The information recorded on the registration cards varies in completeness and value on account of the great diversity in carefulness and capability among the persons who collected it. Many of the cards were filled out intelligently and conscientiously; many are wholly unsatisfactory. Taken together, however, they give a rough picture of that quarter or third, whichever it may have been, of the city’s population which was still, in the middle of May, dependent on the general distribution of food for its daily supplies; and they reflect to some extent the dislocations that were brought about by the disaster, in residence, occupation, and circumstances.
It was not the primary object of the registration to furnish material for a description of the refugees, but to establish a uniform system of food distribution which should prevent waste by cutting out repeaters, apportioning the number of rations to the size of the family, and cutting off persons as they reached a position where they no longer needed to be dependent. Other purposes were also in mind. At the beginning, in fact, the efforts seem to have been made to provide a record of the persons who received relief, for historical purposes and for aid in determining their future needs. It was also hoped that the registration could be made of practical value to the state labor commissioner, in the free employment bureau[53] which had been opened. In part for this last reason, information was asked about former occupation and former employer, union membership, and present employment.
[53] A free employment bureau at Hearst School in charge of State Labor Commissioner Stafford closed its office May 29, 1906, after four weeks’ work, during which time employment was found for over 1,100 men and 93 women. See 12th Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the State of California, 1905-06. For brief mention of the work of the employment bureau see Charities and the Commons, June 2, 1906, p. 304.
The bread line, Mission District
Relief station, Mission District
Distribution of Relief Supplies
The registration was made at the relief stations, the cards being filled out when applicants came for rations. If the applicant did not live within the boundaries of the section served by the station to which he had come he was referred to the proper station. When the applicant had been registered he was given a food card[54] bearing a serial number, good for ten days, which stated conspicuously, so that the attendants could see, even before he reached the counter, the number of rations to which his family was entitled, and showed uncanceled the dates on which the card would be honored. The food card number was entered on the registration card, which was kept at the relief station. Each time rations were drawn the date for which they were drawn was canceled on the card. After the registration had been completed at any station no rations were issued except on presentation of a food card.
[54] A reproduction of the card is shown in [Appendix II], [p. 427].