the nurses of the sick. The Guardians should be careful to see that the reports required from him by the General Consolidated Order, and by the General Orders of April 4th, 1868, and August 24th, 1869, are regularly laid before them. The half-yearly statement required by the last-named Order the Board consider of especial im- portance. Care should also be taken that the requirements of the General Consolidated Order, by which the dietaries of the sick and of the young children are placed entirely under the con- trol of the Medical Officer, are complied with. The proper use of bed cards in every case the Board deem of much importance APPENDIX II 345 it is a safeguard, both to the nurses and their patients, that all directions of the Medical Officer should be given in writing. It is desirable that these cards should, in a great measure, show the history and treatment of each case, and they should be care- fully preserved. It is, no doubt, the case that the majority of the Board of Guardians have, under the advice of the Board, and at the instance of their Inspectors, improved the system of nursing in the workhouses, and that in many workhouses an adequate standard of efficiency has been attained. But, notwithstanding this, there are many workhouses where the present nursing arrangements have not been brought to the standard of modern requirements, and the Board must strongly urge on the Guardians that this matter should receive their most careful consideration. The Board in a circular letter issued some years since, referring to the nursing arrangements in workhouses, stated as follows : "The office of nurse is one of very serious responsibility and labour, and requires to be filled by a person of experience in the treatment of the sick, of great respectability of character, and of diligent and decorous habits. Such person cannot discharge the duties of the office singly, but must have the assistance of others of both sexes ; and there is scarcely less need of the same qualities in the persons who are to be the assistants than of those required for the chief officer. Hence it is necessary that the nurses should be adequately remunerated, and that they should be appointed after a strict investigation of their qualifica- tions for the office. But the Board consider it of the highest importance that the assistants to the nurse should also be paid officers. By appointing paid assistants the Guardians will have an opportunity of selecting persons whose qualifications for the office can be properly ascertained, and they will also be able to hold such officers responsible for negligence or misconduct, as in the case of the superior officers of the workhouse. Where pauper inmates are directed to act as assistant nurses there is no stimulus to exertion, no test of capacity, and no responsibility for negligence. The Board therefore recommend that the Guardians will, as far as possible, discontinue the practice of appointing pauper inmates of the workhouse to act as assistant nurses in the infirmary or sick ward." The difficulty of obtaining such nurses as those referred to 346 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR has, in some instances, been assigned by Boards of Guardians as a sufficient reason for not complying with these recommendations. But whatever may have been the case in the past, in view of the general advance that has taken place in recent years in the provision for training nurses, no such difficulty should now arise, and the Board think it desirable to draw the attention of Guardians generally to the enclosed memorandum of the Board's Inspector, Dr. Downes, dated April 1892, with reference to the general question of nursing arrangements in workhouses, which has been already forwarded by the Board to the Boards of Guardians of many unions, where the nursing arrangements have been insufficient. The Guardians should be satisfied that the nursing staff by day and by night is in numbers fully equal to the proper nursing of the sick, and they should give their most careful consideration to any representations which may be made to them on the sub- ject by the Medical Officer of the workhouse in the discharge of his prescribed duty. They should also be careful when they make appointments of nurses that the persons appointed are, by training and experience, fully equal to the responsible duties which they have to discharge. Whilst the Board are not prepared to lay it down as a rule that in no case should pauper inmates act as attendants in sick wards, as clearly distinguished from nurses, they consider that their services should only be used with the approval of the Medical Officer, and under the closest supervision at all times of paid officers. In the larger workhouses the infirmaries have in many cases been placed under separate administration from the workhouse proper, with very beneficial results; but in cases where the buildings form part of the same establishment the Master and Matron necessarily remain the chief officers of the whole estab- lishment, and primarily responsible for its administration and discipline. It seems to the Board important that this should be understood, as their experience shows that the improvement that is taking place in the character of workhouse nursing from the employment of trained nurses, occasionally leads to objections being raised to the legitimate exercise of the authority of the Master and Matron in the arrangements connected with the sick wards. The Board consider that so long as these establishments are constituted as at present, the nurses should be responsible to he Medical Officer for the treatment of the patients, but should APPENDIX II 347 clearly understand that in other matters they must defer to the authority of the Master and Matron. The proper care of imbeciles retained in workhouses is a matter which should receive the special attention of the Guar- dians. It is important that they should, as far as practicable, have means of suitable employment, that adequate provision should be made for their exercise and recreation, that ample means should exist to ensure their personal cleanliness, that their food' should be sufficient and properly served, and that the officers in charge of them should be careful and kindly, and the buildings and appliances be of such a character as to minimise the risks of injury. With regard to the children in workhouses, the Board note with satisfaction to what a large extent those still maintained in workhouses are sent out for education to public elementary schools, and they are clearly of opinion that, where it is prac- ticable, Boards of Guardians should adopt this course. It may also often be possible for arrangements to be made for the chil- dren to attend the Sunday Schools of their own denomination. The Board attach much importance to all children maintained in Poor Law institutions being given opportunities for mixing, as far as circumstances will admit, with other children. Special care should be taken that a sufficient part of each day is set apart for recreation only, that the children should be allowed to take exercise frequently outside the workhouse premises, and that they should be encouraged in healthy games of all sorts. The Board need hardly point out that all children in work- houses should be under the charge of officers, either industrial trainers or caretakers, and should not be left to the charge of adult paupers. All children should be frequently and individually inspected by the Medical Officer. There are questions connected with the boarding-out and emigration of orphan and deserted children which will doubtless receive the careful consideration of the Guardians. The Board do not propose to refer to them in detail on the present occa- sion ; they would only urge upon Guardians the importance of always remembering that they stand in loco parentis to such chil- dren, and that whether they are retained in the workhouse or in a district or separate school or cottage homes, or are sent to a certified school, or are boarded out or emigrated, it is on the Imbeciles. The children. 348 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR Guardians that the responsibility for their welfare primarily rests. Hours for As regards the hours to be observed by inmates of workhouses nTealsf&c.' ^ or ettin g U P meals, work, &c., the Board think it unnecessary to make any alteration in those prescribed in existing regulations. They attach much importance to uniformity in this matter, but they would draw attention to the point which appears to be frequently overlooked, that these hours do not apply to the in- firm inmates or the young children. It rests with the Master and Matron, subject to the direction of the Guardians, to fix the hours of rising and going to bed for inmates infirm through age or from any other cause, and for children under seven years of age, and for these inmates the meals are to be provided at such times and in such manner as the Guardians may from time to time direct. Clothes. It appears desirable to refer to the question of the clothes to be supplied by the Guardians to inmates of the workhouse. The clothing to be worn by the inmates is to be made of such materials as the Board of Guardians may determine, and in their instructional letter of February 5th, 1842, the Poor Law Com- missioners called attention to the fact that this clothing need not be uniform either in colour or material. The Board would specially suggest that the clothing worn by inmates when absent on leave from the workhouse should not be in any way distinc- tive or conspicuous in character. Liberty. As regards the power which Guardians possess of authorising the Master to allow an inmate to quit the workhouse and to return after a temporary absence only, it appears to the Board that in the case of the aged and infirm inmates, so long as they are well-behaved and do not abuse the liberty given to them, it is desirable so far as it can be done without undue interference with the discipline and management of the workhouse, that permission to leave the workhouse should be given within reasonable limits. Of course, should it be found in any parti- cular instance that the permission was abused, exception should be made, but a careful record should be kept by the Master of the refusal of leave on this ground. Dietaries. With reference to the important question of dietaries, it is to be observed that whilst the Guardians are empowered, subject to the sanction of the Local Government Board, to fix the amount and nature of the food which shall be given to the inmates gener- ally, it is the duty of the Medical Officer to order such food as APPENDIX II 349 he may consider requisite for the sick. With regard to the in- mates in health a memorandum was drawn up by the Board's Inspector, Dr. Downes, in 1893, setting forth the general prin- ciples which should guide Boards of Guardians in framing dietaries for this class, and in any case when the Guardians may be proposing to revise the dietaries, the Board will be happy to furnish them with copies. The security of the inmates in case of fire is a matter which, Escape in whilst it applies with special force to the sick and helpless, should case of fire> receive the careful consideration of the Guardians as regards all inmates of the establishment, and the Guardians should satisfy themselves that adequate means of escape from all wards are available, and that the means are ready to hand of extinguishing any fire at its first outbreak. The Board must impress upon the Guardians the grave Appoint- responsibility which rests upon them as regards the selection of the officers employed in workhouses. They cannot do better than refer to the letter of the Poor Law Commissioners of February 5th, 1842, in which they said : " The Commissioners " are satisfied that good temper joined to firmness and self-com- "mand will enable a skilful teacher to manage children with " little or no corporal punishment. The frequent use of corporal "correction is the common resource of teachers who, through " idleness or other defect, are incompetent to acquire command " over children by a knowledge of their characters and by gentle "means The observations made above with reference to " the management of children are equally applicable to the treat - " ment of adults. Warmth of temper and passionate conduct " generally betray a consciousness of want of firmness. The " discipline of a workhouse has to be maintained by an undevi- " ating adherence to rules and a steadiness which defies provo- " cation while it deliberately enforces obedience to orders by "legal and authorised means. The Master of a workhouse is " answerable for the general order of the whole establishment, " and minute personal attention on his part can alone detect and " remedy defects in the discipline and cleanliness of the house. " The temper and discretion required for the discharge of his " duties and the confidence necessarily placed in his integrity " make it essential that the greatest care should be exercised in " the choice of that officer. The Master, too, is in some degree 11 dependent on the aid afforded him by the other officers of the 11 establishment .... and as want of harmony between the 350 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR 41 principal officers of the establishment cannot fail to impair " their efficiency and disturb the general discipline of the house, " the Commissioners are desirous of inculcating the necessity of " the utmost forbearance and command of temper in their mutual 11 relations." In conclusion, the Board desire to point out that all experience shows that whether a workhouse is well or ill administered de- pends to a large extent upon the personal interest which the Guardians take in the matter. The work is often arduous, and the constant attention to small details which is absolutely neces- sary for efficient administration may impose a heavy tax on the time and patience of the Guardians; but the Board feel sure that they may rely on those who take upon themselves the office of Guardian discharging their duties with a due sense of the responsibility which the position involves. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, HUGH OWEN, Secretary, APPENDIX III NURSING IN WORKHOUSES AND WORKHOUSE INFIRMARIES FROM the evidence taken before the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor it appears that a large proportion of the aged inmates of workhouses are suffering from chronic infirmity, which renders them more or less dependent upon nursing. It is evident there- fore that the adequacy and efficiency of the nursing staff is a question of the first importance in considering the conditions of aged indoor paupers, and it is much to be regretted that so very little evidence was taken by the Commission on this subject. The general results of the inquiries which were made with regard to it are briefly stated in the Report, as follows: "Medical " attendance and nursing are provided for the sick and infirm, " and the sick in London and most large towns are treated in 11 separate establishments called infirmaries, to the general excel- 11 lence of which we have had much testimony. In London 11 these infirmaries take in more inmates than even the large "general hospitals, and are recognised as affording the best pro- " vision for chronic cases of sickness. The nurses are generally " trained, and we have been told that, although in small country " workhouses paupers are in too many cases still employed, 11 ' a very strong effort has been made to put an end to that " ' system, and to encourage the employment of trained nurses.' " The optimistic tone of this paragraph leads one to believe that the Commissioners can hardly have realised the very grave evil which still exists in some of the " small country workhouses" to which they refer. This evil was, however, brought into notice whilst they were still sitting by the revelations with regard to the Newton Abbot workhouse, and the investigation into the conditions of the sick poor in several small provincial work- 352 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR houses in different parts of the country, carried out by the special Commissioner of the British Medical Journal, and reported in that paper during the summer and autumn of last year. In these articles, complaints of the insufficiency of the nursing staff, and especially of the absence of night attendance, occur again and again. Thus of one infirmary it is said that " the number of " nurses compares favourably with other infirmaries of the same "size; but, with the curious forgetfulness of the needs of the " sick which is doubtless due to inexperience in sick nursing, " there is no provision made for the night. These old people " may be well cared for by day, but at night the door is " shut, the lights are turned down, and helplessness, sickness, " old age, paralysis are left to each other's tender mercies for at "least one-third of the twenty-four hours."* And again in another workhouse, of which the account is generally favourable, the Commissioner " felt sorry to see that the nursing staff was " so inadequate to cope with these old and sick people; kindness " and thoughtful care they had, but it is quite beyond the power " of one nurse, however capable, to do all that could be done for " over seventy patients more or less ailing, more or less helpless ; " and though some of the inmates are able to help in the attend- " ance in the wards, still it is not nursing. At night there is no " one to wait on them, or to help them in their necessities, but " an inmate sleeping in the same ward. We have no reason to " think that they are not kind and helpful, but it is a makeshift " for skilled attention, and the night must be dreary and painful " to many a bedridden inmate in the dark silence of the ward." t These are the more favourable reports, however, where both the guardians and the workhouse officials seem to be anxious to provide for the comfort of the helpless inmates so far as they understand how to do so, or have the means to do it; but, unhappily, far worse pictures are drawn of other places visited. Thus, for instance, of one workhouse it is said, that " dreariness " and absence of the simplest comforts reigned throughout the 11 building ; no means of bathing, no lights amongst the sick at " night, no provision for attendance at night other than one sick " pauper could render to another, no cheerful rooms for use by " day when the aged are able to leave their beds, no gardens or " courts for them to sun themselves in." J Even in the large Metropolitan workhouses the nursing appears, in one case at any * British Medical Journal, 1894, vol. i. p. 1323. 1 Ibid., p. 1379. { Ibid-, p. 1429. APPENDIX III 353 rate, to fall very far short of the excellence ascribed to it by the Report of the Aged Poor Commission, if we may judge by the evidence of one witness before that Commission. Mr. Lansbury, a guardian of the Poplar Union, was asked, " Are you satisfied " with the nursing in the infirmary wards in your workhouse? " and replied, " No, sir, I am not The wards in the work- " house are very much understaffed; there are not enough " nurses, and we have to rely a very great deal very consider- ably on the inmates to assist in the work of nursing, and " attending to the aged and infirm and sick In the " workhouse I do not think we have a single trained nurse; in " the workhouse itself we have not a single trained nurse. We " have one middle-aged woman, who has been there, I think, " fifteen or twenty years, but who has never had any special " training as a nurse at all. Her duty is chiefly to look after the ' ' midwifery cases ; and then she has two wards for men and two " for women who are sick from other causes ; and she is assisted " not by any paid labour, but by pauper labour. Then we have " our infirm wards, where we have an attendant for, say, two " wards on the men's side, and a female attendant on the other. " Well, they are not especially trained as nurses at all ; they are " simply ordinary people, who come up in the ordinary way for " the position." " And the bulk of your old people would be in " those infirm wards which you have described, if they got ill or " anything of that sort ? " " Yes, they would The prin- " ciple that has guided the guardians is that all their sick people " should go to the sick asylum, and then, naturally, they have " made the barest provision at the workhouse. But, then, what " we are finding now is, that the asylum cannot accommodate " these old people especially, and that we are bound to deal with " them in the workhouse. Well, up to the present they have " not dealt with it, as I think, in a satisfactory manner. I think " we should have trained nurses, and that we should not have " pauper nurses at all. I have been down at night, and found " people lying with all kinds of ailments, with no one to look after " them but an old man who has been nodding asleep, and on one " occasion people were wanting, not food, but they were wanting " water and things. One special case, a colleague visited a ward ; " a man was lying there suffering from pleurisy, and it seemed " to me there was no one there to attend to that man at all, no " one only this man who was sitting just asleep, and the patient 11 needed poulticing and generally looking after." " With regard 23 354 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR " to the sick asylum shared by Poplar and Stepney, have you "been to visit it?" "Yes." "Are you satisfied with the " asylum ? " " No, not by a long way The sick asylum 4 ' is understaffed, from the porter at the gate to the doctor. The "doctor has very much too much to do: the porter has too 1 ' much ; and everybody between those two has very much more " work than they are able to perform ; and the result is that the ' ' paupers have to help and are nearly disgusted ; or rather, they " get sick of having to work in there, and they come out, because " what they feel is that they may just as well come out and go " to work and earn their wages. They come out before they " are properly well, and over and over again we have to give "'repeat' orders to take them back again, because they have "come out too soon." These facts serve to give point to the recommendations with regard to the nursing of the sick and infirm contained in the recent circular issued by the Local Government Board, which I have printed in full as Appendix II. ; and it would have been very desirable that more stress should have been laid upon them in the Report of the Aged Poor Com- mission. I may, however, quote here a letter published in the Times of October 15, 1894, from Miss Louisa Twining, who was the first person to call attention to the need of reform in this branch of workhouse administration many years ago. Speaking of a reform " which can at once be adopted and brought into " practice, even with our present arrangements viz., the care " and attendance of the aged and infirm," Miss Twining says : " Those who are acquainted with the systems of other countries, " where this care is given by bodies of trained women in sister- " hoods, as in France and Belgium, and by the Protestant " deaconesses in Germany, numbering their thousands, may well " be inclined to envy such methods and organisations, with " their tender, loving ministry to the helpless and infirm. We " can only suggest a distant approach to such plans ; but some- " thing, at least, can be done to remedy, or to do away with, " the system of employing paupers for the care of these classes. " This is the crying evil which we are now endeavouring to " remedy, and as the abolition of this practice has been effected 11 throughout the infirmaries of the Metropolitan district, why " should it not also disappear from the wards of our workhouses "as well? The almost total absence of able-bodied persons is " now a universal fact, most hopeful from one point of view, but " involving serious difficulties in management, the few who are APPENDIX III 355 1 capable of any kind of labour being insufficient even for the 'rough needs of these institutions. Paid labour has to be 1 increasingly employed for laundry and all other kinds of work, 1 leaving thus for the posts of ' wardsmen and wardswomen ' 1 only the weaker and more incapable of the inmates, who in 1 many cases require care themselves ; amongst these are the 1 feeble-minded, semi-imbecile, and epileptic, and I may say that ' all are either mentally, morally, or physically afflicted. Only 1 those who are admitted behind the scenes can realise the 1 tyranny, too often the cruelty and injury, exercised by these 1 persons on those who are thus placed under their control. 1 Facts in abundance could be given in proof of this, and such 1 may be found in the reports I have just alluded to. The num- 1 ber of nurses is almost everywhere so inadequate that any supervision they may be able to give is merely nominal, and, ' as we may well believe, fear of the consequences of making complaints deters the victims from speaking of them. In con- clusion, I desire to tell of at least one remedy which is now being tried for a state of things unbefitting a country abounding in philanthropy, yet, for want of thought, acquiesced in by ignorance and indifference. A voluntary society has for the last fifteen years been endeavouring to supply the demand for thoroughly trained and efficient nurses for our State hospitals. Another similar society is now occupied in training attendants for the aged poor, for epileptics, imbeciles, and infants, who, after a probation in special institutions, will be sent out to the workhouses where they can be employed. The Countess of Meath, who has founded this association, has already written of it in these columns, and I would now say that we are prepared to send such attendants on application to the hon. secretary, Miss Lee, 20 Bryanston Street, W. Some, having already completed their training, are ready to take posts. Surely there is room for them in almost every workhouse throughout the country, and may we not hope that the forthcoming elections on boards of guardians will provide, in large numbers, enlightened and humane men and women, who (in words which I will repeat from my former letter in 1858) ' will take part not only in 1 wisely and economically administering the vast funds of our 1 Poor Law machinery, but also in providing such care for the 1 bodies and souls of the helpless and destitute as may prevent ' it ever being said of us, as once of a people of old, that we ' were a shameless nation, who neither reverenced old men nor ' pitied child ' ? " APPENDIX IV SHEFFIELD UNION SCHEME FOR CLASSIFICATION ABSTRACT OF THE FIRST REPORT OF THE CLASSIFICATION COMMITTEE, appointed May 4, 1892, to consider and report upon the desirability and advisability of Classi- fying the recipients of relief, with a view to the better treatment of those who are of good character. (ADOPTED BY THE BOARD, JANUARY 25, 1893.) The Committee first inquired if any Classification, other than that required by the Local Government Board, existed in this country (England and Wales), and found there was not. It is therefore left for the Sheffield Board of Guardians to make a precedent, and to be the pioneers of the principle that the deserving should be treated better than the undeserving, The following are the orders at present in existence as to Classification by the Local Government Board. CLASSIFICATION OF PAUPERS. ARTICLE 98 The paupers, so far as the Workhouse admits thereof, shall be classed as follows : Class i. Men infirm through age or any other cause. ,, 2. Able-bodied men, and youths above the age of fifteen years. 3. Boys above the age of seven years and under that of fifteen. M 4. Women infirm through age or any other cause. ,, 5. Able-bodied women, and girls above the age of fifteen. >( 6. Girls above the age of seven years and under that of fifteen. ,, 7. Children under seven years of age. APPENDIX IV 357 To each class shall be assigned that ward or separate building and yard which may be best fitted for the reception of such class, and each class of paupers shall remain therein, without communication with those of any other class. ARTICLE 99. Provided. Secondly. The Guardians shall, so far as circumstances will permit, further subdivide any of the classes enumerated in Article 98, with reference to the moral character, or behaviour, or the previous habits of the inmates, or to such other grounds as may seem expedient. The Master of the Workhouse prepared lists of all the inmates, 1 6 years of age and upwards, who were not incapable from mental or bodily infirmity. Each list had 29 columns, and each inmate was asked the question at the head of the column as below, and their answers filled in. i. Number on list. 2. Room or ward. 3. Date of admission. 4. Name. 5. Age. 6. By whose order admitted. 7. Last place of residence. 8. Married, single, &c. 9. If widow or widower, how long ? 10. Number of children raised to 12 years of age. n. Trade or calling. 12. Earnings when fully em- ployed. 13. If ever in a club? If so, what ? 14. Why not in benefit now ? 15. If a pension, how much per day ? 16. Residence in Sheffield Union without relief. 17. Residence since previ- ously receiving relief. 1 8. If ever received out-relief. I9 ._ When? 20. How much per week ? 21. Why discontinued ? 22. If ordinarily able-bodied. 23. Description of disability. 24. If ever convicted of crime or drunkenness. 25. If so, when or what for ? 26. Why in workhouse now ? Remarks respecting character and conduct. 27. Workhouse Master. 28. Relieving Officer. 29. Classification. The answers to the questions appear generally to be truthful. The lists were gone over by the respective Relieving Officers in whose district the inmate previously resided, and the column set apart for their remarks filled in, which do not materially alter the Workhouse Master's remarks as to the character of the individual. The following analysis of the lists has been pre- pared by the Chairman of the Committee : 358 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR CLASSIFICATION. Total i 2 3 Males, 60 years of age and upwards Females do. do. Males, 1 6 and under 60 . Females do. Married couples, 60 and over Females under 60, who have had illegitimate children, also those who are now pregnant . Total . Out of every 55 there would be about ..... Or, roughly speaking, a propor- tion of 206 76 135 93 14 15 34 5 C 10 16 3 16 . . 71 8 44 44 4 10 70 28 Si 33 5 540 . 51 . 85 . 181 . 223 *I4 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 554 53 88 . 185 . 228 . 5 . 9 . 18 . 23 .1.2. 4 . 5 We consider that an average of about one-half of those inmates who are 16 years of age and upwards, who are not mentally or bodily infirm, are of such a character as not to be deserving of other than the barest necessities, and whose life in the Workhouse should not be made more attractive than what the lowest paid labour outside could procure ; therefore to treat the other half who are more or less deserving in the same way as these ought to be treated, is unjust ; and, on the other hand, it would be a mistake to raise the standard of comfort and make the Work- house still more attractive to the undeserving. Therefore we consider that it is desirable and advisable to treat the deserving better than the undeserving, and we are con- vinced that the knowledge of the fact that a person of good character will be treated better than one whose character is bad, will have a salutary effect. Even classification in wards alone without any other difference would be a great advance on the present promiscuous arrangement. We recommend that the present standard of treatment adopted for the third class in the new system. APPENDIX IV 359 In the case of mothers with infants under two years, the children to remain in the Mothers' Ward, and not in one common nursery as at present. When the number in one class is more than one dormitory will contain, a further or sub-classification may be applicable ; or if the number is considerably less than the dormitory will accommodate, the room may be divided, one end of it for the dormitory and the other end for the day room. It is probable that the small number eligible for the first and second class to be found in the Workhouse at present will be increased when it is made more endurable. This would be no reason why justice should not be done to the deserving, but it would prove that there are people who would suffer any hard- ship rather than be compelled to associate with the class who form such a large portion of the present inmates. The depraved do not dread the Workhouse ; it is only those who are self-respect- ing and who have done their best to keep out of it that dread it. The first class should be kept select, and it would be advisable to keep the accommodation rather below than above the number eligible for admission. FIRST CLASS. For the accommodation of the first class we recommend that 24 rooms be provided by building a three-sided quadrangle of that number one storey in height on the left-hand side of the road from the lodge to the main building, in the centre a residence for the attendants, also bathrooms and w.c.'s, and stores for coal easily accessible to the inmates. The rooms should be about n ft. by 14 ft. with small fire range and sink. In each room should be one double or two single beds, 2 arm and 2 rocking chairs, i table, also cupboards and drawers to hold clothing and the necessary household utensils, such as teapot, cups, saucers, kettle, saucepans, &c., and every way made as homelike as possible, with pictures, plants, &c. The inmates should be allowed to retain any pet animal or object to which they had become attached, and which would be a comfort to them, but not to be an annoyance to others. They should be encouraged to cultivate a small garden, with flowers and vegetables for their own use. The rations should be served out to each in bulk as much as possible, and they should be encouraged to prepare their own 360 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR food, the dietary should be varied, but not to cause unnecessary trouble, and cheap delicacies should be occasionally allowed. The rations might be served out to the nurse uncooked as far as possible, and cooking apparatus should be provided for the attendant to cook the rations of those who cannot do it them- selves. An allowance of tobacco or snuff to be allowed to those who have been accustomed to take them. The clothing should be warm and suitable for each case, not uniform. They should be allowed to retain the clothing (after fumigation) in which they enter, under their own charge. They should be allowed the fullest freedom within the necessary limits of reasonable discipline. The nurse or attendant must look well after them and see that the feeble are not neglected, until it becomes necessary to remove them to the hospital for better treatment. For the purpose of being a help and company to each other, we recommend that there should be two selected for the purpose in each room. SECOND CLASS. Owing to the number of dormitories on the male side of the main block being occupied at present by sick cases, and in view of the proposed removal of the children from the school block, we are unable at the present time to satisfactorily arrange the accommodation for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th class until the school buildings are available to relieve the crowded state of the main block ; but in the meantime, and as far as practicable, we suggest that the front of the main block should be used for the better classes and the back for the inferior. As the second class will be of good character and very little inferior to the first class, we recommend that the regulations referring to the first class shall generally, as far as applicable, be enjoyed by the second class, except as to leave of absence, accommodation, cooking, and meals. The clothing to be superior to the third class, and suitable clothing to be provided for them when they go out on pass. The furniture in the day-room should be armchairs (and for the females some rocking-chairs), with tables and requirements for meals. Each room to prepare tea for itself, and all meals should be taken in the day-room. Cooked rations in bulk for each room should be served and divided by certain members of APPENDIX IV S6l their own class, to be selected for this purpose, and to assist the nurse or wardsman in charge. THIRD CLASS. This class is to have the treatment at present in force, except that meals should be taken in the day-room. FOURTH CLASS. This class should be second, and come after the third class in every way that a distinction can be made, such as forms instead of chairs, older and patched clothing ; the new things to be first used by the third class and passed to the fourth class as required. REASONS WHICH HAVE PREVENTED THE CARRYING OUT OF THE PROPOSED CLASSI- FICATION. The Board adopted on the igth of April 1893, plans prepared by the architect for twenty-four one-roomed cottages for the accommodation of the A Class. They were forwarded to the Local Government Board for their sanction to their being built, and on the igih of November 1893 we received an intimation that they declined to give consent or to entertain the subject until the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor issued their report. The Committee, however, did not press the matter for the following reasons: The scheme of Children's Homes was adopted by the Board, which occupied much of the time and attention of the members in carrying out, and the scheme of Classification could not be effectually put into operation owing to the crowded state of the House, and until the room occupied by the children was available by their removal to the new Homes. Although the children have now been removed, all available accommodation is required for the unprecedented influx of adult cases. 362 PROBLEM OF THE AGED POOR The Board, at their Meeting on the 6th day of February, 1895, adopted the following : CONDITIONS, RULES, AND REGULATIONS FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE RECIPIENTS OF POOR LAW RELIEF. CLASS A. Shall be over 60 years of age and unable to maintain them- selves. Must also have resided in the Sheffield Union for a period of not less than twenty years, immediately before apply- ing for relief, and not having applied for or had relief during that time, whose character will bear the strictest investigation, and through no fault of their own are, and have been, unable to provide for old age in the same period of time. CLASS B. (1) Those over sixty years of age with the same conditions as in Class A, except that instead of twenty years the qualify- ing period shall be twelve years. (2) Those of any age over sixteen, who, from no fault of their own, are temporarily or permanently infirm, and whose character is very good, and have done their best to pro- vide for sickness, and have resided in the Sheffield Union for a period of twelve years, without having had or applied for relief immediately before applying for relief on this occasion. (3) Widows with children and deserted wives with children, whose desertion is from no fault of their own, whose character is very good, and who have from no fault of their own been unable to make provision for destitution, but must have resided in the Sheffield Union for a period of twelve years immediately before this application, with- out having had or applied for relief during that time. CLASS C. Those of any age over 16, who have resided in the Sheffield Union for a period of not less than 3 years immediately before applying for relief on this occasion, without having applied, or had relief, during that period, whose character is good, and APPENDIX IV 363 satisfactory reasons can be given for their inability to provide for themselves. CLASS D. This Class includes all those not eligible for a higher Class. The District Relief Committee, in signing Orders for relief, are to decide, and enter into the classification column the class in which the recipient shall be placed, unless the Relieving Officer has been unable to obtain sufficient satisfactory evidence as to the required conditions to enable a decision to be come to, in which case the class entered must be lower than what, probably on further evidence, the recipient may be entitled to be entered. The recipients of all Workhouse Orders, given other than by order of the Guardians, as above, shall be placed in the D Class, unless the person giving the Order feels thoroughly convinced that the Guardians will, on hearing the evidence, enter the recipient in a higher class, in which case the Order may be for such higher class. All entries in the A Class shall be confirmed by the General Out-Relief Committee before any appointment or payment be made, according to that class, and until such confirmation the recipient shall be treated as if the Order had been made for the B Class. The class in which any recipient is placed may be changed by the Committee, who would make the Order, if it were a new application, according to conduct, or further information as to character, which may have been obtained. Special cases which, in the opinion of the District Relief Committee, are worthy, from exceptional circumstances, of being placed in a higher class than entitled to under the above conditions, may be referred to the General Out-Relief Com- mittee, with the District Relief Committee's recommendation, for confirmation or otherwise. INDEX N.B. The References are to Paragraphs ACLAND, Mr. A. H. D., i, 4 Actuarial Position of Friendly Societies. (see FRIENDLY SOCIETIES) Administration, Principles of Poor Law, 9, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, 60, 80, 83, 102, 103, 104 Affiliated Orders, 50, 92 " Aged Poor in England and Wales : Conditions," 2, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57. 58, 59. 60, 61, 62, 63, 87, 95, 104, 107 Agricultural Labourers' Wages (see WAGES) Allen, Mr. Henry, n, 23, 34, 38, 40, 47, 65 Allen, Mr. J. H., n, 64 Allotments, 13, 14 Almshouses for the Aged, 41, 42, 47, 61, 73, 75 Annuities, 13, 49, 50, 52, 64, 65, 66, 77, 92, 96, 97 Areas for Relief and Rating, 39, 40 Aschrott, Dr., 46^, 102, 103, 104 Ashby Friendly Society, 50 Aylsham Poor Law Union, 38 B BALLANTINE, Major, n, 42 Bartley, Mr. G. C. T., M.P., n, 14, 33, 35, 50, 52, 64, 72 Basis on which Poor Law Relief is given, 21, 22, 23, 43, 100, 101, 102, 103 Beavan, Mr. F. J., 15, 37, 41, 64, 75 Benefit Societies (see FRIENDLY SOCIETIES) 366 INDEX Berkshire Friendly Society, 92 Bethnal Green Poor Law Union, 27 Birkenhead Poor Law Union, 17, 37 Birmingham Poor Law Union, 8, n, 16, 17, 19, 22, 30, 34, 38, 43. 45. 5 Blackley, Rev. Canon, 6, 9, 33, 50, 64, 66, 67, 68, 70, 99 Booth, Mr. Charles, i, 2, 4, 6, 9, n, 16, 33, 35, 38, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57. 5 8 . 59. 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 69, 70, 86, 87, 89, 95, 104, 107 Brabazon Scheme, 42, 103 Brabrook, Mr. E. W., 50, 52, 66, 92, 94, 96 Bradfield Poor Law Union, gn, 14, 25, 32, 33, 35, 70 Brighton Poor Law Union, 18, 32, 43 Bristol Poor Law Union, 18, 43 Brix worth Out-door Relief Association, 34 Brixworth Poor Law Union, 8, 9, n, 13, 14, 17, 22, 25, 31, 33, 34- 35- 37- 43. 47. 4 8 > 5 Broadhurst, Mr. Henry, M.P., 8gn. Brooks, Mr. Graham, 82, 84 Bromsgrove Poor Law Union, n, 13, 15, 34 Building Societies, 50, 92, 94 Burial Clubs, 50 Burton, Mr. James, 23, 37, 42, 50, 69 Bury, Rev. Canon, n, 13, 14, 17, 22, 31, 35, 37, 39, 40, 43, 46, 50, 52, 64 CALLEAR, Mr. James, 5, 15, 34, 65 Cardiff Poor Law Union, 15, 18, 42, 50 Cardin, Mr. J. J., 52, 77 Carnarvon Poor Law Union, 15, 37, 45, 50 Carpenters and Joiners, Amalgamated Society of, 51 Casual Labourers (see IRREGULAR EMPLOYMENT) Catshill (Bromsgrove) Friendly Society, 50 Chairman of Aged Poor Commission, 5, n, 38 Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. J., M.P., 4, 5, 6, 9, 13, 16, 19, 33, 35, 45, 50, 64, 65, 66, 70, 78, 98, 99 Chance, Mr. W., 92 Charity Commissioners, 47, 108 Charity, Co-operation of, with Poor Law, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 29. 3. 3L 32, 33. 34. 35. 43. 47. 74- 107, 108 Charity, Endowed, 31, 47, 61, 107, 108 INDEX 367 Charity Organisation Societies, 47, 64, 74, 105, 107, 108 London, 22, 26, 27, 29, 35 Birmingham, 30 Oxford, 22, 30 Charity, Private, n, 26, 30, 31, 47, 48, 61, 107, 108 Chichester Poor Law Union, 45 Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies, c. (sec BKAHROOK, Mr. E. W.) Chippenham Poor Law Union, 32 City of London Poor Law Union, 103/1 Classification of Poor Law Unions, 59, 60 Classification of Workhouse Inmates, 39, 41, 42, 103 ; Appendices II. and IV. Clifford, Miss, 18, 43 Clothing in Workhouses (see WORKHOUSES, DRESS OF AGED IN) Coachmakers, United Kingdom Society of, 93 Compulsory Insurance Schemes, 64, 67, 76, 78, 81, 82, 99 Contributory Pension Schemes, 64, 65, 66, 67, 76, 78, 81, 82, 99 Co-operation of Charity and Poor Law (see CHARITY, CO- OPERATION OF) Co-operative Societies, 31, 92, 94 Coopers, London Philanthropic Society of, 93 Cost of Living, 13, 15, 38, 91 County Areas for Indoor Relief (see AREAS FOR RELIEF) " County " Societies, 50 Coventry, 16 Cox, Mr. J., ii, 45, 50, 70 Crompton, Mr. F., 17, 23, 37, 76 D DANISH Old Age Pension System, 84, 85, 100, 101, 107 Danish Poor Law System, 83 Davies, Mr. J., 13, 34, 35, 38, 40, 46, 50 Davy, Mr. J. S., n, 25, 37, 39, 40, 42, 43, 45, 64, 80, 103 Deferred Annuities (see ANNUITIES) Destitution as Test for Poor Law Relief (see BASIS ON WHICH RELIEF is GIVEN) Dietary of Aged in Workhouses (see WORKHOUSES, DIETARY OF AGED) Disley, Mr. William, 13, 23, 38, 40, 41, 65 Dividing Societies, 43, 50 368 INDEX Dole Charities, 31, 47, 108 Dolgelly Poor Law Union, 13, 34, 37, 40, 50 Dress of Aged in Workhouses (see WORKHOUSES, DRESS OF AGED) Drink, as Cause of Pauperism (see INTEMPERANCE) Drummond, Mr. C. J., 17, 51, 64 Dunmow Friendly Society, 13, 22, 50 EDUCATION, Effect on Pauperism, 23, 34, 35 Edwards, Mr. G., 13, 14, 18, 34, 35, 38, 40, 41, 45, 50, 76 Elberfeld System of Poor Relief, 80 Elcock, Mr. R., 8, 13, 14, 34, 35, 38, 40, 45, 46 Employment of Aged in Workhouses (see WORKHOUSES, EM- PLOYMENT OF AGED) Employers' Superannuation Funds (see SUPERANNUATION FUNDS) Endowed Charities. (see CHARITY, ENDOWED) " English Poor Law System," 46/1, 102, 103, 104 Erpingham Poor Law Union, 38 Ex-offici Guardians, 45 FATKIN, Mr. Thomas, 6, 50, 52, 77, 94, 97 Foresters, Ancient Order of, 13, 41, 43, 50, 66, 92 Fothergill, Mr. S., 8, 22, 30, 37, 43, 50, 64 Friendly Societies- Actuarial Position of, 43, 50, 51, 66, 73 Annuities from, 13, 50, 65, 92, 98 Benefits of, 50, 63, 92 Lapses from, 50, 65 Pensioners of (see PENSIONERS OF FRIENDLY SOCIETIES, &c.) State Supervision over, 65, 66, 98 Subscriptions to, 13, 14, 50 Unsound Friendly Societies, 18, 43, 50, 63, 92, 98 Women's Friendly Societies, 50, 92 Fuller, Mr. S. D. 9, 28, 38, 42, 45 INDEX 369 GARDINER, Mr. T. Gage, 22, 29, 42, 50 German Old Age and Invalidity Insurance, 81, 82, 99 German Poor Law System, 80 Good Shepherds' Friendly Society, 50 Grout, Mr. J. D., 17, 25, 64, 76 Guardians, 25, 27, 29, 30, 32, 38, 39, 40, 43, 45, 60, 74, 103, 104 Appendix II. H HAMBLIN, Mr. J., 18, 32, 43, 44, 64 Hampshire Friendly Society, 92 Hardy, Mr. R. Price, 15, 34, 50, 64, 71 Harshness of Officials complained of, 39, 106 Hart, Rev. Robert, 13, 14, 22, 50 Hearts of Oak Benefit Society, 50 Hedley, Mr. R., 9, n, 22, 25, 37, 40, 42, 50, 64, 103 Hill, Miss Octavia, n, 13, 14, 22, 29, 37, 40, 43, 45, 50, 52, 64, 66, 70, 74, 104 Hours of Rising, Meals, &c., in Workhouses (see WORKHOUSES, HOURS) Howell, Rev. Canon Hinds, 13, 34, 37, 41, 50, 64, 77 Hoxton, 25 Hurlston, Miss Amy, 16, 78 Hythe, 13 IMPROVIDENCE as Cause of Pauperism, n, 26, 58, 64, 87 Indoor Relief (see WORKHOUSES) Industrial Societies (see CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES) Infirmaries, 8, 9, 103 ; Appendices II. and III. Intemperance as Cause of Pauperism, n, 26, 58, 87 Investigation of Cases by Guardians (see GUARDIANS) Irregular Employment a Cause of Pauperism, 15, 87, 91 JEPHCOTT, Mr. A. R., 8, 15, 17, 23, 34, 45, 65 Juvenile Societies and Lodges, 50 370 INDEX K KlLVINGTON, 13 Knollys, Mr. W. E., u, 21, 25, 39, 42, 43, 45, 50, 105, 10 LABOUR, Reports of Royal Commission on, 80;?, 83;?, 91, 92, 93, 94, 98 Ladd, Mr. J. F., 13, 38 Lambeth Scheme for Aged Poor, 68 Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Relief Fund (see MIXERS' PERMANENT RELIEF FUNDS) Lang, Mr. C. D., 52, 77 Lansbury, Mr. George, 34, 40, 42, 44, 48, 76 ; Appendix III. Lapses from Friendly Societies (sec FRIENDLY SOCIETIES) Leave of absence from Workhouses (see WORKHOUSES, LEAVE OF ABSENCE) Leeds Permanent Benefit Building Society, 6, 50 Leeds Poor Law Union, 39 Little, Mr. W. C., 91, 92 Local Government Act, 1894, 45 n, 104 Local Government Board, Circulars and Powers, 39, 42, 43, 44, 102, 103, 104 ; Appendix II. Loch, Mr. C. S., 9;;, ign, 27;*, 50, 6ow, 86 Longley, Sir Henry, K.C.B., 27, 47, 108 Ludlow, Mr. J. M., 94, 98 M MACKAY, Mr. T., n, 27, 35, 40, 42, 43, 45, 50, 66, 70, 72 Manchester Poor Law Union, 9, 11, 19;?, 30, 42 Manley, Mr. Ralph, 66, 76 Married Couples in Workhouses, 41, 42, 59, 103; Appendix II. Marshall, Professor, 13, 17, 23, 33, 35. 40, 42, 43, 64, 74 Marylebone Poor Law Union, 29 Masters and Matrons of Workhouses, 39, 106 ; Appendix II. McDougall, Mr. A., 9, 11, ign, 30, 37, 42 McNeill, Mr. M., 13, 32, 37, 40 Medical Relief, 6, 7, 8, 34, 54, 86, 106 INDEX 371 Merit, as Test for Poor Law Relief (see BASIS ON_.WHICH RELIEF is GIVEN) Methuen, Major-General Lord, C.B., C.M.G., 13, 14, 18, 32, 37, 43. 5p. 4 Metropolitan Common Poor Fund, 40 Migration of Poor, 13, 18, 26, 30, 33, 34, 35 Miners' Permanent Relief Funds Northumberland and Durham, 17, 43, 50 Lancashire and Cheshire, 50 Monotony of Workhouse Life (see WORKHOUSES, MONOTONY OF LIFE IN) N NATIONAL Agricultural Labourers' Union, 13 National Penny Bank, 50 Nokes, Mr. Edwin, 13, 15, 34, 38, 50, 65 Non-resident Relief (see SETTLEMENT AND REMOVAL) Norfolk Labour Union, 13, 18 Northumberland and Durham Miners' Permanent Relief Fund (see MINERS' PERMANENT RELIEF FUNDS) Nursing of Infirm Paupers, 41, 103 ; Appendices II. and III. o ODD FELLOWS, Manchester Unity Independent Order of, 13, 14, 5. 65, 92 / Old Age as a Cause of Pauperism, d? 17, 19, 54, 55, 87, 89 Old Age Provident Pensions Bill, n, 72 "Old Age Pensions and Pauperism," gn, ign, 2.7*1 Outdoor Relief- Amount of, given, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 59, 60 Effect of, on Wages, 25, 33, 34, 35 Extension of, desired, 5, 23, 24, 33, 34, 35, 43, 45, 103 Restriction of, advocated, 24, 25. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 40, 43 Outdoor Relief (Friendly Societies) Act, 1894, 43". I0 3 Overseers, 104 Owen, Sir Hugh, K.C.B., 6, 21, 25, 37, 39, 42, 43, 44, 50 Oxford Incorporation, n, 22, 30, 50 372 INDEX PADDINGTON Poor Law Union, 6, 9, 28, 33, 45, 47 Paine, Dr. H. J., 15, 18, 42, 50, 64, 75 Parliamentary Committee's Pension Scheme, 65, 66 Parish Area for Outdoor Relief (see AREA FOR RELIEF) Parish Councils, 40, 41, 68 Penny Banks (see SAVINGS BANKS) Pensioners of Friendly Societies and Poor Relief, 23, 43, 103 Phelps, Rev. L. R., n, 22, 30, 35, 50, 64 Pickering, Mr. Frank, 76 Pitkin, Mr. Thomas, 13, 38, 41, 42, 50, 66 Poor Law Commissioners, 6, 18, 23, 24, 26, 34, 42, 43, 47 Poplar Poor Law Union, 34, 42 ; Appendix III. Post Office Annuities, 52, 97 Post Office Savings Banks (see SAVINGS BANKS) R RAILWAY Servants, Amalgamated Society of, 93 Railway Superannuation Funds (see SUPERANNUATION FUNDS) Rates, Manner of Payment of, 39, 40, 46 Rechabite Society, 13 Relatives, Assistance from, 36, 37, 38, 62, 103 Relieving Officers, 34, 105 Rents, 13, 14, 15, 25, 34,91 Restriction of Outdoor Relief (see OUTDOOR RELIEF) Returnable Annuities (see ANNUITIES) Return of Pauperism, Mr. Burt's, 6, 9, 53 Mr. Ritchie's, 6, 53, 86 ST. FAITH Poor Law Union, 13, 34, 37 St. George's-in-the-East Poor Law Union, n, 25, 27, 35, 47, 48 St. Neots Poor Law Union, 34 St. Pancras Poor Law Union, n, 64 St. Saviour's Poor Law Union, 22, 29, 42, 50 Savings Banks Post Office, 22, 52, 96 Others, 50, 94 INDEX 373 Scotland, Poor Law System in, 32, 37, 40 Settlement and Removal, Law of, 44, 103 Sheffield Poor Law Union, Appendix IV. Shipmasters and Officers, Union of, 93 Shoreditch Poor Law Union, n, 27, 50 Smith, Mr. J. H., 41, 50, 65 Spender, Mr. J. A., i, 4, 84, 85, 97, 98 " State and Pensions in Old Age," i, 4, 84, 97, 98 State Control of Friendly Societies (see FRIENDLY SOCIETIES) State Guarantee of Superannuation Funds (see SUPERANNUA- TION FUNDS) State Old Age Pension Schemes, i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 64,65, 66, 67, 68, 69. 70, 7 1 . 72, 73. 74. 75. 7^, 77. 78, 89, 99, 100, 101 Statistics of Pauperism, 6, 7, 8, 9, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 53, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 86 Stead, Mr. T. Ballan, 41, 43, 50, 66, 70 Steele, Mr. W., 17, 43, 50, 65 Stepney Poor Law Union, 627 Stevens, Mr. J. V., 17, 23, 34, 66 Stoke and Melford Friendly Society, 50 Superannuation Funds Employers' Funds, 107 Friendly Society Funds (see FRIENDLY SOCIETIES, ANNUI- TIES) State Subsidies to, 65, 66, 98 Trade Union Funds (see TRADE UNIONS, SUPERANNUATION FUNDS) Sutton, Mr. W., 50 Swanbourne, 13 TEA and Tobacco in Workhouses (see WORKHOUSES, TEA AND TOBACCO IN) Thomas, Mr. J. H., 15, 37, 45, 50, 64 Thrift, ii, 49, 50, 51, 52, 63, 67, 72, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 Tipton, 15 Tower Hamlets Pension Committee, 26, 27, 47 Trade Unions, Effect on Wages, 13, 91 Trade Unions, Superannuation Funds, 51, 93, 98 Twining, Miss Louisa, Appendix III. 374 INDEX U UNIVERSAL Pension Schemes, 69, 70, 76, 89 Unsound Friendly Societies (see FRIENDLY SOCIETIES) VALLANCE, Mr. W., 8, n, 26, 35, 42, 64 Visiting Committees, of Guardians, &c., 104 ; Appendix II, W WAGES Aged Labourers' Wages, 55 Agricultural Labourers' Wages, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 38, 87, 91 Artisans' and other Wages, 15, 91 Women's Wages, 13, 16, 55, 91 Walker, Mr. Z., 13, 14, 34, 35, 38, 45, 46, 50 Ward, Mr. Sidney, 34, 48 Watson, Mr. R., 14, 50 Webb, Mr. William, n, 13, 34, 65 West Birmingham Relief Fund, 47 West Derby Poor Law Union, 42, 103 West Ham Poor Law Union, 26 Whitechapel Poor Law Union, 8, n, 25, 26, 27, 35, 47, 48, 64 Wilkinson, Rev. J. Frome, 13, 14, 17, 18, 23, 34, 40, 41, 50, 52, 64.73 Wiltshire Friendly Society, 13, 50 Wimborne and Cranborne Poor Law Union, 8, 34, 38, 45 Women as Guardians, 104 Women's Friendly Societies (see FRIENDLY SOCIETIES) Women's Wages (see WAGES) Workhouses Classification of Inmates (see CLASSIFICATION OF WORK- HOUSE INMATES) Dietary of Aged in, 42, 103 ; Appendix II. Dress of Aged in, 42, 103 ; Appendix II. ^ rr _ Employment of Aged in, 42, 103 Hours of Rising, of Meals, &c., 42, 103 ; Appendix II. Leave of absence from, 42, 103 ; Appendix II. INDEX 375 Workhouses (continued) Married Couples in (see MARRIED COUPLES) Monotony of life in, 42, 103 Nursing in (see NURSING OF INFIRM PAUPERS) Officials of (see MASTERS AND MATRONS) Tea and Tobacco in, 42, 103 Working-men Guardians, 45, 104 Y YORKSHIRE Penny Savings Bank, 50 Printed by LALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co. London and Edinburgh OTHER WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 1. THE CRIMINAL CODE OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE. With Prolegomena and Commentary. Chapman & Hall, 1885. 2. CYRIL : a Romantic Novel. " Upon these three columns chivalry, gallantry, and religion repose the fictions known as romances." HALLAM. W. H. Allen & Co. First Edition, Jan. 1889 ; Seventh Edition, June 1895. Prohibited in Russia, March 1889. 3. ETON AND THE EMPIRE. An Address Delivered at Eton College. R. Ingalton Drake. First Thousand, December 1890 ; Fifth Thousand, March 1892. 4. ETON AND THE LABOUR QUESTION. An Address Delivered at Eton College. R. Ingalton Drake. First Thousand, September 1894; Second Thousand, December 1894. 5. THE UNEMPLOYED. Maemillan & Co. July 1895. 6. FOREIGN REPORTS ISSUED BY THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR. Vol. I. The United States. Vol. II. The Colonies and the Indian Empire, with an Appendix on the Migration of Labour. Vol. III. Holland. Vol. IV. Belgium. Vol. V. Germany. Vol. VI. France. Vol. VII. Switzerland. Vol. VIII. Italy. Vol. IX. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Spain, and Portugal. Vol. X. Russia. Vol. XI. 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