The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1894-03-23
RELIEF BY WORK IN FRANCE
Beggary Reduced and the Unfortunate
Helped by simple Methods.

private individuals. From the most
remote period Of our history il has
been practiced by the state toward
mendicants. The national assembly
and the convention, thinking that la
Dor is the only means by which wise
and enlightened nations can relieve
poverty" distributed considera BILE
sums Of money among the departments
Co be expended in drainage, the clear
ing of land, the digging of canals, etc.
II would seem as IL such measures
ought TO have exercised a salutary in.
fluence upon vagrancy and men1icancy,
and yet their failure was complete. If
we study the poor as whole we are
soon convinced that the best argument
i'm favor of work is that the profession
al beggar breads it most Private ac-
ton makes use of this very repulsion
to unmask imposture and aid the truly
unfortunate In 1889 Monsieur the
Pastor Robin founded at Belleville, the
most populous quarter of Paris, the
Maison hosptaliere. Here we find the
work ticket which is in use in nearly
all French institutions A work ticket
Of from one cent to fifty cents, torn from
a sort of coupon book, permits the sup
porters TO send poor and unemployed
TO this institution, who here find
"a kind reception, cordial and com
forting words, food, shelter and place
in the workshops, or liberty TO go out
in the morning to look for work at
their own trades" Assisted persons
are employed at making small fagots
/ called "margotins They are not paid
! in money, but in this way they meet
their daily expenses, and if they are
skillful can lay by sum against the
/ time of leaving. They are required to
make fifty margotns day to pay for
two meals and their lodging All that
they make above this number goes to
their credit. The object which Pastor
Robin has pursued for thir cen years is
TO provide the workingman with an
outfit of tools and to make him the ben
! eficiary of his own abor. Charles Robin
said of the Maison hospitaliere: THE
work is beautiful and the idea which
1t realizes is a grand one.
The gift of considerable sum en-
abled an institution known as the Cen
trail Office for Charitable Works to con-
struct in 1891 some buildings designed
to receive the unemployed. The men,
coming from all parts of Paris, soured
by poverty and employed at work of
which they are generally ignorant, are
separated into groups of ten under
charge of overseers and make common
furniture, Ia bles, wardrob obes, side boards
which is sold at a low price in the large
stores of the capital There are about
seventy of these men, and they are
limited to twenty days. Their wages
are two francs day; of this they re-
ceive a portion i'm cash in the morning
for their food, which is supplied by the
establishment, and also lodging
ticket, which entities them to lodg-
| ing out of the house. reserve Is
made from their wages, which goes to-
wards defraying their expenses when
they are looking for permanent en-
ployment. They are allowed two days
a week for this purpose. The central
Office has established regular bureau
of information, through which it OBJ
tains knowledge of the shops where
! there are vacant places. These insti-
! tutions are in operation all over Paris,
and have, without question, an ameli-
Grating effect upon the unfortunate
| But their influence upon street beggars
is not so direct as that of the unions
d'assistance" ~ relief unions 80 whose
! sphere of activity is more restricted
These have made the profession of beg
| ging a truly difficult one by means of
/ the food ticket, which puts a stop to
indiscrminate charity and forces the
| beggar to present himself in a locality
where he is subjected to a summary
questioning which it is generally his
/ interest to avoid.
The municipal council of the city Of
! Paris has settled an agricultural coll
ony which is intended to find for work.
! ingmen, who have fallen into poverty,
definite occupation in rural labor
after their moral and material
restoration has been effected by
regular and suitable work. The dis
ciplinary measures are: U) Reproof,
! (2) Withholding wages to profit of fund
| for perquistes, (3) consignment to the
farm on Sunday (D expulsion. The
! labor consists in improving section
which has been neglected for years by
draining, cleaning and various kinds of
cultivation. The provinces have, in a
great measure, participated in the
movement of private beneficence which
resulted in the ONIONS d Assistance. "
The French conception of assistance
by labor presents certain peculiarities,
which reveal its spontaneous origin. A
few citizens in places widely separated
and without any appeal to the public
or TO the government and often with
very insufficient funds established their
institutions, having for their base the
temporary occupation of the unem.
ployed, which is freely offered and
freely accepted. No common rules
govern their action. When the public
authorities, completing the work al.
ready begun, shall cover the country
with institutions of emulation, of fore
sight and of shelter, which the large
cities alone now have, the city will nc
longer absorb the population OF the
country; the unemployed, who first be
come beggars and then dangerous Grim
iuals, will furnish agriculture with the
aids it now lacks and will cooperate in
national saving, instead of imposing
taxes, which are as burdensome as they
are useless. Charities Review.
THE trolley ear is a menace to hu
man life. Nonsense More BOYS and
men are killed off shooting than by