Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-11
RELIEF by WORK IN FRANCE.
BegEary Reduced and the UnfOrtunat
Helped by simple Methods.

begEary Reduced and the Unfortunate
Helped by simple Methods.
From the Charities Review
Assistance by work in France is not an
innovation due to the initiative of private
individuals. From the most remote period
or our history 1t has been practiced by the
state towards mendicants The National
Assembly and the convention, thinking
that labor is the only means by which wise
and enlightened nations can relieve poy-
erty," distributed considerable sums of
MOI ~ among the departments to be ex-
pended In drainage, the clearing of land,
the digging OF canals, &c. 1t would seem
as II such measures ought to have exer-
clsed a salutary influence upon vagrancy
ana mendacity, and Yet their failure was
complete. II we study the poor as a whole
We are soon convinced that the best argu-
ment In favor of work Is that the profess
ional beggar breads 1t most. Private act
Ion makes use of this very repulsion to I'M
mask impostures and aid the truly unfortu-
nate.
In 1880 Monsieur the Pastor Robin found
ed at Belleville. the most populous quarter
OF Paris. the Maison Hospitaliere. Here We
find the work ticket which is in use in
nearly all French institutions. A work
TICKET from one cent to fifty cents, torn
from q sort of coupon book. permits the
supporters to send the poor and unemploy-
ed to this institution, who here find "a kind
reception. cordial and comforting 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 employee at making small fag-
OTIS called ''margotins." They are not paid
In money, but in this way they meet their
daily expenses, and. IL they are skillful,
can lay by sum against the tim of leav-
ing. They are required to make fifty mar
gotins day to pay for two meals a day
and their lodging. All that they make
above this number goes to their credit
The object which Pastor Robin has pur-
sued for thirteen years to provide the work.
ingman with an outfit of tools and to make
him the beneficiary of his own labor.
Charles Robin said of the Maison Hospi-
taliere: THE work Is beautiful and the
idea which it realizes is a grand one"
The gift of a considerable sum enabled an
Institution known as the Central Office for
Charitable Work to construct in 1891 some
buildings designed to receive the unem-
ployed. 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
overseers, and make common furniture,
tables, wardrobes, sideboards, which is sold
at 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 receive a portion in cash in the morn
ing for their food. which is supplied by the
establishment, and also a lodging ticket,
which entities them to a lodging out of the
house.
A reserve is made from their wages
which goes toward defraying their expenses
when they are looking for permanent
employment. They are allowed two days a
week for this purpose. The central office
has established a regular bureau of infor-
nation. through which 1t obtains knowl-
edge of the shops where there are vacant
places. These institutions are in operation
all over Paris.