1. The Committee is not disposed to set people up in business in which they have not previously been engaged, although it is possible some exceptions will have to be made.
2. Estimates of amount necessary to start a business must be cut to the lowest practical figure.
3. References and other evidence should be required that applicant is capable and that request is reasonable.
The theory of rehabilitation in business, craft, or calling remained practically the same from May, 1906, to the close of the work in 1908. Nevertheless, there were differences from time to time in the handling of applications, due to the factors which have been shown in the preceding part[153] to have influenced the rehabilitation work in general. In the first period the applications for business rehabilitation were comparatively few and the grants small. In the second, the Rehabilitation Committee was getting fully prepared to carry its work. In the third, no new applications for business were received and action on those pending was deferred, except in the cases of unsupported women and aged people. These were given business rehabilitation during the period of arrested progress only when the need was very urgent and other means failed. In the beginning of the fourth period a sub-committee of the Rehabilitation Committee, known as Committee VI, was appointed[154] to consider business rehabilitation cases. The work of Committee VI and the fourth period are practically synchronous, because after the beginning of the fifth period, in April, 1907, the few business rehabilitation cases considered were acted upon by the Rehabilitation Committee itself without the intervention of its sub-committee.
[153] See [Part II], [p. 113] ff.
[154] See [Part II], [p. 125].
Committee VI was fortunate in having for its chairman Charles F. Leege, a merchant and banker of wide acquaintance and of extended experience, and four members, three of whom had had abundant commercial training. It had a staff consisting of a secretary, six to eight visitors, and three clerks.
This committee took up its work with enthusiasm, for its members believed that in no way could money be spent to greater advantage than in the manner proposed. While the business applications which had been accumulating since August were being disposed of, in November, 1906, printed forms[155] were prepared for future applications, and the public was notified of the conditions under which business aid might be obtained by means of the following announcement, displayed for some days in the newspapers:
SAN FRANCISCO RELIEF AND RED CROSS FUNDS
(Incorporated)
Rehabilitation Department
For business rehabilitation, applications will be received from those who have been successful in trade, business, or profession, and who have been so crippled by the fire that they cannot now provide themselves with the necessary equipment or stocks in trade, and who have no other way of supporting themselves or their families.