Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/197

 SOCIAL SOLIDARITY IN FRANCE 1 8 1

agreement between the administrative commissions of asylums and the prefects, or between the bureaux de bienfaisance or asy- lums and the municipal councils, the decision is made by the council of the prefecture of the department where the establish- ment is situated. The decisions of the council of the prefecture are subject to revision by the council of state.

TITLE VI. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

In all legislation the city of Paris must have an exceptional place on account of the peculiarities of the administrative prob- lems of the metropolis. The adaptations called for are adjusted by regulations of public administration ; it would be impossible to arrange all details in a general law. ,

The necessary legal papers are exempted from stamp duties and fees of registration. Special clauses cover the cases of vagrants and of the insane. The proposed law is to take effect six months after publication. A regulation of public administration, made within three months after publication, is to determine the measures necessary for carrying it into effect.

ESTIMATES OF COST

It is easy to learn the approximate number of aged and incur- able persons in France. There are about 1,900,000 persons over seventy years of age, or about 5 per cent, of the population. The number of infirm and incurable persons under seventy years is somewhat less. But no exact statement of the number who are really indigent can be made. The Senate report estimates that the number of aged persons who will need relief will be about 114,000, and of incurables about 76,000, or 190,000 in all. A basis for further calculations is found in the statistics of the bureaux' de bienfaisance and of other forms of public charity. The total expenditures of the bureau de bienfaisance are now 35,553,491 francs; those of beds of hospices, about 30,000,000 francs. The expenditures under the law of obligatory medical relief were in 1899 about 8,500,000 francs in the departmental services, and 7,864,999.66 francs in the autonomous communes. Senator Strauss estimates that the additional expense involved in the new law will be about 43,000,000 francs :