The last regular payments in the final distribution were made on November 14, although in special instances the checks were issued at later dates. Payment having been completed, another review of all the claimants was made, with a view of equalizing the amounts given to sufferers under like circumstances, and additional checks were sent to a number of persons.
In the final distribution the average amount paid to widows was about $1500. The number of women made widows by the flood was 124, and the amount received by them was $183,281, in addition to which there was set aside for their children a sum which amounted to $108,500. For the care of children made orphans by the flood, it was decided to make an arrangement with the Girard Life Insurance and Annuity Company of Philadelphia, by which they agreed to allow interest compounded annually, and received a sum which, with these accretions, would permit to be paid to each orphan the sum of $50 annually until the age of sixteen, these payments being made through the First National Bank of Johnstown. The amount re quired for this purpose was In this account of the relief work at Johnstown no adequate reference has been made to the aid rendered by special agencies, such as the Red Cross, the Children's Aid Society of Western Pennsylvania, the Grand Army of the Republic, and others whose participation was less con spicuous. The writer has wished to set forth rather those who were primarily responsible for relief and for adminis tration, and to avoid the confusion which would result from attempting to apportion to the various voluntary agencies complete credit for the assistance which each rendered. In any similar situation which, unfortunately, may arise in the future, it is not the part taken by these auxiliary agencies, important as they are, that it will be of primary importance to understand, but the plans devised, the methods employed, the mistakes made, and the diffi culties overcome by such bodies as the Flood Commission, the Finance Committee, the Board of Inquiry, and the informally constituted town-meeting which assembled in bewilderment and sorrow on the day following the flood.
I Report of Flood Relief Commission, p. 45.
The commission received the following sums : Contributions through Governor Beaver . . . $1,236,146.45Through the Permanent Relief Committee of Phila delphia . . . . . . . . 600,000.00 Through the Pittsburg Relief Committee . . 560,000.00 Through the New York Relief Committee . . 510,199.85 Total . . . . . $2,906,346.30The total cash contributions disbursed by the commis sion and by other relief agencies, so far as the secretary of the commission had obtained information at the time of his report, June 23, 1890, amounted to ' ,116,801.48.
The commission expended for the relief of those who had suffered from floods in the state of Pennsylvania, else where than in the Conemaugh Valley, $246,475.26, and for sufferers in the Conemaugh Valley, including expense of distribution, $2,592,936.68. The itemized statement of expenditures in the Conemaugh Valley is given by the auditors of the commission as follows : For supplies . . $61,533.86For labor . . . . . . 43,931.11 For buildings, rent and labor on buildings . . . 179,033.87 For burial of the dead and for the removal of the dead to "Grand View," including the purchase of the plot and the appropriations made for improving the ground and for purchasing headstones . . 30,485.41 For the transportation of flood sufferers . 17,176.16For freight, express charges, and telegrams 10,128.14 For printing and stationery . . . 694.01 Expenses of offices at Johnstown . . 7,774.00 Attorney's fees . . . . . . . . 98.97 Expenses of the First National Bank, Johnstown, con nected with the distributions . . . . . 750.42 Special sums as designated by the donors. . . 2,071.85 Distribution of sums specially appropriated by theCom mission . . . . . . . . . 2,675.00 Paid to committee the amount appropriated for a hos pital . . . . . . . . . . 40,000.00 Paid to committee the amount appropriated as an " Orphan Fund " . . . . . . . 119,616.88 Cash, "First Distribution" . . . . . . 416,472.00 Cash, "Final Distribution" . . . . . . 1,660,495.00Total expenditures in the Conemaugh Valley - $2,592,936.68