TABLE 31.—A. AMOUNT EXPENDED MONTHLY BY BUREAU OF SPECIAL RELIEF FOR ALL PURPOSES FROM AUGUST 15, 1906, TO JUNE 30, 1907
| Period | Amount | |
|---|---|---|
| 1906 | August 15 to August 31 | $1,294.10 |
| September | 3,860.45 | |
| October | 4,632.00 | |
| November | 6,160.32 | |
| December | 9,210.66 | |
| 1907 | January | 11,284.13 |
| February | 8,940.47 | |
| March | 4,320.72 | |
| April | 2,936.06 | |
| May | 2,668.34 | |
| June | 1,249.88 | |
| Total | $56,557.13 | |
TABLE 31.—B. AMOUNT EXPENDED BY BUREAU OF SPECIAL RELIEF FOR ADMINISTRATION AND FOR SUPPLIES FROM AUGUST 15, 1906, TO JUNE 30, 1907
| Purpose of expenditure | EXPENDITURE | |
|---|---|---|
| Amount | Per cent | |
| Administration (including salaries of physicians and nurses) | $15,720.70 | 27.8 |
| Supplies | 40,836.43 | 72.2 |
| Total | $56,557.13 | 100.0 |
Certain items subsequently charged to the Bureau bring the total to $58,421.35.[134]
[134] $58,421.35 is the total expenditure of the Bureau of Special Relief, given in the Sixth Annual Report of the American National Red Cross, pages 87 and 88. The cost of sewing machines granted by the Bureau is not included in these figures. All such machines were paid for by the Rehabilitation Committee out of its own funds.
As seen in [Table 31 A] the volume of work increased gradually from August, 1906, to January, 1907, and then fell off steadily to June 15.
The Bureau of Special Relief was originally organized to deal only with families living outside the permanent camps, but by degrees it became necessary for it to render to residents of the camps such services as the camp commanders and their staffs were unable to give. Upon direct request from a camp commander, for instance, the Bureau would send regular supplies to applicants who were unable to eat at the camp kitchens, or would, when the camp supply was exhausted, or unsuitable, supply clothes and such emergency household needs as stoves and blankets. The camp department was able through its surgeon to give certain kinds of medical aid. The specific responsibility of the camps was to administer them so as to give suitable housing and discipline to their complex population. It was well that the Department of Camps was able to call on such an organization as the Bureau to supply the miscellaneous needs which lay outside the routine provision of camp life.
As was said above, the Rehabilitation agents sometimes called on the Bureau to give aid while cases were pending in their department. Soon after its organization the Bureau took charge of requests for tools and other articles, the Rehabilitation agents being instructed to refer directly to it without investigation all such applications. When it was soon found, however, that most of these uninvestigated cases were in fact applications for rehabilitation, the order was reversed, so that a later request received by the Department for aid in kind should be first investigated by its agent and then referred to the Bureau through the secretary of Sub-committee I.[135] In referring the case, a memorandum was added, to state that it had been investigated and to specify the amount and kind of aid to be given. After February 1, 1907, the Bureau ceased to give tools and sewing machines except on the order of the Rehabilitation Committee; if applications for these articles were made by a camp resident, the approval of the camp commander had to be obtained before the application could be forwarded to the Bureau. The Bureau of Special Relief practically closed on June 15, 1907. A small force was at work until June 21, 1907, when all outstanding appeals were settled.
[135] The centralized system, not the district system, being then in effect.