TABLE 22.—NATIONALITY OF HEADS OF FAMILIES AMONG REFUGEES, BY CIVIL SECTIONS, MAY, 1906. PERCENTAGES BASED ON THE TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES IN WHICH INFORMATION AS TO NATIVITY WAS AVAILABLE
| Country of birth | PER CENT OF HEADS OF FAMILIES OF EACHSPECIFIED NATIONALITY IN CIVIL SECTIONS | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | ||
| United States | 47.5 | 52.7 | 31.6 | 49.1 | 38.6 | 19.6 | 44.6 | 41.6 |
| Germany, Austria | 15.5 | 12.7 | 10.5 | 18.3 | 15.1 | 17.5 | 15.8 | 15.1 |
| Ireland | 11.0 | 11.9 | 9.1 | 11.1 | 22.6 | 18.8 | 16.3 | 14.3 |
| Italy | 3.1 | 2.1 | 27.9 | 2.6 | 4.7 | 12.7 | 3.6 | 8.1 |
| England, Scotland | 7.9 | 7.2 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 6.5 | 6.8 | 7.3 | 6.5 |
| Sweden, Norway, and Denmark | 3.7 | 5.8 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 5.6 | 12.5 | 5.1 | 4.7 |
| France | 4.5 | 1.6 | 3.2 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 2.4 | 2.7 |
| Other countries | 6.8 | 6.0 | 10.1 | 8.7 | 5.5 | 8.7 | 4.9 | 7.0 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
The distribution of nationalities varies somewhat in the different sections. Sections III and VI have a considerably smaller proportion of native born than the others. Italians are conspicuously prominent in Section III and Irish in Section V. Germans and Austrians are relatively most numerous in Sections IV and VI, and least numerous in Section III; the proportion of Italian families is less than 5 per cent in all sections except III and VI; the proportion of Irish varies from 9 per cent in Section III to 23 per cent in Section V. In Section VI the nationality of over two-thirds of the families was not given, and in Section II, as has been explained, the registration was not representative of the total body of refugees within its boundaries.
The number of persons registered as having been provided with shelter was but a part of the whole. The estimated number of persons who were living in shacks and barracks on June 1 was 40,000[71] according to the census taken by General Greely; 42,000 according to the Southern Pacific Railroad; 39,000 according to a computation made for this Relief Survey.[72] Of this last number, 34,000 were in tents, 5,000 in barracks and rough shacks. There was a slight increase in the camp population in late May and in June, due to the return of refugees from Oakland and other points, but apart from this accretion the camp population was subject to slight variation.
[71] It must be borne in mind that the figures taken from the first registration covered but a part of the camp and shack population.
[72] Computation made on the basis of the number of tents issued by the army, the proportion of tents obtained from other sources and in use at the end of June, and the average number of persons to the tent.
The first of June a San Franciscan wrote to Charities and the Commons[73] an account of conditions, which gives a picture of what life in the camps meant to some of the refugees:
“The courage and energy of the population of San Francisco in the face not only of disaster but of extreme terror and sudden homelessness has not been exaggerated, but to a great many the full effect of the strain is not even yet apparent. The discomforts of living, in spite of adequate relief, are very great. Wind and fog—for the weather has been unusually cold for a month, dust unspeakable, cooking out of doors in camps and streets, lack of water for toilet appliances, the incessant boiling of water and milk for fear of fever, absence of light and means of transportation for some time—in short, the total uprooting of all the ordinary habits of life, is bearing more and more heavily on the women and children. Schools are closed, thus turning thousands of children literally into the ruined streets. It is now proposed to have a vacation school in Golden Gate Park for the children in camps there, but this is only a very small part of the whole number.
“And for those who stay by the city much of this discomfort will go on for several months to come. That under such circumstances men and women become apathetic and lose pride and self-respect when they can no longer endure the strain of petty hardships, is not surprising. Archbishop Riordan, on his way to the scene of the disaster, is said to have predicted, as the worst effect of it, the deterioration of health and character which would be its inevitable result upon those who are not of the exceptional stuff of which heroes and pioneers are made.”
[73] Smith (Coolidge), Mary Roberts: Relief Work in its Social Bearings. Charities and the Commons, XVI: 311 (June 2, 1906).