Whereas, The fire has so crippled the merchants and business interests in the City of Baltimore that they are unable adequately and properly to provide and care for the many who are rendered homeless and penniless by this calamity, and Whereas, The City of Baltimore and its people are probably unable in the face of the unlooked for catastrophe to provide proper means for effectually checking the fire and promptly to remove the embers and debris; and Whereas, The same, while remaining, are constantly a menace to the safety of many citizens, it is enacted that the Secretary of the Treasury be authorized and directed to pay upon the order of the City Council of Baltimore, certified by the Mayor of the city, to any designated authority of said city, any necessary sum of money not exceeding the sum of $1,000,000 out of any money in the treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, to be used for the purpose of providing shelter for those rendered homeless by the said fire, and also to be used for the purpose of clearing the streets and localities devastated by the fire and in order to render the city available for the use of residents and others as speedily as possible. The bill was referred to the committee on appropriations. Two days after the fire insurance men estimated the loss at $125,000,000 and the insurance carried at $90,000,000. For the thousands of clerks and other employes whose positions are gone forever there seemed to be nothing before them but to move to other cities. In the work of rebuilding came employment for another army, but it offered no avenue of escape to those whose doom was sounded by the explosions of dynamite and the crash of falling walls. Few of the men were fitted for the heavy labor of the building trades. Baltimore's great wholesale houses and wharf district have been ruined--not irrevocably, but to such an extent that the fear grips the heart of every Baltimore business man that the city may be unable to recover from it for many years. Amid ruins still hot and smoking Baltimore began its resurrection and made known its determination to rise, Phoenix-like, through its own efforts, by politely, yet firmly declining proffers of help that poured in from all sides. The blow that befell Baltimore aroused an intense civic pride that found expression in an effort to work out its own salvation. In declining financial assistance Mayor McLane was actuated by the spirit shown by the Chamber of Commerce, Stock Exchange and practically every local commercial body, which came forward with offers of all the money needed by the city for immediate use. It was decided that should the Herculean task prove too great for the municipality there would still be ample time to seek outside assistance.