SOME EARLY HISTORY OF POOR RELIEF IN PARIS.[1]
A book has just appeared containing an account of the evolution of poor relief in Paris, which is of great interest to students. It is only brought up to 1850. "Later events are still too near to us to be judged impartially."
The history of poor relief in a city which has in a hundred years passed through four revolutions and has thrice been occupied by a foreign army, is necessarily somewhat abnormal. Still we can trace in it many features which are common to the question in almost all countries at all ages. We see economic laws, set at defiance, again asserting themselves and then again gradually losing their force. We see a constant struggle between antagonistic theories of poor relief and repeated attempts to carry out the creed of the droits de l'homme. We see these attempts as often defeated by the logic of circumstances and a return to the principle of voluntarism, which has in fact remained the underlying principle of French poor relief. The difficulties of the position have been intensified again and again by the misery caused by revolutions, sieges, and occupations, and consequent paralysis of trade and commerce. The study of the question has
- ↑ "Simples notes sur l'organisation des secours publics à Paris," par Albert Mauger, ancien archiviste de l'assistance publique. Paris:H. Didier.
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