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     As soon as the telegraph became functional, offers of help from the following cities arrived: Chicago, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Spokane, Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, Kansas City, Albany and New York City. Each of the cities was ready to support Omaha with money, clothes or food for the sufferers.

     The messages were received with great gratification, but nothing was used from the generous offers, which turned out later to be a big mistake.

     Washington, March 24 – President Wilson had offered government assistance to the city of Omaha, as a result of the fury from the tornado from which they so awfully suffered. He sent a message to Mayor Dahlman with the following content, “I am by the news from Nebraska most painfully touched, can we help you in any fashion?  (signed) Woodrow Wilson”.

     Also this help was thankfully refused from the help committee. The actions by the Omaha Commercial Club hindered the progress of the rescue workers, caused on one side by the wrong judgment of the situation and on the other side, possibly by a certain local proudness, that the city of Omaha could completely cope with the situation and that no outside help was needed. It was too early of a judgment and was spoken out against by large groups of citizens. That important business people had made these judgments, made it even less understandable. Then instinctively the common man said to himself, that with this huge disaster any help, wherever it would come from, should be welcomed with joy. The pressure by public opinion caused the Commercial Club to immediately withdraw their statement, and although in the meantime contributions came in from distant parts of the country, the first statement from the Commercial Club caused a lot of damage to the help fund.

     A heavy snowstorm came Tuesday before noon that covered the place of devastation, similar to a white blanket, so that the horror and picture of destruction was concealed, and at the same time ruined the last of personal property, and made the relief workers task more difficult.