| Month | MEALS SERVED | Amounts disbursed from Relief and Red Cross Funds in payment for meals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Paid | |||
| May | 87,160 | (Unknown) | (Unknown) | |
| June | 402,522 | 1,027 | (all in 3 days) | $46,610.55 |
| July | 486,182 | 3,786 | (all in 11 days) | 75,756.30 |
| August | 377,776 | 4,608 | 61,379.75 | |
| September | 109,448 | 684 | 17,746.80 | |
| October | 11,875 | .. | 2,953.14 | |
| Total | 1,474,963 | (Unknown) | (Unknown) | |
From the data on hand we can estimate the proportion of ten-cent meals at 12.1 per cent and fifteen-cent meals at 87.9 per cent.
The first report of meals paid for is for June 28. Those who patronized these restaurants paid from 10 to 20 cents for their meals, the average price being 15 cents. The extent to which this opportunity was utilized is shown in [Table 9].
TABLE 9.—FREE AND PAID MEALS SERVED BY HOT MEAL KITCHENS ON SPECIFIED DATES IN 1906
| Date | Free meals served | PAID MEALS SERVED | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Per cent of free meals | ||
| June 28 | 16,666 | 617 | 3.7 |
| July 1 | 14,087 | 423 | 3.0 |
| August 1 | 15,202 | 191 | 1.3 |
| September 1 | 7,484 | 82 | 1.1 |
The last paid meal was served on September 19, 1906. The last kitchen closed was that at Speedway Camp, where the final meal was served October 10, 1906.
Frequent complaints were made that the kitchens supplied food which lacked in quality and variety, was poorly cooked, and served on fly-infested tables in unsanitary rooms. In some instances the complaints were justified, but the army inspections were thorough, and the contractors on the whole lived up to the contracts. Some of the complaints were made not by those who were using the kitchens but by those who were critical of the kitchen system itself.
It is not possible to estimate the total value of the food distributed. For food and its distribution the Relief and Red Cross Funds expended $1,226,567.16. The army report gives $259,811.20 as expended for subsistence stores, but this is not a complete statement of the disbursements made by it from the appropriation from Congress. These sums do not include an estimate of the value of donations in kind that were used as such and not sold. General Greely in his report stated that in the food donations distributed by the army there were about 2,000,000 complete rations, which had to be increased by substitutions and by purchase to supply the 3,873,745 rations distributed by the army during May and June. Two commodities that had been donated in excess of need were flour and potatoes.
TABLE 10.—EXPENDITURES OF SAN FRANCISCO RELIEF AND RED CROSS FUNDS FOR PURCHASE AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD, TO MAY 29, 1909
| Purchases of food | ||
| Groceries | $560,205.77 | |
| Meat | 182,798.74 | |
| Bread | 84,436.10 | |
| Milk, fresh | 33,032.64 | |
| Fruits and Vegetables | 25,029.01 | |
| Flour | 21,848.14 | |
| Miscellaneous | 8,029.43 | |
| Total | $915,379.83 | |
| Distribution of food | ||
| Stoves, hardware, kitchen utensils, dishes, fuel, etc. | $30,540.72 | |
| Labor of all kinds | 39,968.72 | |
| Drayage, etc. | 14,787.10 | |
| Total | 85,296.54 | |
| Hot Meal Kitchens | 204,446.54 | |
| Bureau of Special Relief | 21,444.25 | |
| Grand total | $1,226,567.16 | |