The grants mentioned under (5) had been made “under pressure of unusual circumstances and without that calm and careful consideration which in my opinion should precede such action.” He urged that these grants be taken into account before recommendations for an additional appropriation to a society were made.
The suggestion was made that personal visits to the institutions applying would be advisable. The committee was asked to visit at its own discretion. At the subsequent meeting, held September 14, the following resolutions were adopted:
1. That aid be given, in preference, to the institutions that were most directly assisting the work of the Corporation; namely, such as were caring for the sick, the aged, and helpless children, and were helping individuals and families to become self-supporting.
2. That institutions that had been destroyed by the disaster should not be re-established if in the judgment of the advisory committee other institutions of like character existed to do the work.
3. That no institution receiving state aid should be recommended.
The committee also informally agreed with Mr. Dohrmann’s suggestion that in recommending an institution for a grant, consideration should be given to the amount that it had already received from any special or general relief fund. At this September meeting a number of sub-committees were appointed to make investigations of the institutions applying for grants. A number of applications, as has already been noted, were on file. After careful consideration and consultation with Mr. Dohrmann the committee abandoned the plan of publishing in the newspapers a notice describing its work.
In visiting institutions the committee presented the following letter:
“The bearer is a member of a committee investigating the condition of the charitable and benevolent institutions of our city with a view to ascertaining the losses occasioned by the earthquake and fire and the present pressing needs. It is hoped that out of the general relief fund something may be done toward helping the most needy institutions to carry on their work. Will you kindly give the bearer permission to investigate your institution and give any needed information? It is understood that this committee is merely advisory and is trying to ascertain the immediate needs so that if funds become available the most needy institutions will be assisted.”
Without following the members of the advisory committee on their round of visits, we shall give the gist of their report to Mr. Dohrmann, which is largely a reflection of the recommendations in his September letter. In this report, dated November 7, 1906, the committee stated that in recommending the allotment of the whole sum of $250,000 to the institutions whose needs and present importance were most apparent, it had agreed on certain principles, the most important of which were:
1. To base an allotment on the apparent impairment of income for the calendar year 1907, and on the loss by fire or earthquake of necessary equipment; and further, to make the sum such as would cover the needs of the institutions for one year only.