Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-12
RELIEF WORK IS
HIGHLY PRAISED
OFFICIAL PAYS TRIBUTE TO
Mr.. DESMOND
Man Who superntended Serving Of
10000 Hot Meals Daily to San
Francisco Sufferers Makes
Interesting Report

man of the relief committee which
went to San Francisco to aid the suf-
ferers, was received by the chamber Of
commerce yesterday
The work accomplished by the COM
mittee was spoken of in the highest
terms by Major General George Feb
riger. who was in charge of the general
relief work In the city of San Fran
cisco. The report sent by Mr.. Desmond
is as follows:
"In the matter of the Los Angeles re-
lief work, l am today sending the pay
rolls, bills and receipts to my secretary,
Mr.. Nimmo, who will take all these
matters up direct with you, as lot of
the pay checks have already come In.
This is n full report of all the ex-
penditures made since leaving Los An
geles, and the original bills have been
handed to you already
II will endeavor to give you a brief
resume of the work accomplished
Served 10000 Meals a Day
1--WE arrived in San Francisco at 8
a. M. April %, and Immediately pro-
ceeded to establish camps; by 1890 we
were prepared to serve hot dinner,
and between that time and 2 p. m. had
fed 500: we fed continuously at about
the same rate until p. M, when lights
and fires had to be extinguished.
From April "a until May 3 inclusive,
we averaged about 10000 hot meals n
day; on May we fed only women and
children and discontinued the work on
the evening of May 4, by order of the
government, as the immediate necessity
for that class of relief had passed and
they believed that continuance of the
hot meals of the character served was
simply an incentive to many able
bodied men to refrain from work.
Five main relief stations were es-
tablished at such points as would 10
the most good, namely,
1.-TWO camps in the Potrero district,
the temporary location of thousands of
homeless from the south of Market
district.
"One camp in Golden Gate park,
which was the general refuge for the
city.
"One camp at Bay and Jones to take
care of the devastated Latin quarter.
'One camp at Eighteenth and Dolores
for the relief of the Mission district.
Found Chaotic Conditions
'On our arrival we found everything
in chaotic condition: the military had
their hands full policing the city and
doing guard duty; martial law practi-
cally prevailed; the only attempt at re-
lief work in many sections was through
hastily organized citizens committees
organization had been perfected and
supplies were short, much suffering
existed. The serving of hot meals was
a godSend, as even with supplies, vast
numbers had no facilities for cooking.
The result was that all the hungry ap-
plying at our camps were properly fed
and the possibilities of reckless dis
tribution of supplies and repeating
were eliminated. The good work was
the comment of the cities on both sides
of the bay, and the Los Angeles relief
will never be forgotten.
II feel especially complime ented by the
offer of the government officials to
have me assume the entire feeding OF
the city, but this l had to decline ow-
ing to my numerous other interests here.
Stole Souvenir Plate
1--WE were enabled to start to work so
quickly and serve meals eXpeditiously,
owing to the complete organization per-
fected before our arrival; the value Of
this, in the face of the conditions we
met, was inestimabe
II cannot too highly compliment the
indefatigable energy of my associates
on the relief work. whose efforts made
possible the good we accomplished.
They are Frank T. Mattimoe. G. M.
Boyd, Sherman Pease. p. S. Baker. r.
G. Moore. c. H. Page, c. w. Saurrett,
H. II. Barry, Is, Mesa, w. MaDen anu
John Llewellyn.
TN the matter of the cooking equip
ment, the ranges and appurtenances,
and everything of value have been
turned over to the government, who
are at present using them for baking,
and If they resume the hot meal serv-
ice they will be used in that connection.
''Tinware was badly needed by ninety
per cent of the people and it.was i'm
YaoGcihlo n thar1 eta o
same. notwithstanding the force of
guards we had on hand but as the Los
Angeles camps were quoted as the
Waldorfs of San Francisco, l suppose
the stealing of plate as souvenirs
should go with the name. as in New
York. d. j. DESMOND"
Pays Highest Compliments
The following letter was sent to Mr..
Desmond by Major General Febriger:
Dear Slr-It gives me great pleasure
on the closing out of the relief camps
In your charge, sent here by the gem
erosity of the chamber of commerce of
your city. Los Angeles, Cal. to extend
to you my most hearty congratulations
on the most admirable manner in which
they have been conducted, and most
hearty thanks for the great assistance
which you and they have been to me in
the management of this most difficult
problem OF Ieeulng the lnulBent or TINS
city.
THE systematic, thorough and intel
ligent manner in which you and your
subordinates have managed these
camps. has been a wonder, not only to
me. but to all In the city who have OBJ
served their workings. My only OBJ
lection is, that you fed the patrons of
your tables entirely too WE'LL and thus
tended to pauperize those whom you
served, as there was no incentive to
their going to work when they were be-
ing provided free with meals so much
better than they ordinarily had.
"In addition to this. the idea that
you suggested to me. of extending this
system to the whole city. your willing
ness to continue this philanthropic
work by remaining in control on pay
ing basis. any number of camps which
/ might designate, has been a most
valuable one, and | hope on tentative