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Excerpt from Democracy and Social Progress in England
The fact that relief under the poor laws is needed, not only by those described by Dr. Zahn as the uninsured lower classes, but also by those who actually are receiving insurance benefits, cannot be attributed to the fact that poor relief carries with it less disgrace in Germany than elsewhere. Dr. Zahn explained in his Washington paper that the German poor laws provided that relief should be granted only in case of extreme want and only bare necessities shall be granted. The destitute person is merely a recipient of charity with no legal right nor any means of compelling the authorities to grant relief The eleemosynary character of poor relief imposes certain civil disabilities upon the recipient. Poverty is a disgrace. The disabilities concern chie¿y electoral rights in the Empire, in the State, in the commune, and in the Church. Other curtailments of civil rights affect the service as a juror, membership in the industrial and commercial courts, and, finally, the acquisition of settlement The basis for a grant of poor relief is proof of individual need and of the incapacity of the applicant to supply his essential wants. The destitute person must therefore submit to a searching inquiry into all his personal relations both economic and legal, however dis tasteful this inquiry may be.
How frequently the poorest workers find themselves outside the provisions of the social insurance laws and how important. The problem of the uninsured lower classes is to the German poor-relief authorities is indicated by Dr. Zahn's picture of the exasperated officials in what he calls the small poverty-stricken communes in rural districts because of the persistence of poor-relief charges in spite of the social insurance schemes.
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