Part 6 — APPENDIX I DOCUMENTS AND ORDERS (continued 2)
Reading edition
The Rehabilitation Committee’s experience proves that the authority to give the numbers for the case records should be in one place, so that confusion through the duplicating of numbers may be avoided. The rigid standards of the best charity organization societies are none too rigid, when one realizes that while such a society may deal within a year with from 2000 to 6000 families, a committee such as the Rehabilitation Committee might have to deal with over 25,000. Another most important consideration is the need of impressing workers with an appreciation of the value of records and of the call for absolute accuracy. It should be realized that care with records does not mean red tape or loss of time, but added efficiency. It means not only less worry for the workers themselves, but quicker meeting of the needs of individual families. Every minute spent in hunting for a lost record or endeavoring to supply an omitted entry, means a minute more of delay to a number of other families. These minutes grow astonishingly large in number, so that by and by they may be computed in days. Not only were there such delays at times, but it became occasionally necessary to reprove workers who had on their own responsibility made changes in the records. In some cases, for instance, the names of members of particular families were changed, without the knowledge of anyone except the worker involved. As a worker close to the Relief Survey has well said, “There is constant need of impressing the sacredness of a record upon those who use it.”
12 GENERAL PLAN OF HOUSING COMMITTEE
The following plan for handling applications for cottages to be built by contractors was followed in the main by Committee V:
1. Original requests were to be received by mail only and references were to be consulted by mail; but in reality many persons came to the office to file their applications.
2. When this work was finished and the case indexed the application was placed before the Housing Committee for:
a. Such further investigation as it deemed necessary.
b. Action by Committee.
3. When the Committee decided to make a grant, directions showing the kind of house to be built, the amount to be paid to the contractor, and the amount of the instalments to be paid by the applicant, were written on a slip and attached to the application.
4. The applicant was then notified of the action of the Committee and was told that he must execute the proper contracts with the bank selected by the Committee, as follows:
a. If the applicant were the owner of the land, a note and mortgage binding him to repay the agreed instalments were drawn up and deposited with the bank, or
b. If the applicant were a lessee or had a contract to purchase the land, a conditional contract of purchase providing that the title to the cottage was to remain with the bank till paid for, together with a consent and waiver from the owner of the land, so that the owner of the land would not get a title to the house until all of the payments were completed.
c. The applicant was required to produce a receipt showing that he had paid to the Board of Public Works the necessary deposit for opening the street and making proper sewer connections.
5. When the above papers had been executed and presented to the bank the Committee was notified at once.
6. Orders were then given to the contractor to proceed with the building of the house.
7. Arrangements were made with the auditing department for drawing and forwarding the checks to be paid when so ordered and signed by a representative of the Committee.
8. The contractor was required to send notice by mail to the Housing Committee when each building was completed.
9. Thereupon an inspector was sent to examine the house and report back to the Committee in writing within 24 hours.
10. When a satisfactory report was received from the Committee’s inspector the contractor was paid and the house turned over to the applicant.
The above outline of the method of procedure followed by the Committee, while perhaps not adhered to strictly in every case, was, in general, the usual plan adopted and served to expedite matters to a considerable degree.
In order to clarify the matter of the kind of houses the Committee would erect, they provided drawings for four or five different styles of buildings. These plans, with the price of each attached, were displayed by the Committee to all applicants, who selected the one desired in accordance with the price they were able to pay. However, the buildings actually erected were changed in minor features by the applicant or contractor with the consent of the Committee. The Committee engaged various contractors in no way connected with those retained by the Land and Building Department for the erection of camp cottages.
13 STATISTICS FROM ASSOCIATED CHARITIES[292]
A. RECEIPTS OF SAN FRANCISCO ASSOCIATED CHARITIES FROM ALL SOURCES, BY MONTHS FROM JUNE, 1907, TO SEPTEMBER, 1912, INCLUSIVE
Month 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912
January .. $13,696.38 $8,373.16 $33,330.79 $1,345.48 $7,411.68
February .. 8,971.17 5,481.74 8,941.58 7,395.55 8,773.40
March .. 10,007.52 35,261.67 11,250.79 5,773.97 5,217.50
April .. 17,455.98 10,934.18 11,381.90 5,851.66 14,972.31
May .. 14,073.68 6,947.41 8,005.59 10,145.33 9,876.84
June $318.31 18,318.59 10,732.56 11,743.57 14,083.40 16,221.65
July 1,240.76 10,303.64 7,655.22 7,066.97 1,426.34 10,536.56
August 5,577.91 6,704.84 10,513.91 5,370.14 16,576.94 2,057.50
September 511.69 9,745.11 6,621.73 6,989.75 4,881.17 8,056.67
October 26,054.15 8,370.00 8,518.84 11,364.10 11,354.83 ..
November 8,733.61 4,794.58 10,916.96 6,607.95 14,252.44 ..
December 13,027.63 7,143.04 9,637.70 10,294.14 17,850.90 ..
Total $55,464.06 $129,584.53 $131,595.08 $132,347.27 $110,938.01 $83,124.11
Monthly average $7,923.44 $10,798.71 $10,966.26 $11,028.94 $9,244.90 $9,236.01
B. DISBURSEMENTS OF SAN FRANCISCO ASSOCIATED CHARITIES FOR RELIEF AND FOR ADMINISTRATION, BY MONTHS, FROM JUNE, 1907, TO SEPTEMBER, 1912, INCLUSIVE[295]
Year and month Direct expenditures for relief Salaries and other expenditures for administra- tion[296] Total expenditures
1907 June $4,239.74 $1,916.60 $6,156.34
July 3,619.35 2,333.34 5,952.69
August 3,204.02 1,932.65 5,136.67
September 4,306.32 2,031.74 6,338.06
October 12,829.13 1,588.15 14,417.28
November 7,009.65 699.73 7,709.38
December 5,911.58 1,815.48 7,727.06
Total $41,119.79 $12,317.69 $53,437.48
Monthly average $5,874.26 $1,759.67 $7,633.93
1908 January $6,622.00 $2,253.80 $8,875.80
February 13,714.34 2,463.79 16,178.13
March 11,011.52 2,738.34 13,749.86
April 9,611.49 3,423.24 13,034.73
May 13,846.07 2,407.35 16,253.42
June 9,322.52 4,560.45 13,822.97
July 10,852.82 3,099.19 13,952.01
August 6,314.71 828.04 7,142.75
September 7,716.84 3,795.43 11,512.27
October 7,115.43 2,429.44 9,544.87
November 4,852.45 1,932.49 6,784.94
December 4,376.88 2,036.40 6,413.28
Total $105,357.07 $31,967.96 $137,325.03
Monthly average $8,779.76 $2,664.00 $11,443.75
1909 January $4,921.96 $2,129.55 $7,051.51
February 8,245.75 2,150.02 10,395.77
March 7,394.84 3,004.12 10,398.96
April 7,417.48 2,074.63 9,492.11
May 6,120.89 2,081.97 8,202.86
June 6,872.41 1,878.56 8,750.97
July 6,210.19 2,156.40 8,366.59
August 6,816.13 2,447.93 9,264.06
September 6,332.06 2,066.15 8,398.21
October 4,931.47 2,027.76 6,959.23
November 6,291.56 1,968.69 8,260.25
December 7,919.00 2,473.45 10,392.45
Total $79,473.74 $26,459.23 $105,932.97
Monthly average $6,622.81 $2,204.94 $8,827.75
1910 January $6,672.87 $2,596.15 $9,269.02
February 8,910.76 2,102.22 11,012.98
March 12,762.54 2,156.48 14,919.02
April 7,603.22 2,375.26 9,978.48
May 7,696.27 2,317.41 10,013.68
June 8,118.11 2,691.02 10,809.13
July 6,465.31 2,565.34 9,030.65
August 7,019.96 2,295.84 9,315.80
September 6,349.54 2,119.41 8,468.95
October 6,801.31 1,729.99 8,531.30
November 6,479.83 2,091.95 8,571.78
December 6,648.04 2,001.97 8,650.01
Total $91,527.76 $27,043.04 $118,570.80
Monthly average $7,627.31 $2,253.59 $9,880.90
1911 January $6,232.45 $2,415.48 $8,647.93
February 6,557.76 1,845.99 8,403.75
March 6,694.31 1,997.20 8,691.51
April 7,440.59 2,253.58 9,694.17
May 6,963.05 3,030.28 9,993.33
June 7,104.07 2,152.68 9,256.75
July 6,061.51 2,088.62 8,150.53
August 8,378.50 2,138.88 10,517.38
September 5,295.61 2,285.35 7,580.96
October 5,352.32 2,456.61 7,808.93
November 7,004.82 2,632.77 9,637.59
December 7,072.07 2,213.52 9,285.59
Total $80,157.06 $27,510.96 $107,668.02
Monthly average $6,679.76 $2,292.58 $8,972.33
1912 January $8,057.74 $2,732.89 $10,790.63
February 9,869.41 2,383.10 12,252.51
March 9,162.64 2,545.83 11,708.47
April 7,209.24 2,356.18 9,565.42
May 7,746.63 3,402.04 11,148.67
June 13,484.32 2,815.99 16,300.31
July 9,824.77 2,587.55 12,412.32
August 9,824.77 2,587.55 12,412.32
September 7,465.69 2,741.52 10,207.21
Total $82,645.21 $24,152.65 $106,797.86
Monthly average $9,182.80 $2,683.63 $11,866.43
C. TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS AND AVERAGE MONTHLY DISBURSEMENTS OF SAN FRANCISCO ASSOCIATED CHARITIES FOR RELIEF AND ADMINISTRATION, BY YEARS. 1907 TO 1912[299]
Year Direct expenditures for relief Salaries and other expenditures for administration Total expenditures
Total yearly expenditures in
1907[300] $41,119.79 $12,317.69 $53,437.48
1908 105,357.07 31,967.96 137,325.03
1909 79,473.74 26,459.23 105,932.97
1910 91,527.76 27,043.04 118,570.80
1911 80,157.06 27,510.96 107,668.02
1912[301] 82,645.21 24,152.65 106,797.86
Average monthly expenditures in
1907[300] 5,874.26 1,759.67 7,633.93
1908 8,779.76 2,664.00 11,443.75
1909 6,622.81 2,204.94 8,827.75
1910 7,627.31 2,253.59 9,880.90
1911 6,679.76 2,292.58 8,972.33
1912[301] 9,182.80 2,683.63 11,866.43