Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-11-15
THE CHICAGO RELIEF FUND.
What is BEING Done with the Money
ErnIn thn ,f

| "hat AS BEING Done with the Money.
FROM the Chicago Times of Thursday.
1t is suggested to those gentlemen
who are talking about division of the
fund IN the hands of the relief commit
tee to flrSt ascertain whether there is
any fund to divide. One of these well
lntentloned persons is said to have pre-
terred request at Standard hall, few
days since, that an advance should be
made him of $4,000, with which he
could set large number of men at
work, and which sum, he thought, un-
der the circumstances, was a moderate
sum to ask for He was
asked if he had considered the
| question as to how much the fund al
ready amounted to? Oh, yes he
knew all about that. He read the
newspapers, he did; and he had figured
the thing up, and there could not be
on hand less than $4,000, 0OOt $13S,
600, 900. He put it rather under the
mark, he Thought, but that was about
the figure. And he was, without doubt,
perfectly sincere in his conviction,
which, just as undoubtedly, is honest
ly shared by a good many other people
who, in their ordinary intercourse with
their fellow citizens, are not supposed
to be idiots
Now the simple fact is that the ac-
tual amount subscribed to the Chicago
relief fund, on which the committee re-
ly for future exigencies and present
use, is little over So, 900, 900. Of this
sum they have received about one
half, or 81, 100000. One need not re-
fleet great while to come to rational
conclusion about the disposition of that
large sum of money in such place as
this. II So, 000,000 is good deal of
money, 10000 people are good many
people, and to build houses into which to
put them, to find food with which to
feed them, and clothing wherewith they
all shall be clothed, can only be done at
a vast outlay There have been built
already barracks in which /, 900 fami-
lies have found shelter; between 3, 900
and 1000 separate houses have been
already given out, and are erected, or
in process of erection, ali over the city,
and there are acquisitions for 5000
altogether already made, which will be
honOred.
Into every one of the houses, and in
every one of the separate rooms into
which the barracks are divided, there
is put stove, bedstead, mattress,
usually more than one, and othernec-
essaries as fast as they can be provid-
ed. The material for these houses.
wherever it could he found, is bought
with money, and the demand created
in consequence for lumber is felt all
over the country, which the committee
anticipated by buying all they could
get hold of three weeks ago. The
erection of the dwellin9s-and. their
erection is absolutely necessary, If 3d.
900 or 40, 600 laboring people are to be
retained III Chicago, with the simple
furniture required to make them habi-
table, will cost not much, if any, less than
million of dollars. And the question is
not whether the committee ought to
spend the money, but whether they can
spend it fast enough. For the difficulty
is TO get all they want They have alb
solutely swept the country for stoves
creatures still shivered last night in
house without fire, and had no better
bed than the bare boards Generous
as charitable public has been every
where, large as the quantity of clothing
and food given is, it is money
which has carried us through
the terrible ordeal of the last three
weeks. The daily expenditure for the
shelter, the clothing, and the feeding of
these thirty odd thousand people, over
and above all that has been given for
the relief of the destitute, is simply
enormous; the expenditure for the
great staples of food is only second to
that for shelter, and the mere cost Of
conducting the business Of the care Of
such multitude is exceedingly heavy.
Thirty days only have passed, and al
ready the committee must have ex-
pended a third of the amount at their
command. A session of five months is
before us, and what that may bring
forth of trial and suffering the wisest
cannot fOretell. But, with wise fore
sight, the committee is providing for
that uncertain future, so far as in them
lies, and the question with them is, not
whether they have any money to divide
among those who want to be set up In
business, but whether enough can be
got to carry them through the winter,
and house, and feed, and clothe the
poor, and keep them from perishing.
HAMPTON.