The San Francisco call., 1906-06-25
rCARPET-BAGGERS"
BY LAURA BRIDE POWERS.

The time has come Wnen san + ran
cisco must take heed OF the great cry
that goes up from the city's poor-the
poor made. poorer by the tragedy OF
the 18Th of April
In our eagerness 10 collect our in
surance. 70 resume business relations
10 readjust our lives TO new condi-
tions. 70 lift our beautiful city to its
feet that it may soon again be the lure
OF the Western world. let US not turn
deaf ear 10 the cry that rises from the
lips of our fellows helpless in their
temporary poverty.
That there is something wrong some
shere no unbiased or disinterested OBJ
server can deny-nOr does.
II you fellow citizens of San Fran
cisco. gathered together this morning
in the coy comfort and secluslon OF
your spared homes. are sufficiently in
1terested in the welfare Of your home
less townsmen go, I pray you, among
..the camps Of the refugees and talk to
.Ehe conservatives-neve mind the rad
icals-trusting to your intelligence &c
sift the wheat from the chaf.
Don't, however, seek out the pretty
girls in camp with their plump, round
shoulders peeping through peek-a boo
waists. nor the firty, pretty women
with coy smiles and the baby stare
They viii have nothing of distress to
- tell you-nOthing, perhaps, that they
would care 20 relate Besides the tale
b of a squeeze Of the hand. kiss after
dark a.. clandestine walk in the park
a soiree in the tent with the commits
sary. is not the object Of your search
albeit il might reveal the cause OF
skinned milk for others, the monopoly
of new clothing and the plenitude OF
comforts that abides in the tents OF
ladies fair but that's another story
for another day
Seek then. the unalluring folk-the
~old men and women. and the tired. half
sick mothers with cross, sick babes and
half clad tykes at their heels, and the
Sensitiveg delicate women Of the mid
. die classes, unaccustomed TO hardships
10 rough usage and brutal language
such madam. as you and ! would quail
under, feel faint grow dizzy and &c
away resolved TO fight il out alone with
hunger OF these, by the way, there
are thrice more out-of the camps than
in. and any relief worker whose heart
a well as her head is in the work car
present the names and addresses of hun
dreds Of such cases-notwithstand
: the smugly delivered opinions of the
p. constituted authorities that there is
;; now. no suffering in the city"
In fact. in support Of this claim Colo
:: nel Lea Febiger. in charge of food
Supplies naively declares in his re-
= pert that there has not been a re-
ported case of. death by starvation
- since the disaster"
Amusing Colonel Febiger. uncon-
scious humorist thus TO measure the
standards OF suffering by death!
FAVoRITISM AND RED TAPE.
the Colonel. but IL is not TO be be-
b. lieved that the humane multitudes that
gave millions for the relief of the city
viii accept his standard
In your tour OF investigation it viii
not take many hours TO discern that
arbitrary rulings. red tape and bu-
-reaucracy. the upper Office" and IA
poritism, mismana cement, incivility and
q. often brutality in many of the lower
officers Of administration are obstruct'
. ing and defeating the humane pur-
poses of the fund.
. Tc be sure, there are stations where
at excellent service has been done and
done humanely, neighbOrly-not pau
perizingly, as the trained workers ot
the Associated Charities would have
ii done. with the contumely of an in
QUESTION into the minutest details OF
personal history.
This may be the proper procedure
in normal times in cases of the city's
destitute, but such inquisitions have
no place in the work now at hand. Thi:
is relief work, not charity work
But even in these well managed sta
tions the service is handicapped by
their inability 10 lure supplies from
headquarters upon requisition.
These are unpleasant facts TO meet
and unpleasant facts TO put into type
IT savors strongly Of washing family
POI linen in public, but why temporize
when the relief committee storerooms
are filled 10 overiowing with necessa-
. ries blankets, cots, comforters, warm
underclOthing. Shoes etc, and they
cannot be 'requisitioned" coaxed
lured cajoled or hypnOtized into the
hands Of the needy except through z
: .pull"2
: Why2
That's the question that $4,000 peo-
pie are asking at the present moment
and those who ought TO be able to an
swer by right Of their positions are
fpassing the buck"
Does DR.. Devine Of New York know
or James d. Phelan, or Allan Pollok
81 Mr.. Bicknell Of Chicago, or Miss
Higgins Of Boston, or Alexander Rus.
sell. or Mrs. Curtis Of New York, oil
General Greedy, or Colonel Febiger, OF
OsgOOd Putnam. secretary Of district
OF the relief work and president of the
San Francisco Associated Charities?
Assuredly Mrs. John R. Merrill does
not, although by virtue of her office az
vice president of the California
Branch of the National Red Cross So
ciety and presiding officer over mos
Of the relief deliberations she should
know.
Not only does Mrs. Merrill not know
but she is unable to extricate supple:
from headquarters on requisition, ever
as the least Of US.
In spite Of the noble service thai
Mrs. Merrill has rendered, and is still
rendering, the city she confesses hel
Inability 10 I'll a requisition that sh.
bravely undertook to put through or
June ia reQuisition from the Cali,
fornia Club relief committee
WHERE ARE THE SUPPLIESs
The reouisition in question was is.
sued on June 10 by Mrs. a. w. Scott