New-York tribune., 1906-04-20
THE WORK OF RELIEF.

1t is characteristic of the practical energy and
of the generosity Of the American people that
before the earth has perhaps fully ceased to
tremble at San Francisco. and certainly before
the destructive confagration has subsded, the
work Of relief for the stricken is being organized
upon a scale as nearly possible commensurate
with the need There can be no question of the
magnitude and urgency of the need. II is true
that the genial climate of California and the
mild weather of this season will greatly amelio-
rate the sunerings Of the homeless myriads, while
the productiyeness of much of the adjacent
country will facilitate the supplying of food.
Despite these fortunate circumstances however,
the fact that probably quarter OF a million
people have been at a stroke deprived of their
homes and of all available resources and prop
erty save that which they have carried upon
their persons in desperate flight and that all
the stOrehouses and industrial establishments
of that great community have been annihilated
and the means of communication with the rest
of the world seriously impaired, indicates dis
aster and an aggregate of harGships almost too
great for the mind TO conceive II will simply
be impossible for aid 10 be too promptly or too
copiously offered.
Yesterdays offerings were large. and to-day's
promise is still greater The action of Con-
gress and of the War Department. of various
state and city governments and of commercial
and other organizations. was all commendable
while the list of private contributions made
through various informal channels, aggregated
handsome sum. To-days meeting at the City
Hall. appropriately summoned by the Mayor,
will doubtless effect an authoritative municipal
organization for the purposes of securing and
receiving funds and goods and of forwarding
them 10 the appropriate authorities in San
Francisco and other scenes of devastation in
California. 1t is work in which all American
IOoV vic in yNa
trust New York will hold marked supremacy
1t has not been the misfortune of this city to be
swept with fire food. as have been Chicago
Boston. Baltimore, Galveston and others. 1t
las been its good fortune not only to escape
such woes. but also TO he permitted largely TO
contribute 10 the relief of those who have been
stricken In the present the Eastern me-
trOpOlis will not we are sure. be found untrue
TO its noblest traditions in the readiness and
amount of the succOr which it sends to the
metropolis of the Pacific Coast
1t will be pleasure, giving relief 10 the hOr-
rors of the daily news, TO chronicle the prompt,
spontaneous and abundant outpouring of the
needed bounty, from state and city, from cor
poratiOn and individual from church and the
atre, from rich and poor, according to their
ability. The Tribune does not solicit the send
ing of contributions through its agency. deemng
ii more appropriate that they should be made,
as far as possible. through the official channels
which are being provided by the Mayor and his
associates Nevertheless, this journal WILL Of
course. gladly acknowledge and transmit any
gifts which its readers may fit TO intrust
TO it, What it does desire is that New York
shall not be backward in rising to the demands
of this unprecedented occasion, but that the
most appalling catastrophe i'll American history
shall be marked with the greatest outpOuring of
American generosity.