Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-06-28

LANCASTER, PA, June %, 1889.
The Distrihutien.

There IL likely to I've more difficulty
In distributing the food relief funds
than there has been in raising them.
There seems to have been great slow
nese in devising plan Of distribution,
and u IL only now that the state com
mittec appointed by the governor has
Indicated the policy that IL will seek to
pursue. That policy seems to be all
right, but 1t will I've attended by vast
difficulty i'm execution, and IL is not like
" that II will he very successfully done.
The committee declare that they con-
siNcr the fund as u charity for the
needy and not rs general indemnity
for losses sustained and that IL cannot
therefore be distributed per capita nor
by percentage on the amount Of the
losses, nor must IL he used for the benefit
Of any corporation. We understand
from this that the rich will not be
distributes, whatever their loss, that
only the poor will receive share
Of the fund, and that the effort will he
to distribute in proportion to the need
Of the sufferer and not in proportion TO
his loss.
No fault certainly can he found with
this conception of the mode in which
the distribution shall be made,
and II it can he done rs pro-
posed ii will be well done. That
il will require great deal Of good
Judgment and hard work to come with
the execution anywhere near to the jus
tice of the conception, is very clear. The
sufferers are so many and their condition
% various rs to make the work of distri-
button according to their need very
difficult one. Their loss must he first
ascertained and then their ability to sus-
tain 1t. What will guide this decision +?
It will only he plain when the sufferers
are pennilcss after the need Of these Is
attended to, there will remain a greater
!. number In various stages of deprivation:
ann @ 20 on sTanage compensatory, acs ncss,,oriing
to the din, P, sP.,So Sondi,t, md ,ts,n Of each viii be-
task of great delicacy and it is certain
to be performed with only approximate
success.
The time has gone by when the popu-
latioD of the Conemaugh valley requires
to be supported upon the fund and the
local committee protests against n
further general distribution of supplies,
as they say II IL encouraging tho work
men to idleness and preventing the
revival Of business by dcpriving the
storekeepers of customers. The fund has
become curse instead of blessing, In
this mode Of distribution, and they ask
for an immediate division of the fund
among the sufferers, that they may know
where they stand and may 90 to work
to renew their fortunes.
This is good counsel 80 far as it de-
mands AN immediate application of the
fund. II was provided for an emer-
gency and was not intended as u pen
sion fund. II should be distributed as
quickly as IL can be done judiciously
but whether In money or in buildings
will be u question for consideration. The
great loss of the class needing help has
been in dwellings and furniture and it
would seem that good plan of
relief would be i'm the use of the
amount given to each sufferer I'm the
restoration of his dwelling and its ne
cessary furniture. There will be abun-
dant work in the devastated region for
its population in the renewal of its struc-
tums and the wisest disposition of the
relief fund seems 10 he in the PROMPT
application of il to building, which will
supply at once homes and work for the
sufferers.