The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-11-11
TIRE PAID FIRE DEPARTMENT

TIRE PAID FIRE DEPARTMENT.
TIE FIREMEN occupied considerable of the
attention of Councils yesterday, the subject
of a paid Fire Department being introduced
in the shape of very forclbly worded petit
tion from some of the most prominent repre-
sentatives of the manufacturing, mercantile,
and professional interests of Philadelphia,
asking for the abolition of the volunteer sys-
tenn as q dangerous nuisance. This petition
set forth in very expressive language the sins
of omission and commission of the volunteer
firemen, and it indicated in an un-
mistakable manner that a well-founded
alarm at the present condition of affairs
exists in the minds of those who have the
greatest interest at stake in the efficiency of the
means provided for the extinguishment of
fires. AS an instance of the manner in which
the volunteer system fails to satisfy the con-
ditions of ali efficient organization, the petit
ton relates that at the recent sugar refinery fire
on Race street, above Fourth, two rival COM
panies at the outbreak of the fire disputed the
possession of plug for some twenty minutes,
during which time the confagration increased
beyond the power of the other companies to
subdue. In view of this and many other
facts that prove the worthlessness of the
volunteer system, the petitioners were clearly
right in saying ''That the volunteer Fire De-
partment of this city is subversive of the
best interests of this, the second city in the
Union, is fraught with great evils to the
morals and peace of the community, and is
not in keeping with the advanced spirit of the
age. That the rapid increase of manufacturing
establishments, and our large extent of terri
tory, containing valuable property liable at
any moment to the ravages of fire. call for a
regularly organized system of protection,
free from the evils necessarily connected with
an irresponsible body of volunteer fremen"
Perhaps stimulated by this petition, and
perhaps animated by mere sense of duty to
the public, Councils performed an exceed
ingly praiseworthy action in passing an ordi
nance dismissing from the Fire Depart.
ment the Good-Wi and Philadelphia
Steam Fire Engine Companies for rotous
conduct on the morning of July 10. If Coun-
ellis would act in this decided manner more
frequently, some of the evils of the volunteer
system would undoubtedly be corrected.
The ease with which the fremen have hith-
erto persuaded Councils to restore to active
service companies suspended for rioting has
been one of the greatest incentives to out
rage, for it has induced the tiremen to believe
that, so far as our municipal legislature was
concerned, they were practically free from
all restraints. The dismissal of the
two companies above named was
virtuous action, for which the members of
Councils who voted for it should have full
credit, but this alone will not suffice to put a
stop to the Generalization that now disgraces
the volunteer system, and the only efficient
remedy for the evils that every one knows to
exist is in a radical reform that will give us a
paid Fire Department absolutely under the
control of the municipal authorities. and with
such an efficiency of organization as can
never be obtained with independent volun-
teer companies.