The local relief committee was still in charge, Miss Barton and her staff meeting with them by invitation as an advisory board.
The Red Cross headquarters was the scene of busy census takers; men from every part of the field were constantly coming and going, bringing reports of the number of people, their condition, the condition of their homes and their needs.
Their reports were being carefully indexed and entered upon one great book for future reference, a record of the greatest relief field America has ever known.
October 2, came my “marching orders” which were, “Take charge of the warehouse and stores, make an inventory of them, disperse these men and rid this city of the demoralizing influence of idle people.” The doors were closed and preparations for an inventory begun.
The manner of distribution previous to November 2, though performed by willing workers, was not, could not be, that systematic distribution which comes only after years of experience.
The warehouse had to be cleaned, partitioned, shelved and made ready for the repacking, separating heavy from light goods, and getting ready for receiving and shipping. The inventory showed not enough food to keep ten families two weeks.
On November 9, the doors of all the departments at headquarters were opened. The question of remuneration for workmen’s services must be determined upon and a standard adopted. There were at headquarters twenty-five workmen in-doors—white and colored—beside the cartmen and out-door laborers.
A standard of fifty cents in value was adopted for a day’s work and was given in flour, meal, grits, pork, or whatever there was in the storeroom at the end of each day, and the next day an entirely new set of men was employed, and this daily change lasted over a month, thus distributing to over a thousand people something beside the regular weekly distribution.
Women were engaged to sew sacks and other light work (just as necessary as heavier), and they were paid in the same manner and at the same rate as men. Will some of my readers think that these women, some with large families to support, and all having some one depending upon them, should receive less than the men, because they were women?
Shovels, spades and axes came in a few days in response to an order from our president, and men were put upon the public roads to clear and improve their condition and repair the damage which the storm had done.