All America and Canada to the Rescue
During the first three days after the terrible news
had been flashed over the world the relief fund from
the nation had leaped beyond the $5,000,000 mark.
New York took the lead in the most generous giving
that the world has ever seen. From every town
and country village the people hastened to the Town
Halls, the newspaper offices and wherever help was
to be found most quickly, to add their savings and
to sacrifice all but necessities for their stricken
fellow-countrymen. Never has there been such
a practical illustration of brotherly love. A
perfect shower of gold and food was poured out to
the sufferers to give them immediate assistance and
to help them to a new start in life. All relief
records were broken within two days of the disaster,
but still the purses of the rich and poor alike continued
to add to the huge contributions. Though the
relief records were broken, every succeeding dispatch
from the West told too plainly the terrible fact that
all records of necessity were also broken.
Over the entire globe Americans wherever they were
hastened to cable or telegraph their bankers to add
their share to the great work. A large fund was
at once started in London, and with contributions of
from $2,000 to $12,000 the sum was soon raised to
hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Individual contributions of $100,000 were common.
In addition to John D. Rockefeller’s gift of
this sum, his company, the Standard Oil, gave another
$100,000. The Steel Corporation and Andrew Carnegie
each gave $100,000. From London William Waldorf
Astor cabled his American representative, Charles
A. Peabody, to place $100,000 at once at the disposal
of Mayor Schmitz, of San Francisco, which was done.
The Dominion Government of Canada made a special appropriation
of $100,000 and the Canadian Bank of Commerce, at
Toronto, gave $10,000. And two of the great steamship
companies owned in Germany sent $25,000 each.
On nearly a dozen roads, two days before the fire
was over, great trains of freight cars loaded with
foodstuffs were hastening at express speed to San
Francisco. They had the right of way on every
line. E. H. Harriman, in addition to giving $200,000
for the Union Pacific, Southern Pacific and other
Harriman roads, issued orders that all relief trains
bound for the desolated city should have Precedence
over all other business of the roads.
Advices from many points indicated that at least 150
freight cars loaded with the necessaries so eagerly
awaited in San Francisco were speeding there as fast
as steam could drive them. In addition, several
steamers from other Pacific coast points, all food-laden,
were rushing toward the stricken city.
The rapidity with which the various relief funds in
every city grew was almost magical.
