Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1909-01-01
AID BUT NOT CHARITY
How Switzerland Helps the Unemployed
Without Humiliatin8 Them. :: ::


The problem of the unemployed
has become a political issue and a
nightmare in most civilized countries.
How to reduce the grist OF paupers
turned out by the Industrial machine
In normal times and TO satisfy the
threatening army Of the jobless re-
cruited In seasons OF periodic depres-
sion is recognized to-day as one of
society's vital concerns. a Sphinx's
riddle which must be answered on
pain Of final consequences.
Switzerland is tackllng the uni
versal problem in a rather different
way from most nations. according to
Edith Sellers, In The Ninteenth Cen
tury. The crude methods of other
lands are not known In the little
mountain republic. which combines
ancient experience with lessons OF
latter day industrialism in dealing
with the unemployed.
Begging and vagrancy are crimes
In Switzerland, and in some cantons
the police receive a special fee for
every beggar or vagrant they arrest.
II a man is out of work there he must
try to find work. for II he does not
the authorities of the district where
he has a settlement will find IL for
him. and of kind. perhaps, not at all
to his taste-tiring and badly paid.
He cannot refuse to do It, for II he
does he may be packed of straight
to a penal workhouse, an institution
where military discipline prevails.
and where every inmate is made to
work to the full extent of his
strength. receiving in return board
and lodging, with wages Of from a
penny to threepence a day.
And when once he is there. there
he must stay until the authorities de-
cree that he shall depart. I.
No matter how long his sojourn lasts.
however, 1t does not cost the com
munity single penny. for in Switzer-
land these penal institutions are self
supporting.
In Switzerland" says the writer
In The Ninteenth Century, "there is
no CHASING of the unemployed by
casualty or misfortune with the nm
employed by laziness or misconduct:
no melting out to them of the same
measure. The man who Is
out OF work through his own fault.
and because he does not wish to be
In work, is treated as a criminal and
sent as a prisoner to a penal insti-
tuition, while the man who is out of
work in spite of his earnest endeayor
to be in work is helped without be-
ing subjected to any humiliation
whatever. 1t is much more easy
there however. than It is here, 1t
must be admitted, TO distinguish be-
tween employed and unemployed.
as there every workingman has his
papers, documents which are given
to him by the authorities of the dis
trict where he has his settlement. and
which contain full information as to
where and by whom he has been en-
ployed in the course of his life.
in most districts in Switzerland
there is special fund out of which
grants are made to respectable per-
sons who are temporarily in distress
owing to lack of employment, and
these grants entail neither the dis
grace nor yet the disabilities entailed
by poor relief. In most districts. too.
the authorities make it part of their
business to try to provide lucrative
work for persons who cannot pro-
vide 1t for themselves. They pay
them regular wages, but lower wages
than a private employer would pay
them for similar work, and sometimes
instead of paying them money they
pay them in kind.
Then reiief-in-kind stations
that is. casual wards organized on
philanthropie llnes-are now main
tanned in every part of industrial
Switzerland for the exclusive use of
the respectable unemployed, and
drunkards. criminals and loafers are