TABLE 11.—PERSONS TO WHOM RATIONS WERE ISSUED IN MAY AND JUNE, 1906
| Date | Number of persons | |
|---|---|---|
| 1906 | ||
| May | 1 | 313,117 |
| 2 | 313,117 | |
| 3 | 279,631 | |
| 4 | 230,207 | |
| 5 | 264,570 | |
| 6 | 262,027 | |
| 7 | 233,989 | |
| 8 | 223,915 | |
| 9 | 222,313 | |
| 10 | 204,637 | |
| 11 | 186,960 | |
| 12 | 147,232 | |
| 13 | 139,405 | |
| 14 | 126,970 | |
| 16 | 97,886 | |
| 18 | 91,812 | |
| 22 | 73,163 | |
| 24 | 62,239 | |
| 26 | 39,432 | |
| 29 | 54,883 | |
| 31 | 44,289 | |
| June | 2 | 42,374 |
| 5 | 39,084 | |
| 7 | 35,237 | |
| 9 | 34,268 | |
| 12 | 29,621 | |
| 14 | 22,753 | |
| 16 | 22,295 | |
| 19 | 16,608 | |
| 21 | 16,246 | |
| 23 | 15,451 | |
| 26 | 15,340 | |
| 28 | 15,339 | |
| 30 | 15,353 | |
CHART 1.—PERSONS TO WHOM RATIONS WERE ISSUED IN MAY AND JUNE, 1906
Among the persons who received rations, as indicated in the [table] and [chart], are included both those to whom raw rations were issued and those who were served with free meals at the hot meal kitchens.
3. DISTRIBUTION OF CLOTHING
Of secondary urgency was the demand for clothing. The requests for clothing were fewer than those for food, though many refugees fled from the burned areas with no clothing except nightgowns or calico slips, a poor protection from the cold nights and chilly April mornings and evenings.
The records of distribution are incomplete. General Greely estimated the number of persons who received clothing at 200,000. Much of the clothing donated bore the wellknown mark of the charity gift in kind. The second hand clothing in many cases was, to repeat General Greely’s comment, “more or less of a burden on the Red Cross.” Some was useless; some required to be cleaned and disinfected. The new clothing was, in the words of Captain Bradley, who had charge of its distribution, “of old and dead stock of mediocre and poor quality.” Part of the shoes and articles of clothing supplied from the army stores and charged against the appropriation from Congress were of obsolete pattern. The same criticism was made of some of the household goods donated. A large number of the cots, for instance, were worthless or of poor quality. There was the further handicap to the distributor, of not knowing what donations were to be expected or when they were to be received. This uncertainty meant serious delays in supplying the need and severe criticism of the administrators, but the latter did not feel themselves justified in making purchases of clothing in large quantities when clothing similar to that ordered might, later, be received as a gift.
The memory is vivid to some of those who worked in the refugee camps during the midsummer of 1906, of the children in striped sweaters and gay Tam-o’-Shanters. The caps were not suitable for summer wear, but they had been sent in large quantity with the sweaters to be distributed. The mental picture of Golden Gate Park with its scattered barracks and tents pitched close to ornamental lakes and neglected flower beds is accentuated by the note of high color given by the sweaters and caps.
Distribution of clothing, like the distribution of food, was quickly undertaken by independent groups of volunteers, who collected and gave out what could be got in the city itself. While the fire was spreading the army from its stores in the Presidio gave blankets and quantities of shoes, shirts, ponchos, and other clothing for men. As the donations from abroad began to arrive in large quantities they were quickly handed out without careful discrimination in sorting or adapting to individual needs.