WHOLE NATION RESPONDS WITH AID.
=Government Appropriates Millions and Chicago Leads All
Other Cities with a Round Million of Dollars--People in
All Ranks of Life from President Roosevelt to the
Humblest Wage Earner Give Promptly and Freely.=
The fiery destruction of the beautiful city and the pitiable plight of
the survivors who escaped annihilation from quake and fire only to
face death in the equally horrible forms of starvation and exposure
touched the heartstrings of humanity. The response to the needs of the
stricken city and its people was so prompt, so universal and so
generous that forever it will appeal to the admiration of mankind. It
was a response that did not wait to be asked but in the moment when
the need became known voluntarily turned the tide of the abundance of
the unstricken to the help of the unfortunate before they had even
breath to voice their need.
All over our own land, from every state and city and hamlet, from the
president and the assembled congress, dropping all else to turn the
nation's resources generously to the rescue, through all grades of the
people the response broke forth spontaneously, generously, warmly,
without stint and with such practical promptness that relief for
unexampled distress was already on the way before the close of the
first fateful day.
From all the seeming sordidness of daily life one turns to this as
proof incontestable that humanity is at heart infinitely kinder and
better and less selfish than it esteems itself. Even other lands and
other peoples when the horror of the calamity became known to them,
added to the stream of gold, which had its beginning in the
sympathetic hearts of the American people and its ending in the
stricken and despairing city. Once more were the lines of the
geographer and politician obliterated and there was in the lurid light
of the awful hours no north, no south, no east, no west. Once more did
those in charge of the coffers of the municipalities raise high the
lid and contribute to relieve the woe.
And Chicago, as became the Queen City of the Lakes, and which once in
an almost equally dire calamity was, herself, the recipient of
generous aid, was among the very first which recognized the need of
prompt and generous aid. Almost as soon as the news of the direful
plight of the city by the Golden Gate had been flashed over the wires,
the Merchants' Association of Chicago telegraphed to the authorities
of San Francisco that it would be responsible for a relief fund of
$1,000,000, and that any portion of that sum could be drawn upon at
once. Then Mayor Dunne issued a call for a special relief meeting at
which a big committee of the leading men of the city was formed and
immediately went to work. Fraternal organizations, the newspapers and
the clubs became also active solicitors for aid.
For several days the streets of the city presented a peculiar
appearance. Upon the street corners stood boxes showing that funds
deposited within would reach the homeless of the Pacific coast.
Smaller boxes stood in the hotels that the strangers in the city might
have an opportunity to contribute. Within the large stores in the
business center were other boxes that the shoppers might have an
opportunity of displaying their sympathy in something more tangible
than words. Upon other corners stood the men and women of the
Volunteers of America and the inscriptions above their boxes told that
all pennies, nickels and dimes would eventually find their way to the
stricken of San Francisco.
But while Chicago was the first of distant cities to pledge a big
contribution, other cities throughout the country were not far behind.
In Faneuil Hall, Boston, a meeting which overcrowded that historic
temple of liberty was held, and Bishop Mallalieu of the Methodist
church, at the close of an eloquent address, had a motion
enthusiastically passed that the state of Massachusetts raise
$3,000,000 for the relief of the earthquake and fire victims of the
Pacific coast. In the meantime the city of Boston had already pledged
$500,000 of that amount.
The city of Philadelphia at a formal meeting of its council voted
$100,000, while the relief committee of the people there had secured
$125,000 for the sufferers of the stricken city.
And the congress of the United States, as became it, was prompt in
action. In the lower house a bill appropriating $1,000,000 was
introduced and passed at once, and a few days later a similar measure
of relief was adopted, making the contribution of the government
$2,000,000 altogether. This was about one-third as much as was
required to care for the thousands who were made homeless by the
Chicago disaster of 1871. President Roosevelt also sent a message to
congress urging a further contribution of $500,000, and in an address
to the public urged that they send contributions to the National Red
Cross society as the readiest means by which the afflicted could be
reached. Governor Deneen of Illinois also issued a proclamation to the
like effect. Secretary of War Taft, in his capacity of President of
the American National Red Cross society, issued a proclamation in
which he announced that the necessary work of organization to feed and
shelter the people was placed in the hands of the Red Cross society,
under the direction of General Funston, Commander of the Department of
the Pacific. In this way matters were made systematic and
authoritative and assurances given that the contributions of the
nation would be honestly and economically distributed to those in
need. Among other states and cities not already mentioned, whose
contributions were generous enough to deserve permanent record, were
the following--and the amounts named may be in most cases set down as
somewhat below the real final figures:
Texas $100,000
Connecticut 30,000
St. Louis, Mo. 100,000
Sacramento 100,000
Seattle, Wash. 90,000
Victoria, B. C. 25,000
Spokane, Wash. 30,000
Milwaukee 30,000
City of Mexico 30,000
Des Moines 10,000
Jacksonville, Fla. 10,000
Los Angeles 200,000
Cincinnati 75,000
Omaha 10,000
Providence, R. I. 20,000
Davenport, Iowa 20,000
Stockton, Cal. 20,000
Portland, Ore. 130,000
Sacramento, Cal. 100,000
Columbus, O. 20,000
Among individuals in this and other countries who promptly sent in
their contributions were the following:
Russell Sage $ 5,000
London Americans 12,500
Clarence H. Mackay 100,000
Mrs. John W. Mackay 5,000
Robert Lebaudy 10,000
W. W. Astor 100,000
President Roosevelt 1,000
Senator Knox 500
C. J. Burrage, Boston oil dealer 100,000
President Diaz, Mexico 100,000
E. H. Harriman (for his railroads) 200,000
Andrew Carnegie 100,000
Charles Sweeney, New York 10,000
W. K. Vanderbilt 25,000
"Friend of Humanity," New York 25,000
H. C. Frick 10,000
Gordon Blanding 10,000
H. M. Bowers, Boston 10,000
Robert Schandy, France 10,000
Among the corporations and organizations which lost no time in going
to the rescue of the afflicted and helpless were the following:
Bank of Commerce, Toronto $ 25,000
Columbus Board of Trade 20,000
National Carpenters' union 10,000
United States Steel Corporation 100,000
Kuhn, Loeb & Co., New York 25,000
United Mineworkers of America 1,000
Standard Oil Company 100,000
North German Lloyd Steamship Company 25,000
Wisconsin Masons 5,000
Carnegie Hero Fund 25,000
Heidelback-Ickleheimer, New York 10,000
National Park bank, New York 5,000
New York Stock Exchange 250,000
Citizens' Relief Association, Philadelphia 100,000
Detroit Board of Commerce 10,000
N. K. Fairbank Co. 1,000
National Biscuit Co. 5,000
Hamburg-American Steamship Line 25,000
Canadian Parliament 100,000