The committees, agencies, firms and people involved and the American Red Cross all collectively feel that no sum of money could compensate the families for their losses. It is decided that the Relief Fund will not be considered a compensation fund, to be used for reimbursement of losses. Rather, as a relief fund it will be expended according to the degree of need of each family, as nearly as can be ascertained.
The American Red Cross tackles the problem to determine the need of each family. Many families possess debts incurred prior to or as a result of the tragedy, while other families have incumbrances upon their properties. Some families possess no property, savings or life insurance. In other families, all of the children are grown and working; in others, the children are young or unhealthy. In a few instances, some families' dependents are in other parts of the United States and in Europe.
To equitably distribute funds to the families, exact knowledge is required of the families' economic status, their incomes after the disaster, their ownership of real estate, their possession of life insurance and savings, and also social facts regarding health and living conditions. To ascertain each family's condition resulting from the Eastland Disaster, an investigation is initiated.
The communities affected are divided into districts. Fifty trained workers begin providing systematic relief of the families. They also begin the investigations for the permanent distributions.
In conference with a family, the relief worker arrives at a decision as to the amount of money that will be paid regularly each week or month. These payments begin immediately, leaving no family in need waiting for funds to be released. (The money is paid from the $100,000 that the Western Electric Company had appropriated.) The amount of public money from the Relief Fund that would be available and the decision as to the final disbursement are to be determined later. Numerous questions are considered.
- How did the new situations that were instantly created by the Eastland Disaster affect each family's independence?
- What families would be unable to maintain a proper standard of living because of the losses of wage-earning members?
- What families would need the protection of the American Red Cross and other agencies to ensure that young children could be properly reared to the age of self support?
- What safeguards should be provided when the natural protectors were killed?
The investigation is thorough. Facts as to payments are secured from original sources, such as insurance companies and benefit societies. Ownership of property is certified. The ages of children are established. In the instances where there are dependent women and children in Europe, investigations through American embassies (frequently in the war zone) are necessary.
All facts pertaining to a family are put into a single record of that case. Once the 883 records are completed, they are tabulated according to the social status of the survivors. For example, all widows with children are tabulated together, thus setting off one widow's circumstances against another's.
As the facts about the cases are learned and subscriptions to the public Relief Fund are closed, the task turns to how to equalize the payments to the families. No consideration is given to distribute the fund on a pro-rata basis. This would have resulted in the families of each victim receiving about $470. Additionally, this would not have been the least bit fair. Instead, the American Red Cross devises the "Eastland Disaster method of equalizing relief grants."
Source: Final Report, Eastland Disaster Relief Committee, Chicago Chapter, American Red Cross, 1918.
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