It must be remembered that Messina was in a state of siege. That means that it was controlled in every department by a single central military authority. The state of siege was necessary in order to maintain order and health; but it entailed inevitable disadvantages in connection with relief work. Effective relief should be decentralized; it should operate through innumerable agents invested with responsibility and discretionary power, who seek out the individual and have the means to assist him. Government by martial law means that nothing can be done or given except by permission of the military chief, and an order for stores cannot be obtained in a minute. This was why the hospitals, the Red Cross stations and relief agencies of all kinds were so frequently short of supplies. Requisitions of particular articles which had run out, such as brandy or antiseptics or milk, required too great an expense of time; the workers were everywhere fewer than the needs: they could not be spared. From our own experience in sending telegrams or procuring permits we learned to appreciate the inevitable disabilities of a system of complete centralization in dealing with a situation of such chaotic complexity. What part we could take as independent distributors was not evident. Under the circumstances we decided to divide our supplies into three parts. The first, consisting of medical stores, milk, butter, oil, chocolate and underclothes, was given to the central medical officials, for use in the hospitals. The second, of a similar nature, we took to Reggio and San Giovanni, for distribution to the hospitals there. The medical authorities of each place selected from our lists the articles of which they were in need. The remainder of the stores we took to the consulate and distributed ourselves. [Illustration: THE QUAY WHERE CORPSES WERE LAID OUT, AWAITING BURIAL AT SEA.] In picking out individuals to assist, we paid special attention to residents of our own district, with whom we were beginning to become acquainted, to persons known to Mr. Heynes, and to such inhabitants of Messina as had some connection with America. We were constantly asked by Messinesi to send telegrams to their relatives in the United States, and if possible to help them rejoin those relatives. But as our immigration laws forbid the importation of the destitute, we had to tell the applicants that we could send their telegrams, but that we could not provide passage to America.