CHARITIES. The history of charitable effort in England is more comprehensive and offers more of interest and value than that of any other country. Like other phases of English history, it treats of a continuous growth; it is in a measure a running commentary upon the changing social life. During the time when the manor was giv ing way to the parish, yet before the hand of the Church had become overshadowed by that of the State, the performance of the charitable func tion was largely a matter which concerned the Church, and almsgiving was looked upon as a religious duty. The parish became the most common unit of relief, but the monasteries which were scattered over the country also placed much stress on works of charity, and numerous hos pitals were established through the instrumen tality of the hospital orders, which for a time played a conspicuous part. The monasteries and the hospitals received large endowments, gener ally in land. These constituted a remunerative source of income. There was a lack of coor dination. The giving was indiscriminate; there was little regard to need or social consequences. When the towns grew up and the guilds became powerful, the changed conditions were reflected in the system of charity relief by the establish ment of institutions by the municipalities, or by the different guilds for the benefit of their mem bers. Indeed, the towns had acquired a consider able experience in dealing with the poor before the State took the problems in hand, and the policy of the State was largely borrowed from the municipalities. The breakdown of the feudal system and the transition from general agricul ture to sheep-farming had been characterized by migrations of the population and increased vagrancy.
All this the State vigorously though vainly at tempted to suppress. It was not until the Refor mation that the State began to deal with the general question of pauperism. By the destruc tion of monasteries the State had incurred the obligation of providing some means of relief in their stead. Moreover, in consequence of the change in religious thought, almsgiving was looked upon less and less as a duty,•and the mem bers of parishes did not contribute so liberally. Ac cordingly, during the reigns of Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth a general State policy in dealing with the question was rapidly developed. The process of transformation from Church to State was a gradual one. The parish continued to be the unit of Church collections, and the State and Church officers cooperated in its admin istration. Church collections of alms passed into quasi-voluntary contributions, and then, as ad ditional steps were taken to enforce collection, it became a regularly assessed local poor rate. A
compulsory rate was definitely fixed by an act of 1601. This act established the foundation principles of the poor-law policy. These prin ciples, though subsequently expanded and supple mented, are still recognized. Children were to be provided for through apprenticeship. A dis tinction was made between adults who were able to work and those who were not, relief being extended to the latter, while the former were forced to work. In practice the system operated very unevenly in different parishes, since the lack of centralization in the system, and the want of adequate guaranties for proper administration, enabled the local authorities to act arbitrarily ofttimes unwisely and not infrequently to their own selfish interests.
In 1610 an act was passed looking to the estab lishment of Houses of Correction in every county, but these were not intended as disciplinary in stitutions. The continued migration of vagrants led to the creation in 1662 of a law of settlement which was sadly out of harmony with the chang ing conditions of the times, and proved a heavy burden upon the industrial and social life of the country. According to this law settlement could be acquired in forty days, but the individual could be removed during that time if it was con sidered that he was likely to become needy. In consequence of the enforcement of this act, it often happened that one parish would be per manently afflicted with paupers. Even the wor thy were unable to settle in a neighboring parish, which perhaps was almost equally unfortunate because of the lack of laborers to perform the work required. The resulting social condition has been aptly termed a system of statutory serfdom. In 1723 a law was passed making pos sible the general establishment of workhouses and the application of the important principle that these might be used as a test of need, and relief outside of the workhouses might be refused to the able-bodied. This improved conditions for a time, but the law was allowed to fall into disuse. Dur ing the industrial revolution about the end of the eighteenth century there were naturally many persons who did not conform with the changing conditions, and the pauper element rapidly in creased. Moreover, the development of a greater humanitarian sentiment gave rise to a profligate generosity which was reflected in the poor-law legislation of the period.