CHAPTER IX. RECEIVING, SORTING, AND STORING SUPPLIES. N the matter of receiving and storing, confusion and disorder at the outset were inevitable and unavoidable. The principal railroad depots were destroyed by the fire, and the three hundred and thirty car loads of goods of all kinds which from the 11th to the 16th of October were so lavishly poured in from all parts of the country and which, coming free of freight charges, were without way-bills or invoices, had necessarily to be unloaded from side tracks at remote points of the town, the packages instantly opened and their contents disposed of, or sent without record or count wherever they were most needed. It was a question then, only of feeding the starving and clothing the naked, and not of regularity of business; the law of humanity was paramount to the rules of commerce. General Sheridan had early taken possession of two large warehouses, and these, with full complement of workmen and guards, he presently turned over to a committee, Murray Nelson, chairman, to be assisted by General Hardie. This was the first step out of confusion. in this department. About the same time the Skating Rink on the West Side, two large stores, a smaller one, and the Church of the Messiah were taken and occupied, partly as storehouses and partly as points of distribution. They were no more than were needed then, for disorder demands space. But order was gradually evolved out of this chaos, as the heterogeneous mass of contributions gave way to regular, though larger, commercial orders, the railroad arrangements were brought back to something of their former facilities, regular and numerous points of distribution were established, and system generally introduced and maintained. In accordance with the principle of concentration adopted in all the departments of the work, as early as it was at all practicable the general warehouses were reduced to two only, the Rink in the West Division of the city and the Church of the Messiah on the South Side. The latter was continued especially in view of its being the headquarters at the time of the Special Bureau. When this was abandoned the Rink became the sole depot for all the articles, except vegetables, distributed in the various districts, and which were drawn from it by special requisition of the Superintendents as they were needed. A large frost-proof building was built for the storage of vegetables, and two large cellars were used for the same purpose. These several warehouses may be said to have constituted the wholesale department of the Relief work, as the distributing districts were the retail establishments. The aim was to manage all with commercial exactness and economy, and notwithstanding the immense difficulties in the way, a reasonable degree of system and success was early achieved. This is deemed a proper place to make acknowledgment of the contributions of the General Government, the amount of which appears in the subjoined statement. 23 CONSOLIDATED ABSTRACT OF QUARTERMASTER, SUBSISTENCE STORES, AND MONEY. Donated and Disbursed by the United States Government, through Captain James Gilliss, A. Q. M., U. S. A., and Colonel Robert CHICAGO RELIEF AND AID SOCIETY. |