“The telegraph and telephone companies and railroads have been exceedingly generous since the great calamity. They have not only given money, but everything has been transported to that city free of charge, while those desiring to get away from the harrowing scenes of Galveston have been transported free. The people of Texas will long remember with grateful hearts the kindness of these companies. It is now an assured fact that trains will be running into Galveston this week, and, with uninterrupted communication with the outside world, Galveston should soon assume her normal condition.”
DISTRIBUTING $40,000 A DAY.
Twenty thousand people are being fed and cared for daily in Galveston with the supplies which are pouring in from all parts of the country. This will be cut at least one-half in ten days, is the statement of W. A. McVitie, chairman of the central relief committee.
The estimated cost of the aid which is now being extended is $40,000 a day. The great bulk of the aid is going to the 4,000 men who are at work cleaning up the wreckage, digging for bodies and cleaning the streets. Through them it goes to their families. No able-bodied laboring man is allowed to escape the work, whether he needs aid or not, though most of them do. The business men who are in position to resume are allowed to attend to their stores, and their clerical forces are not interfered with.
The debris-hunting and street-cleaning work will be put upon a cash basis, the wages being $1.50. Time has been kept from the beginning, though the records are not complete, and it is the expectation, if the money which comes in from outside is adequate, that the men will be paid for the full time they have worked. This will apply to those who had to be made to work at the point of the bayonet, as well as those who volunteered their services. This will not be given in cash, but in the form of orders for tools for mechanics, lumber for those who have homes they wish to repair, etc.
Heretofore practically every able-bodied man has been made to work, and unless he worked he got no supplies. The first few days’ wages consisted entirely of rations, which were given according to the number and needs of the laborer’s family, regardless of the amount of work he accomplished. Since other supplies have begun coming in they have been added.
The work of distribution is being conducted systematically and with an apparent minimum of imposition and fraud. There is a central committee, of which W. A. McVitie, a prominent business man, is chairman. Then there is a committee for each one of the twelve wards. As fast as goods or provisions arrive from the mainland they are placed in the central warehouse, from there the different ward chairmen requisition them, and they are taken to supply depots in the different wards. All day long there is a motley crowd around every one of these depots, negroes predominating at least two to one. Every applicant passes in review before the ward chairman.
ONLY THE DESTITUTE HELPED.
“Ah want a dress foh ma sistah,” says a big negress.
“You’re ’Manda Jones, and you haven’t any sister living here,” replied the chairman.