RELIEF LESSONS FROM SAN FRANCISCO DISASTER
Relief Lessons from San Francisco Disaster Made Available for Flood and Tornado Stricken Regions by Sage Foundation THE NEWS from the disaster stricken Middle West came, by a curious coincidence,...
...The impossibility of an equally strict accounting for relief in kind, because of the many leaks and the difficulties attendant upon hurried distribution...
...Housing Rehabilitation...
...The hasty organization of sub-committees at San Francisco resulted in much overlapping, some committees getting in each others' way so that unnecessary confusion arose...
...At San Francisco the citizens showed splendid self-reliance and faith in the future, which enabled them to rebound from fortune's sudden blow, and show what sustained and co-operative effort can achieve...
...After Care...
...9. The possibility of a strict audit of all relief in cash sent to a relief organization...
...For the assistance of those in the Middle West upon whom heavy relief responsibilities have suddenly come, the Sage Foundation has just sent advance sheets of portions of the book to charity organizations in and near the stricken regions...
...In the present disaster Mr...
...8. The necessity of incorporation for any relief organization that has to deal with so large a disaster...
...The fire and police departments have been reorganized and strengthened...
...The bulletin shows that "four important commodities, namely syrup, fixed oil, tannin extract and meal (which may be used as a stock food) are capable of being made from the large quantities of grape and raisin seeds which result from the seeding of raisins and the manufacture of wine and grape juice in this country...
...A City Magazine THE city of Memphis publishes monthly, a magazine called Mem-phis Commission Government, The publication contains official reports, comments upon civic affairs and communications from private citizens...
...Business Rehabilitation...
...In its first issue the magazine says: "It is not the purpose of the" commissioners to confine this publication to a recitation of statistical reports, but to keep citizens fully informed on what has been accomplished in the way of municipal improvements as well as plans for the future...
...The use of this equipment, especially the uniform record cards which were prepared with great care, means that the people who need help are safeguarded most thoroughly from waste and inefficiency in method...
...Rehabilitation...
...3. The desirability of contributions, especially those in kind, being sent without restrictions, as only the local organization is able to measure relative needs at different periods of the work...
...And it is definitely planned as a "book of ready reference for use on occasions of special emergency...
...Each organization has an "emergency box" containing, in convenient carrying form, an equipment including instructions, record cards, Red Cross flag, expense sheets and vouchers, etc...
...No taint of politics will be permitted within the covers of this publication, as its efforts will be directed solely to the advancement of Memphis rather than the fortunes of any man or set of men...
...Devine, of the New York Charity Organization Society, was called to co-operate with him...
...5. The wisdom of reducing the bread line and the camp population as quickly as possible after the disaster so that the relief resources may be conserved to meet the primary need of rehabilitation...
...Eugene T. Lies, of the Chicago United Charities, was sent to tornado stricken Omaha,—Whither Mr...
...The value of such an investigation as this Relief Survey," says the introduction to the volume, "inheres not only la the fact that no previous intensive study has been made of any large disaster but also in the fact that the time and the persons engaged combined to give the San Francisco relief work exceptional significance...
...It will appear on April 18, the seventh anniversary of the disaster...
...Louis Provident Association, all acted quickly on receipt of directions to proceed to various points in the afflicted regions of Ohio and Indiana...
...The largest and most efficient charity organizations throughout the country agreed to co-operate as "institutional members" of the Red Cross...
...Only in this way can rehabilitation—the test of efficient relief work following disaster-be secured...
...Bicknell was going When the worse news from Ohio caused him to turn back...
...4. The value of utilising for emergency administration a body so highly organized and so efficient as the United States Army, to take charge of camps, and to bring to points of distribution the supplies required for those in need of food and clothing...
...7. The necessity of utilizing the centers of emergency distribution for the later rehabilitation work of district committees and corps of visitors...
...It is not enough "merely to keep the victims of a disaster from the starvation and exposure which confront them in the weeks immediately following the catastrophe," but "the idea of rehabilitation, of giving to those who have been left with the least a reasonable lift on the road to a recovery of the standard of living maintained before the disaster, constantly has grown clearer and more definite, a natural fructifying of the modern philosophy of charity...
...Some of the prime points emphasized under Organization and Emergency Period are: 1. The recognition of the American National Red Cross, with its permanent organization, its governmental status, and its direct accountability to Congress for all expenditures, as the proper national agency through which relief funds for great disasters should be collected and administered...
...Care in this direction is assured if the Red Cross is fully utilized...
...It has been estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 tons of this material goes to waste each year...
...The volume presents a study of the organization and methods of relief following the San Francisco earthquake and fire, made for the Russell Sage Foundation by a group of people who held responsible positions in connection with the relief work and who are thus especially qualified to give in clear and concise form the important lessons of that experience...
...It is San Francisco's last word...
...The care used in emergency expenditures means much in husbanding resources so that permanent rehabilitation may be efficient and thorough...
...In every industry an effort is being made to apply the principle picturesquely laid down by Armour, "Use everything but the squeal...
...But more important than the close co-operation in which all these men and the others they have rallied are working, is the fact that through the careful preparation of the Red Cross in non-emergency times, and through such efforts as that of the Sage Foundation to ascertain and make available the important lessons of the San Francisco relief work, scientific methods of relief, all previously and carefully planned, may be applied on short notice by a staff which can be quickly mobilized...
...How Raisin Seeds May Be Utilized WE ARE in the midst of a war against waste...
...But the most important factor, especially for permanent rehabilitation, in so great and complex a relief problem is a trained staff...
...Now the Department of Agriculture comes forward with a bulletin telling how raisin seeds may be utilized...
...The only safe course lies in placing implicit trust in an efficient and recognized director of relief such as the Red Cross is in a position to furnish...
...Relief Lessons from San Francisco Disaster Made Available for Flood and Tornado Stricken Regions by Sage Foundation THE NEWS from the disaster stricken Middle West came, by a curious coincidence, at the very moment when the first scientific handbook of what to do following great disasters was just ready to go to press...
...thus securing unity of effort, certainty of policy, and a center about which all local relief agencies may rally...
...The Aged and Infirm...
...The Relief Survey is divided into six parts: Organization and Emergency Period...
...At San Francisco much pitifully needless suffering was caused through the unwise restrictions imposed by those who sent funds or supplies from distant states...
...In that time the tax rate has been lowered from $1.76 to $1.58...
...2. The importance of postponing the appointment of sub-committees until a strong central committee has been able to determine general policies and methods of procedure...
...James F. Jackson, of the Cleveland Associated Charities, T. J. Edmonds, of the Cincinnati Associated Charities, and C. M. Hubbard, of the St...
...The relief forces were not united until a whole week after the disaster, and after unfortunate difficulty and bitterness...
...Memphis has had commission government three years...
...6. The need of establishing a central bureau of information to serve from the beginning of the relief work as a clearing house, to prevent confusion and waste through duplication of effort...
...The improvement of public utilities has been marked...
...Vast quantities of these seeds accumulate every year, particularly in the grape producing sections of California...
...The Memphis commissioners believe that in this way they have solved the problem of keeping in touch with the peo ple...
...When a disaster comes in any section of the country the nearest of these organizations at once dispatches trained members of its staff to the scene...
...Reports of all departments and sub-departments of the city government will be carried in each issue, as will tabloid reports containing the proceedings of the weekly commission meetings...
...The delays in securing authority for the wise use of these contributions were well nigh intolerable...
...Bicknell went immediately from the national headquarters of the Red Cross to the scene of the worst conditions in Ohio...
...Nothing can take the place, as the Relief Survey testifies, of the spirit and devotion of the local committees...
Vol. 5 • April 1913 • No. 15
