Policing and poverty
As of 1809, Haller printed the Allgemeine Signalement-Buch für die Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft [Public volume of personal description for the Swiss Confederation] in regular intervals. It contains arrest warrants, wanted posters, deportation notices, and charges for substantial theft. Furthermore, it encloses descriptions of and warnings against suspicious persons.
The years 1816 and 1817 were marked by increased costs, poverty and famine. Persons in need received ration cards for foodstuffs at reduced prices. In specialized institutions, food stamps (Musszeichen) could be exchanged for nourishing soup. In those years, the city of Bern counted 140 such institutions, which distributed up to 28’000 portions of food each day.
Hans Blösch: Lebensmittelkarten aus Bern vor hundert Jahren
Permit for gleaning