THAT an office be erected in some convenient place, where shall be a
secretary, a clerk, and a searcher, always attending.
That all sorts of people who are labouring people and of honest repute,
of what calling or condition soever, men or women (beggars and soldiers
excepted), who, being sound of their limbs and under fifty years of age,
shall come to the said office and enter their names, trades, and places
of abode into a register to be kept for that purpose, and shall pay down
at the time of the said entering the sum of sixpence, and from thence one
shilling per quarter, shall every one have an assurance under the seal of
the said office for these following conditions:
1. Every such subscriber, if by any casualty (drunkenness and quarrels
excepted) they break their limbs, dislocate joints, or are dangerously
maimed or bruised, able surgeons appointed for that purpose shall take
them into their care, and endeavour their cure gratis.
2. If they are at any time dangerously sick, on notice given to the said
office able physicians shall be appointed to visit them, and give their
prescriptions gratis.
3. If by sickness or accident, as aforesaid, they lose their limbs or
eyes, so as to be visibly disabled to work, and are otherwise poor and
unable to provide for themselves, they shall either be cured at the
charge of the office, or be allowed a pension for subsistence during
life.
4. If they become lame, aged, bedrid, or by real infirmity of body are
unable to work, and otherwise incapable to provide for themselves, on
proof made that it is really and honestly so they shall be taken into a
college or hospital provided for that purpose, and be decently maintained
during life.
5. If they are seamen, and die abroad on board the merchants’ ships they
were employed in, or are cast away and drowned, or taken and die in
slavery, their widows shall receive a pension during their widowhood.
6. If they were tradesmen and paid the parish rates, if by decay and
failure of trade they break and are put in prison for debt, they shall
receive a pension for subsistence during close imprisonment.
7. If by sickness or accidents they are reduced to extremities of
poverty for a season, on a true representation to the office they shall
be relieved as the governors shall see cause.
It is to be noted that in the fourth article such as by sickness and age
are disabled from work, and poor, shall be taken into the house and
provided for; whereas in the third article they who are blind or have
lost limbs, &c., shall have pensions allowed them.
The reason of this difference is this:
A poor man or woman that has lost his hand, or leg, or sight, is visibly
disabled, and we cannot be deceived; whereas other infirmities are not so
easily judged of, and everybody would be claiming a pension, when but few
will demand being taken into a hospital but such as are really in want.
And that this might be managed with such care and candour as a design
which carries so good a face ought to be, I propose the following method
for putting it into practice:
I suppose every undertaking of such a magnitude must have some principal
agent to push it forward, who must manage and direct everything, always
with direction of the governors.
And first I will suppose one general office erected for the great
parishes of Stepney and Whitechapel; and as I shall lay down afterwards
some methods to oblige all people to come in and subscribe, so I may be
allowed to suppose here that all the inhabitants of those two large
parishes (the meaner labouring sort, I mean) should enter their names,
and that the number of them should be 100,000, as I believe they would be
at least.
First, there should be named fifty of the principal inhabitants of the
said parishes (of which the church-wardens for the time being, and all
the justices of the peace dwelling in the bounds of the said parish, and
the ministers resident for the time being, to be part) to be governors of
the said office.
The said fifty to be first nominated by the Lord Mayor of London for the
time being, and every vacancy to be supplied in ten days at farthest by
the majority of voices of the rest.
The fifty to choose a committee of eleven, to sit twice a week, of whom
three to be a quorum; with a chief governor, a deputy-governor, and a
treasurer.
In the office, a secretary with clerks of his own, a registrar and two
clerks, four searchers, a messenger (one in daily attendance under
salary), a physician, a surgeon, and four visitors.
In the hospital, more or less (according to the number of people
entertained), a housekeeper, a steward, nurses, a porter, and a chaplain.
For the support of this office, and that the deposit money might go to
none but the persons and uses for whom it is paid, and that it might not
be said officers and salaries was the chief end of the undertaking (as in
many a project it has been), I propose that the manager or undertaker,
whom I mentioned before, be the secretary, who shall have a clerk allowed
him, whose business it shall be to keep the register, take the entries,
and give out the tickets (sealed by the governors and signed by himself),
and to enter always the payment of quarterage of every subscriber. And
that there may be no fraud or connivance, and too great trust be not
reposed in the said secretary, every subscriber who brings his quarterage
is to put it into a great chest, locked up with eleven locks, every
member of the committee to keep a key, so that it cannot be opened but in
the presence of them all; and every time a subscriber pays his
quarterage, the secretary shall give him a sealed ticket thus [Christmas
96] which shall be allowed as the receipt of quarterage for that quarter.
_Note_.—The reason why every subscriber shall take a receipt or ticket
for his quarterage is because this must be the standing law of the
office—that if any subscribers fail to pay their quarterage, they shall
never claim after it until double so much be paid, nor not at all that
quarter, whatever befalls them.
The secretary should be allowed to have 2d. for every ticket of entry he
gives out, and ld. for every receipt he gives for quarterage, to be
accounted for as follows:
One-third to himself in lieu of salary, he being to pay three clerks out
of it.
One-third to the clerks and other officers among them.
And one-third to defray the incident charge of the office.
_Thus calculated_. Per annum.
£ _s._ _d._
100,000 subscribers paying 1d. each 1,666 3 4
every quarter is
One-third
To the secretary per annum and three 555 7 9
clerks
One-third
£ per
annum.
To a registrar 100
To a clerk 50
To four searchers 100
To a physician 100
To a surgeon 100
To four visitors 100
550 0 0
One-third to incident charges, such as
To ten committee-men, 260
5s. each sitting, twice
per week is
To a clerk of 50
committees
To a messenger 40
A house for the office 40
A house for the 100
hospital
Contingencies 70
15_s._ 7_d._ 560 15 7
£1,666 3 4
All the charge being thus paid out of such a trifle as ld. per quarter,
the next consideration is to examine what the incomes of this
subscription may be, and in time what may be the demands upon it.
£ s. d.
If 100,000 persons subscribe, they pay 2,500 0 0
down at their entering each 6d., which
is
And the first year’s payment is in stock 20,000 0 0
at 1s. per quarter
It must be allowed that under three 175 0 0
months the subscriptions will not be
well complete; so the payment of
quarterage shall not begin but from the
day after the books are full, or shut
up; and from thence one year is to pass
before any claim can be made; and the
money coming in at separate times, I
suppose no improvement upon it for the
first year, except of the £2,500, which,
lent to the king on some good fund at £7
per cent. interest, advances the first
year
The quarterage of the second year, 19,800 0 0
abating for 1,000 claims
And the interest of the first year’s 1,774 10 0
money at the end of the second year,
lent to the king, as aforesaid, at 7 per
cent. interest, is
The quarterage of the third year, 19,400 0 0
abating for claims
The interest of former cash to the end 3,284 8 0
of the third year
Income of three years £66,933 18 0
_Note_.—Any persons may pay 2s. up to 5s. quarterly, if they please, and
upon a claim will be allowed in proportion.
To assign what shall be the charge upon this, where contingency has so
great a share, is not to be done; but by way of political arithmetic a
probable guess may be made.
It is to be noted that the pensions I propose to be paid to persons
claiming by the third, fifth, and sixth articles are thus: every person
who paid 1s. quarterly shall receive 12d. weekly, and so in proportion
every 12d. paid quarterly by any one person to receive so many shillings
weekly, if they come to claim a pension.
The first year no claim is allowed; so the bank has in stock completely
£22,500. From thence we are to consider the number of claims.
Sir William Petty, in his “Political Arithmetic,” supposes not above one
in forty to die per annum out of the whole number of people; and I can by
no means allow that the circumstances of our claims will be as frequent
as death, for these reasons:
1. Our subscriptions respect all persons grown and in the prime of their
age; past the first, and providing against the last, part of danger (Sir
William’s account including children and old people, which always make up
one-third of the bills of mortality).
2. Our claims will fall thin at first for several years; and let but the
money increase for ten years, as it does in the account for three years,
it would be almost sufficient to maintain the whole number.
3. Allow that casualty and poverty are our debtor side; health,
prosperity, and death are the creditor side of the account; and in all
probable accounts those three articles will carry off three fourth-parts
of the number, as follows: If one in forty shall die annually (as no
doubt they shall, and more), that is 2,500 a year, which in twenty years
is 50,000 of the number; I hope I may be allowed one-third to be out of
condition to claim, apparently living without the help of charity, and
one third in health and body, and able to work; which, put together, make
83,332; so it leaves 16,668 to make claims of charity and pensions in the
first twenty years, and one-half of them must, according to Sir William
Petty, die on our hands in twenty years; so there remains but 8,334.
But to put it out of doubt, beyond the proportion to be guessed at, I
will allow they shall fall thus:
The first year, we are to note, none can claim; and the second year the
number must be very few, but increasing: wherefore I suppose
£
One in every 500 shall claim the second year, which is 500
200; the charge whereof is
One in every 100 the third year is 1,000; the charge 2,500
Together with the former 200 500
£3,500
To carry on the calculation.
£ _s._ _d._
We find the stock at the end of the 66,933 18 0
third year
The quarterage of the fourth year, 19,000 0 0
abating as before
Interest of the stock 4,882 17 6
The quarterage of the fifth year 18,600 0 0
Interest of the stock 6,473 0 0
£115,889 15 6
The charge 3,000 0 0
2,000 to fall the fourth year 5,000 0 0
And the old continued 3,500 0 0
2,000 the fifth year 5,000 0 0
The old continued 11,000 0 0
£27,500 0 0
By this computation the stock is increased above the charge in five years
£89,379 15s. 6d.; and yet here are sundry articles to be considered on
both sides of the account that will necessarily increase the stock and
diminish the charge:
First, in the five years’ time 6,200 3,400 0 0
having claimed charity, the number being
abated for in the reckoning above for
stock, it may be allowed new
subscriptions will be taken in to keep
the number full, which in five years
amounts to
Their sixpences is 115 0 0
£3,555 0 0
Which added to £115,889 15s. 6d. augments 119,444 15 6
be stock to
Six thousand two hundred persons claiming 4,000 0 0
help, which falls, to be sure, on the
aged and infirm, I think, at a modest
computation, in five years’ time 500 of
them may be dead, which, without allowing
annually, we take at an abatement of
£4,000 out of the charge
Which reduces the charge to 23,500 0 0
Besides this, the interest of the quarterage, which is supposed in the
former account to lie dead till the year is out, which cast up from
quarter to quarter, allowing it to be put out quarterly, as it may well
be, amounts to, by computation for five years, £5,250.
From the fifth year, as near as can be computed, the number of pensioners
being so great, I make no doubt but they shall die off the hands of the
undertaker as fast as they shall fall in, excepting, so much difference
as the payment of every year, which the interest of the stock shall
supply.
_For example_:
£ _s._ _d._
At the end of the fifth year the stock 94,629 15 6
in hand
The payment of the sixth year 20,000 0 0
Interest of the stock 5,408 4 0
£120,037 19 6
Allow an overplus charge for keeping in 10,000 0 0
the house, which will be dearer than
pensions, £10,000 per annum
Charge of the sixth year 22,500 0 0
Balance in cash 87,537 19 6
£120,037 19 6
This also is to be allowed—that all those persons who are kept by the
office in the house shall have employment provided for them, whereby no
persons shall be kept idle, the works to be suited to every one’s
capacity without rigour, only some distinction to those who are most
willing to work; the profits of the said work to the stock of the house.
Besides this, there may great and very profitable methods be found out to
improve the stock beyond the settled interest of 7 per cent., which
perhaps may not always be to be had, for the Exchequer is not always
borrowing money; but a bank of £80,000, employed by faithful hands, need
not want opportunities of great, and very considerable improvement.
Also it would be a very good object for persons who die rich to leave
legacies to, which in time might be very well supposed to raise a
standing revenue to it.
I will not say but various contingencies may alter the charge of this
undertaking, and swell the claims beyond proportion further than I extend
it; but all that, and much more, is sufficiently answered in the
calculations by above £80,000 in stock to provide for it.
As to the calculation being made on a vast number of subscribers, and
more than, perhaps, will be allowed likely to subscribe, I think the
proportion may hold good in a few as well as in a great many; and perhaps
if 20,000 subscribed, it might be as effectual. I am indeed willing to
think all men should have sense enough to see the usefulness of such a
design, and be persuaded by their interest to engage in it; but some men
have less prudence than brutes, and will make no provision against age
till it comes; and to deal with such, two ways might be used by authority
to compel them.
1. The churchwardens and justices of peace should send the beadle of the
parish, with an officer belonging to this office, about to the poorer
parishioners to tell them that, since such honourable provision is made
for them to secure themselves in old age from poverty and distress, they
should expect no relief from the parish if they refused to enter
themselves, and by sparing so small a part of their earnings to prevent
future misery.
2. The churchwardens of every parish might refuse the removal of persons
and families into their parish but upon their having entered into this
office.
3. All persons should be publicly desired to forbear giving anything to
beggars, and all common beggars suppressed after a certain time; for this
would effectually suppress beggary at last.
And, to oblige the parishes to do this on behalf of such a project, the
governor of the house should secure the parish against all charges coming
upon them from any person who did subscribe and pay the quarterage, and
that would most certainly oblige any parish to endeavour that all the
labouring meaner people in the parish should enter their names; for in
time it would most certainly take all the poor in the parish off of their
hands.
I know that by law no parish can refuse to relieve any person or family
fallen into distress; and therefore to send them word they must expect no
relief, would seem a vain threatening. But thus far the parish may do:
they shall be esteemed as persons who deserve no relief, and shall be
used accordingly; for who indeed would ever pity that man in his distress
who at the expense of two pots of beer a month might have prevented it,
and would not spare it?
As to my calculations, on which I do not depend either, I say this: if
they are probable, and that in five years’ time a subscription of a
hundred thousand persons would have £87,537 19s. 6d. in cash, all charges
paid, I desire any one but to reflect what will not such a sum do. For
instance, were it laid out in the Million Lottery tickets, which are now
sold at £6 each, and bring in £1 per annum for fifteen years, every
£1,000 so laid out pays back in time £2,500, and that time would be as
fast as it would be wanted, and therefore be as good as money; or if laid
out in improving rents, as ground-rents with buildings to devolve in
time, there is no question but a revenue would be raised in time to
maintain one-third part of the number of subscribers, if they should come
to claim charity.
And I desire any man to consider the present state of this kingdom, and
tell me, if all the people of England, old and young, rich and poor, were
to pay into one common bank 4s. per annum a head, and that 4s. duly and
honestly managed, whether the overplus paid by those who die off, and by
those who never come to want, would not in all probability maintain all
that should be poor, and for ever banish beggary and poverty out of the
kingdom.