5. That the administration of this special relief fund be entrusted to a committee of seven with such paid service at its disposal as the special relief committee may find necessary.
6. That as soon as practicable a definite date be fixed after which applications for aid from the Relief and Red Cross Funds cannot be considered.
7. That a sum not to exceed $100,000 be set aside to be expended by the said committee for the immediate employment of both men and women in some necessary work which is in the public interest but which cannot be undertaken by the municipality and is not properly a charge on any private corporation or individual.
In making its own report this special committee said it assumed “that the supply of food and clothing will be continued until the absolute need in these directions is met.” It was not prepared to take action on the seventh recommendation.
At the end of May, no action as a result of the recommendations having been taken, Dr. Devine urged the Finance Committee to appoint the committee of seven suggested in the fifth recommendation, which had been authorized the first of the month, so that the work of providing shelter more adequate than that provided by the tents should be begun. For consideration of more permanent forms of rehabilitation, he thought it might be necessary to have still another committee.
His advice to the Finance Committee was supplemented on June 4 by a letter to the chairman, in which he drew a general outline of the relief course that should be taken. It reiterates in more specific form the advice given in May. The points emphasized were:
1. The general distribution of uncooked food and of clothing should be discontinued by June 30, the date the army proposed to withdraw. The bread line, the clothing line, and the relief stations, should then be abandoned.
2. The established charities of the city should, as far as possible, on that date resume the discharge of their normal functions.
3. The clothing and provisions, tools, sewing machines, and household furniture remaining on June 30 in the relief stores should be placed at the disposal of a special relief committee and a central warehouse should be designated to hold them. Appropriations should be made to the suggested committee for its administrative expenses, and as its plans developed, for additional relief.
4. Housing, loans, and other plans for rehabilitation should be taken up by a legally incorporated body to be formed to administer the relief funds; one which should be ready to deal in the broadest possible way with all problems relating to the rehabilitation of families and of individuals. The hot meal kitchens, it was conjectured, would by the end of June be on a business basis.