" I then went to the headquarters of the Relief Com mittee and introduced myself to the chairman by the pres entation of my certificate or credentials, and spoke to Mr. Scott about the manner of distribution as I had observed it. He would not listen to any suggestion touching a change in the plan of distribution. I then went to one of the local committee and laid the matter before him, and he agreed that there ought to be some system about it.
" I then, with his consent, conferred with active, local sub-committee men, and agreed with them to inaugurate a system by placing one man on one side of the door or window to record the person coming for assistance and the goods received, and a man on the other side to deal out what was required, seeing to it that the sufferers from the flood received the goods, or that they went into proper hands. As they were citizens of the place, they could judge properly. On Saturday, the next day after my arrival, that plan was adopted, and the crowd that had assembled around each of these places early in the morning, as soon as they discovered that a system or check upon the delivery had been inaugurated, began to disappear, and the people for whom the goods were intended began to receive them."' To Mr. Emery, whose statement has just been quoted, the committee assigned the duty of distributing several car-loads of new cooking stoves and ranges immediately after they had been received. He reports that in less than thirty-six hours one hundred and thirty of these stoves had been delivered to bona fide sufferers in Johns town and the suburban boroughs having a certificate from a well-known resident that they were actual sufferers. A record was made of where they lived when the flood occurred, where they were at the time the stove was taken, and where it was to be delivered. A receipt was required in each case. Even at this time Mr. Emery was satisfied that there was on hand a surplus of clothing, enough to clothe all the survivors of the flood for years, and an abun dance of provisions. The militia, under a competent leader, were in control, and in hearty cooperation with the citizens in the distribution of relief as well as the reclamation of the city. The presence of bayonets in Johnstown appeared, to this observer, a necessity to good order and safety, not on account of the surviving residents, but on account of the temporary laborers and the plunderers from other places.
The clothing depots were closed on August 17, the remaining articles being sorted and packed away for dis tribution on the approach of winter, and in October, instead of reorganizing a force for their distribution, they were placed in the warehouse of the Red Cross Association. A large remaining supply, which had been stored in Phila delphia, was later sent for distribution to the Union Benevolent Society and the Children's Aid Society of Johnstown.
Estimates as to the value of supplies of all kinds dis I Eighth Annual Report of Associated Charities of the District of Colum bia, pp. 16, 17.
tributed between June 1 and July 1 vary from $500,000 to over $1,000,000. Over a thousand car-loads of goods
were brought to Johnstown by the railways, in addition to the supplies carried by the express companies.
For many survivors shelter was a need as pressing as that of food and clothing. The overcrowding, resulting from the reception of those whose houses had been de stroyed into the homes of those who lived on higher ground, soon became objectionable. Governor Foraker, of Ohio, forwarded a large number of tents, which, with others sent from the state arsenal at Harrisburg, were placed at the disposal of the people. This means of shelter, however, was not popular. The tents were used more by strangers who were taking part in the work of relief, than by the citizens, and it was recognized that some substantial kind of shelter was essential. At the same time the condition of the valley was such as to pre vent the erection of permanent buildings. There was a heavy deposit of earth, containing both animal and vege table matter, which must eventually be removed, and over this an accumulation of debris, so that it was possible only to erect temporary structures on the hillside, and on properties which had not been directly within the limits of the waters.
Thereupon seven hundred and ten portable houses were provided, of three different varieties. The Chicago Re lief Committee supplied one hundred of these, purchas ing them from their own funds, and on June 21 the Flood Commission contracted with the dealers for a hundred more of the same variety. A price was fixed for each house, less than its actual cost, and this price was charged against those to whom the houses were supplied, with the understanding that the amount would be deducted in the later apportionment of relief. The cheapest, known as " Oklahomas," were of one room, 10 x 20 feet in size, and were purchased in sections easily put together. The price charged for these houses was $75. Another style, known as the " Ready Made House," was 16 x 24 feet in size, and was divided by a partition into two rooms. Its price was $175. One hundred of these were purchased at the same time with one hundred " Oklabomas " bought by the commission. Neither one of these types of buildings sat isfied the people, and it was not until a considerable reduc tion had been made in the price that families were found willing to accept them. Plans were prepared for a four roomed, two-story house, 16 x 24 feet in size, which, while not finished for permanent occupancy, could easily be completed, or could be used as an addition to a more pre tentious building. Four hundred of these houses, the price of which had been fixed at $260, were purchased by the commission. It was made a condition of the purchase, with which the builders readily complied, that in the em ployment of laborers, citizens of Johnstown should have preference over all others. The demand for labor, how ever, was greater than the supply, and the larger part of the work was done by men from a distance.