Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/193

 SOCIAL SOLIDARITY IN FRANCE 177

may be removed. The municipal council, deliberating as a com- mittee in secret session, decides on the admission of indigents to relief, and determines whether the person shall be aided at home or in an institution. This is a critical point. Friends of the law insist that the local councils, having a strong interest in economy cf taxation, will scrutinize the lists very carefully; and as neigh- bors they will understand the needs of the poor, especially in rural communities, and the best ways of giving them the right kind and amount of relief.

The list of dependents is deposited in the office of the mayor, and the public is informed by posted notices of the place where it may be examined. This publicity will act as a check on improper applications ; it will deter professional mendicants, but it will also make relief painful and humiliating to "the poor who are ashamed." The prefect, being furnished with a copy of the list, is in a position to represent the views of the central authority. Within a period of twenty days rejected applicants can appeal from the decision of the council, and the same right is given to any taxpayer who finds on the list the name of a person who, in his belief, should not receive public relief. The prefect also may file objections. The amounts of the allowances are open to criti- cism in the same way.

A cantonal commission is provided to consider all these objec- tions, and its president reports the decisions to the prefect and mayor. Within the following twenty days appeal may be made to the minister of the interior, who receives advice from a central commission, but who, under the French system of executive responsibility, is not required to follow the advice. During the litigation the relief is not suspended.

If the municipal council refuses or neglects to act as required by the law, the prefect calls the attention of the cantonal com- mission to the matter; and if the cantonal commission fails to perform its duty, the minister takes the necessary steps, after hearing the central commission. No part of the administrative machinery is missing; the law is made to be enforced.

It is the prefect who invites the municipal councils to act upon the lists in the communes, the departmental commission to act