the Poor in Bavaria. 313 



would only have served as an encouragement to idle- 

 ness. This evil, which is always much to be appre- 

 hended in establishments for the poor, and which is 

 always most fatal in its consequences, is effectually pre- 

 vented at Munich by the following simple arrangement : 

 A long and narrow slip of paper, upon which is printed, 

 between parallel lines, in two or more columns, all the 

 weeks in the year, or rather the month, and the day of 

 the month when each week begins, is, in the beginning 

 of every year, given to each poor person entitled to 

 receive alms; and the name of the person, with the 

 number his name bears in the general list of the poor, 

 the weekly sum granted to him, and the sum he is able 

 to earn weekly by labour, are entered in writing at the 

 head of this list of the weeks. This paper, which must 

 always be produced by the poor person as often as he 

 applies for his weekly allowance of alms, serves to show 

 whether he has or has not fulfilled the conditions upon 

 which the allowance was granted him ; that is to say, 

 whether he has been industrious, and has earned by his 

 labour, and received, the sum -he ought to earn weekly. 

 This fact is ascertained in the following manner : when 

 the poor person frequents the House of Industry regu- 

 larly, or when he works at home, and delivers regularly 

 at the end of every week the produce of the labour he 

 is expected to perform, when he has thus fulfilled the 

 conditions imposed on him, the column, or rather par- 

 allel, in his paper (which may be called his certificate of 

 industry), answering to the week in question, is marked 

 with a stamp, kept for that purpose at the Military Work- 

 house ; or, if he should be prevented by illness, or any 

 other accident, from fulfilling those conditions, in that 

 case, instead of the stamp, the week must be marked by 



