Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-04-21
WORK OF FEEDING THE DESTITUTE
Bread Lines Esta blished at amps and
People wait Patiently 70 Food.

Bread Lines Esta bIished at amps and
People Wait Patiently fo- Food.
SAN FRANCISCO. April 20 Although
every effort of the various relief COM
mittees today was bent to aOpease the
gnawing hunger of the destitute thousands
efforts that were in a large n easure en-
tirely successfuI-there are tonight in this
city many persons either without sufficient
food or entirely without 1t. Tie govern
ment officials took charge of every grocery
store in that part of the city ill stand
ing and gave out foodstuffs to all those
who were hungry. Bread lines were
tablished at Fillmore and Turk streets, at
Golden Gate park and at the P4esidio and
every person who stood in line was given
a whole loaf. The line at FL lmoro and
Turk was four blocks long all afternoon
and those at the parks were even longer
large supply of milk came frobl Oakland
this morning and this was distributed to
women and children wherever they were
found in need. A great aeal of this milk
was used for the exhausted women who
arrived at the. ferry throughout the day
and proved a great boon TO them.
The bread lines at the parks furnished
instances of the abs olute patience and for
titude that has marked the behavior OF
the people throughout their trying exper-
fence. There was no disorder when the
hungry thousands were told to form a
line and receive their bread and canned
goods. All were content to wait their
turn. Silk-hatted men of affairs followed
good naturedly behind Chinese, and took
their loaves from the same hand.
Soup kitchens were established in the
streets of the unburned section, no fires
whatever being allowed indoors, and many
hungry persons were fed by these individual
efforts. Bread and such other foodstums
as may be at hand will be distributed at
the various stations twice a day.
At the ferry station there were today
some pathetic scenes among the hungry
people. When the boat came I'm from Stock
ton with tons of supplies a number of small
children were the first to spy large box
of sandwiches with cries Of delight. They
made a rush for the food, seized as much
as they could hold and rushed to their
mothers with shouts of "Oh, mamma, look
at the sandwiches"
Seated around the ferry building sat hun
dreds of people sucking canned fruits from
the tins. Some were drinking condensed
cream and some were lucky enough to have
sardines or cheese. At several places along
Market street scores of men were digging
with their hands among the still smoking
debris of some large grocery house for
canned goods. When they secured 1t, which
they did without molestation from any
body, they broke the tins and drank the
contents.
At Hilbert street and Van Ness avenue at
8 o'clock tonight a wagonload OF supplies
conveyed by soldiers was besieged by a
crowd of hungry people, They appealed to
the soldiers for food and their appeals were
quickly heard. Selling an ak a soldier
smashed the boxes and tossed the supplies
to the crowd, which took time to cheer
Justify.
late estimate places the number Of
refugees camping in Golden Gate park
from the panhandle to the beach. at 1900
men, women and children. So far their
provisions have been comparatively inslg-
nifcant. 1t is feared by the health au-
thorities, however, that great suffering Will
result unless shelter can be found in the
near future for these thousands.
They are, of course living wholly in the
open. The most unsanitary conditions pre-
vail. Hillsides and wooded copses are being
utilized as cesspOols with the result that
from certain portions of the park a heavy,
fetid odor hangs like a pail. The refuse
will, 1t is declared, infest the water supply.
seeping into the broken mains, and so the
health officers fear, breeding pestience.
There was today ample food to feed the
park refugees, Bread stations were es-
tablished at the park police station in
Stanyan street and the streets near the
east and west boundaries of the park All
day thousands stood in the line in the in
tense heat waiting for their share of the
food.
Similar conditions prevail in the other
parks, vacant lots and open places in the
city. In all these camps representatives
of Alameda, Oakland and Berkeley relief
committees are urging the homeless families
to leave the San Francisco peninsula and
flee across the ,,av