In the selection of the kinds of food supplied the committee sought to obtain the most wholesome and nu tritious at the lowest cost. Wholesale dealers readily agreed, when called upon, to sell to the committee at first cost, thus saving the committee a large sum of money. Purchasers were given the full benefit of this saving, the charge being almost exact cost rate, exclusive of expenses of administration. The charge for food at the market was about half the usual price for the same article at any retail store in the city. After some slight changes the ration for four or five persons for one week was as follows : pota toes, 12 lbs.; corn meal, 10 lbs.; beans, 2 lbs., or hominy, 6 lbs.; bread, 6 loaves and 8 lbs. of flour, or 10 loaves of bread ; .fresh pork, 4 lbs. ; pickled pork, 2 lbs. ; lard,/ lb. ; coffee, I lb.; sugar, 1 lb.; syrup, 1 qt. ; salt,/ lb.; soap, 1 bar. The charge for this ration was $1. The commit tee reports that there was general satisfaction with it except in a few instances of persons of excessive appetite who wanted a larger quantity. Soon after the market was opened a committee representing one of the public meet ings of the unemployed visited the market and inspected the stock of supplies. They reported that the quality was good and commended the managers of the market. Ar rangements were also made to supply coal to those in need of fuel. A regular allowance of 300 lbs. per week was decided upon, and for this two tickets were issued, each calling for 150 lbs. It was delivered to the purchasers in wheelbarrows. A mining company gave thirteen car-loads of coal, which was sufficient to meet all demands until the latter part of February. A charge was made for the coal as for other supplies, but opportunities were given to earn it by work. The charge was fixed at ten cents per 100 lbs. When the donation was exhausted, the committee pur chased four car-loads, of which thirty tons were left on hand at the close of the work and turned over to the Charity Organization Society. Shoes were also supplied from the market, principally, however, old shoes collected by solicitors who made a house-to-house canvass for this purpose. A repair shop was opened, and shoes were sup plied at the exact cost of repairing, or at the price at which they had been purchased. All together, about 1500 pairs of shoes and boots, of various sizes, were collected and re paired, and 36 pairs were purchased. The latter were of large sizes for which the demand exceeded the supply of cast-off shoes. Six hundred and thirty-two pairs were on hand at the close of the work, and were turned over to the Charity Organization Society.
The expectation that the city might be able to provide employment on public work with compensation from the city treasury was not fulfilled. The committee finally offered to furnish the labor at its command for public work with the understanding that compensation would be made from the relief funds. It was through this kind of employment that credits were obtained at the market in return for which food, fuel, and shoes were supplied. In the beginning of the arrangement from fifty to sixty men a day were directed to report to the street commissioner for work, and they were sent by him to clean streets. Later the board of public works wanted to use the labor to make an excavation for a lake at Garfield Park. The
committee agreed to furnish the labor at their command for this purpose, on the condition that the board would provide transportation for the men from the central part of the city to the park, and thus save those living in the northern part of the city the hardship of walking several miles in going to, and returning from, their day's work. The board induced the Citizens' Railway Company to pro vide transportation without charge. While the street commissioner continued to utilize some of the labor in cleaning streets, a very much larger number of men were sent to the park to work on the excavation of the lake. The men seemed to prefer the work at the park for the reason that they were subjected to less public notice than when employed on the streets. The results of this par ticular work, however, were not satisfactory to the commit tee. Complaints were made from time to time that the facilities and superintendence provided by the board of public works were inadequate, and that many of the men shirked. Finally the committee assigned a man to the duty of looking after all labor, and daily reports were re quired from him regarding the conduct of the men. The information which was thus obtained enabled the commit tee to bring about better control of the men and compel more efficient work. A few discharges for insubordination and shirking had a wholesome effect. It was found that some of the men were sending their sons, from thirteen to sixteen years of age, to perform their work. This, how ever, was stopped, and for a time there were as many as three hundred men a day employed at the park, though the average was much below this.
At one time during the winter, immediately after a heavy snow-storm, several hundred men were put at work removing snow from the street gutters. Shovels were loaned for this purpose by the city and the natural gas companies. This was one of the most satisfactorily per formed tasks to which the men were assigned. As there were more than a thousand men pledged to perform labor in payment of their accounts at the market, it was deter mined that they should be assigned to do only one day's work at a time, so that all should be given sufficient em ployment to pay for the ration charged to them each week, with the exception of those who drew supplies for fami lies of more than four or five in number, who should be allowed to work two or three days a week. It was the purpose, in thus limiting the work, to avoid pledging the credit of the market in advance and possibly unnecessarily. The increasing number of applicants and the frequent interference with work by unfavorable weather, soon caused a large accumulation of indebtedness to the mar ket. To clear up this the committee asked the board of public works to provide employment for a time for from two to three hundred men a day, which was done, and the debtors were required to work successively as many days as necessary to liquidate their accounts. Many of the men took advantage of the circumstances which brought about this condition, and did not perform the work re quired to pay for the rations which they had received. When called upon to give their labor, in accordance with the agreement, they stopped drawing rations from the market.