From each armenbezirke must be elected one or more of the town deputies, or burghers, according to necessity, for the management of the affairs of the poor; and it is also required that at least one of those elected should be a member of the society for the poor (or armen-direction), and these individuals are required to find out and verify the condition of the poor of their own district.
The direction of the affairs of the poor is therefore, as thus established, confided entirely to the burghers of the town, and the provision of the funds rests upon the charity and benevolence of the inhabitants.
As regards hospitals and public charities, one or more of the members of the armen-direction undertake to watch that the funds are expended according to the provisions made by the founders.
In the villages, the direction of the funds for the poor is confided to the mayor (or schûltze), assisted by individuals chosen for that purpose from amongst the principal inhabitants of the commune.
This body is accountable to the councillor of the district (or land rath), who is in like manner under the jurisdiction of the provincial regency, and the whole is under the inspection of the 1st section of the home department.
I have now specified the authorities who control the maintenance for the poor, and who are likewise charged with the care of administering to their wants.
_As regards the manner of obtaining the necessary funds, everything is done by donations and private charity. Each house proprietor, each inhabitant of a floor or apartment, is in his turn visited by some of the members of the sub-committee of the armenbezirke, who, in return for the donation, deliver a receipt for the amount._
_The donations from residents are generally monthly, and vary in amount according to the number of individuals in the family, or to the feelings of generosity of the donor. No rate or calculated fixed table exists, regulating the sum to be given by each individual or head of a family._
Each town being governed by its own particular laws and customs with regard to the management of its poor, and each from accidental circumstances differing from its neighbour, it is impossible to particularize any other general principle that is followed, than the establishments of the armen-direction, and of the sub-committees; which detailed information I have extracted as above from the Städte Ordnüng, or town laws, as revised in 1831.