[146] At San Francisco "after the fire, the proportion of families in
the lower income groups was somewhat larger, and the proportion in the
higher income groups somewhat smaller than before the fire." (Motley,
James M., _San Francisco Relief Survey_, New York, 1913, pt. iv,
p. 228.)
[147] Seager, Henry R., _Economics, Briefer Course_ (N. Y., 1909),
ch. xiii, p. 210.
It must be remembered that at Halifax while the equipmental damage was
stupendous, still the heart of the downtown business section remained
sound. The banking district held together, and the dislocation of
business machinery was less protracted on that account. To this it is
necessary to add how to a very considerable extent the material losses
were replaced by communities and countries which not only supplied the
city with the material of recuperation but with men and means as well.
Were her own workmen killed and injured? Glaziers, drivers, repair men
and carpenters came by train-loads bringing their tools, their food and
their wages with them. The city's population was increased by
thirty-five hundred workmen, twenty-three hundred of whom were
registered with the committee at one time. Was her glass destroyed?
Eighty acres of transparences came for the temporary repairs and had
been placed by January the twenty-first. Were her buildings gone? Seven
million, five hundred thousand feet of lumber were soon available to
house the homeless. Were her people destitute? Food and clothing were
soon stacked high. Were her citizens bankrupt because of losses? Fifty
thousand dollars came from Newfoundland, another fifty thousand from New
Zealand, one hundred thousand from Quebec, one hundred thousand from
Montreal, two hundred and fifty thousand from Australia, five million
from Great Britain. In merchandise, clothing and cash a million came
from Massachusetts. In about fifteen weeks, aside from the Federal
grant, eight millions were contributed. The total contributions from all
sources amounted finally to twenty-seven million dollars.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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