Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-04-04
HOW PARIS IS GOVERNED.
Hospitals and HOspiCes. from
Theaters, Balls. Etc.

- 9OSVhN ACAbCI W JIG AbM 10TH
Nation explanatory of the municipal
government Of Paris, says:
The service of tho public relief has
an endowment Of its own, a part of
which is derived from legacies ante
rior to the French revolution. 1t can
receive legacies with the permission of
the council of State. 1t can receive
donations. The special budget of this
service for 1873 amounts, in the ac-
counts of Paris, to the sum of $4,000
100. The resources of the service
amount to $3.50, 600, and among these
resources we find the droit sur les
pauyres, which is imposed on all
theaters, public balls, public concerts
(S55O,O0O), a duty on the profits of the
Mont. de- Piete $500, 000), one-ifth of
the product of the sale of land for
perpetual concessions in cemeteries
(S60,O00). There has always been a
great cutlery in the theatrical world
since | have known Paris, against the
tax on the receipts of theaters, balls
and concerts; a certain percent
age Of the gross receipts is
taken away from the directors
of the theaters, and when the
impressario fails, which is sometimes
the case, he naturally throws all the
fault on the city of Paris, which has
ruined him, etc. The theaters are
places of public amusement, and the
tax on them has always seemed to me
very natural and very just. Nobody
pities much an unlucky impressario,
and the 100000 which the theaters
pay to the hospitals every year are
very well employed. All the resources
which | have already mentioned leave
a deficit in the budget of public relief
amounting to $2,400, 900, which are
directly paid by the city of Paris, and
are included in the municipal tax.
W. make a distinction in our relief
service between hospitals and hos
pices; the hospices are asylums for
the old, the blind, the incurable. etc.
Paris has at present one hospital bed
for every 235 inhabitants, and II
hospice bed for every 23l inhabitants.
There are besides, many poor and sick
helped at home. and the tendency OF
the administration is to increase as
much as possible the home assistance.
The administration furnishes with
this view, $875,000, out of which
s684,0O0 are directly paid to the bu-
reaux dc Renaissance of the twenty
arrondissements.
These bureauX are very useful insti.
buttons 1t is always more agreeable 10
exercise charity directly, but direct
personal charity is liable 10 many
errors. The inhabitants of Paris, who
receive many calls for charity on ao.
count of their wealth, their position,
their generosity, are in the habit of
sending annually or monthly a certain
sum to the bureaux de Renaissance Of
their reimbursement. Some rich
bankers or merchants send every year
very large sums to the bureau when
they receive applications for money
they send the letters to the bureau.
which has confidential agents called
enQueteurs (inquest-makers) on whose
report the small sums are distributed
out of the fund kept at the bureau.
Each charitable person has in this
way q sort of acoount-book az the
bureau, and has all the ADVANTAGE of.
the long experience of the enqueteurs.
These agents of the administration
knew every street, every house, almost
every family in their district they
can very rapidly detect the differ
ence between real misery and false
misery; they can supply very useful
information. Some persons will al
ways prefer to give away directly, and
to make themselves the necessary in
quiries; but the agents Of the admin.
istretion are very discreet they never
reveal the secrets which they know
they have professional qualities which
render their services very acceptable
to many people, especially those who
are very busy. This private budget
Of the public relief mean the bud
get which arises from personal and
almost daily donations to the bureau
Of each arrondissement-doe not a.
uro in the accounts Of the city I'll
Paris. have reason to believe that
il is. extremely large; / only mention
it because, by a clever combination,
private charity has been allowed to
borrow all the machinery Of the publio
administration, 1t is to these bureaux
that N. de Marcore alluded when he
said that the money voted by the mu.
nioipal council could not be spent bvn
private and irresponsible committee,
but could only be paid out to the bu.
reaux of the administration.
l have told how the administration
dintnihntnn LII.