San Francisco Relief Survey; the organization and methods of relief used after the earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906

by Unknown

In the [table] that follows all applicants for relief for the second period are classified by general occupation.

TABLE 105.—APPLICANTS FOR RELIEF FROM ASSOCIATED CHARITIES CLASSIFIED BY GENERAL OCCUPATIONS, AS REFUGEES WITH AND WITHOUT REHABILITATION RECORD, AND AS NON-REFUGEES. JUNE 1, 1907, TO JUNE 1, 1909

Occupation	APPLICANTS WHO HAD LIVED IN BURNED AREA			Applicants who had not lived in burned area	Applicants whose former place of residence is doubtful	Total of all classes
	With rehabili- tation record	Without rehabili- tation record	Total
Professional service	44	38	82	45	6	133
Public service	11	7	18	10	..	28
Personal and domestic service	574	366	940	252	13	1,205
Unskilled labor	255	372	627	288	20	935
Transportation	94	110	204	83	10	297
Trade	172	114	286	109	15	410
Manufacturing and mechanical industries	579	460	1,039	371	30	1,440
Miscellaneous occupations	24	32	56	30	3	89
Unknown	127	617	744	554	116	1,414
Total	1,880	2,116	3,996	1,742	213	5,951

A street, showing close quarters in camp

Washington Square Camp

In between 23 and 24 per cent of the cases, the facts of occupation were not stated in the records. A study of the cases remaining proves how widely need distributed itself through all economic classes in the community. The persons enumerated were engaged in about 200 different callings.

Of the 4,537 persons for whom data concerning occupation were secured, 32 per cent were employed in the manufacturing and mechanical industries, 27 per cent were in personal and domestic service, and 21 per cent were in unskilled labor. The proportion of applicants in trade was 9 per cent and in transportation between 6 and 7 per cent. Less than 3 per cent of the applicants were in professional service or in miscellaneous occupations and less than 1 per cent in public service. Whether considered as having lived within or without the burned area, no striking difference appears in the proportion in each group of occupations.

The facts concerning the occupations of the needy show that the mass of poverty in San Francisco centered, as might be expected, in the same occupations before the fire as afterwards. The data for both periods are presented in [Table 106].

TABLE 106.—GENERAL OCCUPATIONS OF APPLICANTS FOR RELIEF FROM ASSOCIATED CHARITIES, BEFORE FIRE AND AFTER FIRE[237]