PAUPERISM 187 paupers to the whole number is about half way between that of Ireland and that of Scotland. In France, outdoor relief, or, as it is there more properly called, "aid to families" (se- cours d domicile), is the favorite form of pub- lic charity, and has been extended of late years to certain classes of the poor never before aid- ed in this way. For example, instead of sup- porting foundling children in hospitals, as for- merly, they are now put out to nurse in the country, or are left with their mothers (filles- m&res), who receive outdoor relief and nurse their own infants. On Jan. 1, 1861, out of 94,413 infants supported by the public, 44,176, or nearly half, were entered as foundlings, and only 14,228 as aided at home ; but on Jan. 1, 1871, of an almost equal number of infants (94,043), only 10,056 were classed as found- lings, while 30,894 were aided at home. More than nine tenths of the other infants who are received into hospitals, infirmaries, &c., are immediately boarded out in the country (in 1872, 59,623 out of 63,149), and the money paid for them is practically outdoor relief. This amounts to more than 7,500,000 francs in a year, besides 2,750,000 francs paid for in- fants with their mothers, &c. ; so that, of 10,- 750,696 francs paid in 1871 for these infants, all but about 500,000 francs went in the form of " aid to families " or outdoor relief. The great majority of adult paupers in France are also aided in the same way, by the local boards of relief (bureaux de bienfaisance). The 46 almshouses in France cost in 1872 less than 1,000,000 francs, and supported 5,470 persons; and the 12,867 boards of relief expended 26,719,000, and gave nominal aid to 1,347,386 persons. Many of these persons were un- doubtedly aided twice, thrice, or oftener, during the year, but the whole number of different persons aided was probably more than 1,000,000, including the infants above mentioned. In 1840, when France had a population of 34,- 100,000, against 36,102,000 in 1871, the num- ber of paupers aided by the bureaux was (nom- inally) 814,584, and the amount expended for them was 11,774,231 francs, or less than half what was paid in 1871. On Dec. 31, 1841, the number of paupers receiving outdoor relief in Paris was 62,705, and the amount expended in that city during the year for aid of this kind was 1,419,759 francs. Assuming that the average number during the year was 50,000, this would make the average cost of each per- son a little less than 30 francs. At this rate the average number receiving outdoor relief in France in 1841 would have been something above 400,000 persons; in 1871 it was prob- ably 750,000 persons. The average number of indoor paupers in France is hard to estimate from the official returns, but in 1871 it no doubt exceeded 150,000 persons. Thus there were more than 27,000 pauper lunatics, prob- ably more than 75,000 sick and infirm paupers in hospitals and infirmaries, and more than 40,000 neglected children. The practice in France is to give indoor (full) support only to the insane, the sick, the old and infirm, and helpless children ; but the number and yearly cost of these classes is very considerable, per- haps three fifths as great, in proportion to the population, as the number and cost of the in- door poor of all classes in Great Britain and Ireland. The cost of indoor support in France also is greater than that of outdoor relief, even after the changes of late years. The sys- tem of indoor and outdoor relief established throughout the portion of the Austrian empire mentioned above is very effective. The Ar- meninstituten deal with all forms of distress, and minister to it intelligently. In 1845 they numbered 5,165 ; in 1866, 6,678 ; and in the latter year they distributed 2,577,563 Austrian florins in outdoor relief. In the same year 1,115,155 florins were expended for found- ling children boarded out, making the total of outdoor relief 3,692,718 florins. The indoor maintenance reported for the same year was something more than 6,000,000 florins. In the kingdom of Prussia a little more than one third of the sum expended for the poor goes for in- door maintenance, and nearly two thirds for outdoor relief, but the cost of both kinds of relief is small compared with what is paid in France, England, and the United States. The number of indoor poor in Prussia averages less than 50,000, and has been reduced of late years by the practice of boarding out pauper children. In Norway the number fully sup- ported is about one third of the whole pub- lic poor, who increased greatly from 1851 to 1866, but have since diminished somewhat. In 1851 there were 62,788 paupers relieved in Norway, among a population of 1,409,254, at a cost of 564,772 specie dollars; in 1855, when the population exceeded 1,600,000, there were 64,089 public poor, of whom 23,- 809 were fully and 40,280 partially support- ed, at a total cost of 682,412 specie dollars. In 1866, when the population had increased to 1,701,756, the poor numbered 84,678, or one in 20 of the population, the cost being 1,086,- 891 specie dollars. It is not probable that the average number of the poor was more than 50,000, if so many. In Sweden, in 1865, with a population of 4,114,141, there were 55,187 paupers fully supported in the course of the year, and 92,601 partially in all, 147,788 pau- pers relieved, at a reported cost of about 3,857,- 000 rix dollars, or 960,000 specie dollars; but in 1870 the reported cost had gone up to 6,022,- 345 rix dollars, and was still below the truth. The whole number of the Swedish poor re- ported in 1870 was 158,436, of whom a little less than two fifths were fully supported for some part of the year. The number of alms* houses in Sweden is about 2,150, and the aver- age number of the poor cannot exceed 100,000. Italy, which is struggling toward a methodical system of dealing with its paupers (variously estimated at from 305,000 to 1,500,000 in a population of 27,000,000), furnishes no statis-
