II. To make provision, by amending the revenue laws or otherwise, for the proper and just assessment and col lection of taxes within the city of Chicago.
III. To enact such other laws and to adopt such other measures as may be necessary for the relief of the city of Chicago and the people of said city, and for the execution and enforcement of the laws of the state.
The governors of Wisconsin, in which state forest fires were at the time spreading desolation, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, and New York issued proclamations call ing for liberal private relief. Jay Gould, on behalf of the Erie Railroad, and William K. Vanderbilt, on behalf of the New York Central Railroad, offered to carry for ward supplies, and similar offers were soon received from all directions.
The capital city of Illinois on October 9 appropriated $10,000 to relieve the distress in Chicago. Committees from Boston, New York, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and other cities were upon the ground immediately after the fire, rendering assistance to the local relief committee, in forming their respective cities of the extraordinary distress and of the particular needs to be supplied.
As might have been anticipated, the residents of the city lost no time in initiating emergency relief measures. On the afternoon of the second day of the fire a number of city officers and prominent citizens met in a Congrega tional church for consultation regarding the public wel fare in the emergency. A call was then issued for a meeting at the same place in the evening.
This meeting was attended by the mayor, commis sioners of the police and fire departments, and other city officials, by thirteen members of the board of alder men and a large number of prominent citizens. The mayor in calling the meeting to order stated that its object was to inaugurate some plan for concert of action by the authorities and the citizens, to furnish immediate succor to the large number of people who had been ren dered homeless and destitute, and who " to save their lives had been driven far out into the open country north and west of the city limits, where they were com pelled to remain without shelter, food, and in many cases without clothing, until assistance was taken to them " ; also " to take charge of and distribute the re lief which he was advised was being collected in other A committee, consisting of the mayor and two alder men for each of the three divisions of the city, was appointed to act as a general relief committee. This committee met at the same place on the following morn ing, selected the church in which the meetings had been held as headquarters of the committee, and remained there in continuous session for several days. The follow ing sub-committees were appointed : 1. In charge of receiving supplies at the railroad stations and sending them to depots for storage and distribution.
1 Record of proceedings of the General Relief Committee.
2. In charge of transportation and the distribution of supplies from depot to church and school building com mittees in various portions of the city.
3. In charge of distribution of relief.
4. In charge of supplying water to church and school building committees.
5. In charge of railroad passes to destitute persons wishing to leave the city.
6. In charge of hospitals and medical supplies.
7. In charge of providing barracks for shelter.
The third of these sub-committees, on distribution of relief, consisted of a gentleman who represented the Chi cago Relief and Aid Society ; the sixth consisted of two physicians. Suitable notices were printed for the infor
mation of the public, one of which, addressed to the home less, announced that all the public school buildings as well as churches were to be opened for the shelter of persons who could not find other accommodations ; when food was not to be found at such buildings it would be pro vided by the committee on application to headquarters. The president of the board of trade was authorized to receive and distribute supplies under the control and upon the order of the committee ; and was also authorized to hire or press into service, if necessary, a sufficient number of teams to handle such supplies. By October 12 it was officially estimated that about seventy thousand persons had been relieved by the aid of this committee. On that date a proposition was submitted from the Chicago Relief and Aid Society that the said society should take full charge of the receipt and distribution of all supplies throughout the entire city. After full discussion, a resolution carry ing this plan into effect was adopted. The resolution was as follows : — "Resolved, as the sense of this meeting, that the organization of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society be adopted as the means of distribut ing the food and supplies received for the suffering, and that the pres ent Relief Committee appointed Monday night last, together with the Mayor, Comptroller, City Treasurer and two other aldermen from each division of the city, to be selected by the Mayor and the Presi dent of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, be added to the direction of said society." At the same meeting the following circular letter was sent to each local committee in charge of relief distribu tion : " Committees at school buildings and churches, in charge of dis tributing food, clothing, and bedding to persons rendered homeless and destitute by the great fire, are directed to limit the issue of sup plies to the absolute daily necessities (not always the wants) of per sons applying for, and entitled to, aid, pending the completion of a larger organization and a more thorough system for the distribution of relief. The Committee respectfully urge upon such Committees the great importance of strictly observing this rule, so that the generous contributions we are now receiving may not be diverted from the purpose for which they are needed, and which was intended by the donors." The relief committee discontinued all official action on the evening of Saturday, October 14, referring all mat ters relating to its work after that date to the Executive Committee of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society. The mayor had issued the following proclamation the day be fore, Friday, October 13 : "I have deemed it best for the interest of the city to turn over to the Chicago Relief and Aid Society all contributions for the suffering people of this city. This Society is an incorporated and old estab lished organization, having possessed for many years the entire confi dence of our community, and is familiar with the work to be done. The regular force of this Society is inadequate to this immense work, but they will rapidly enlarge and extend the same by adding promi nent citizens to the respective committees, and I call upon all citizens to aid this organization in every possible way.