, 1874-12-04

Gen. Shnler advocates m Increased expend-
ituro Of $500, 900 to put our Fire Department
into an efficient condition for extinguishing
confagrations So far, Gen. Shalcr hes not
suggested anything new. This increase had
already been asked by the Department, and
the demand was regarded M exorbitnnt by
the tax-paying public, and refused by tho
Council. Gen. Shaler wants .Janrteea addi-
tional engines aud seventeen moro hook
anl-lntldcr companies. Flo evidently csti-
mates that, as Chicngo covers rs much ground,
according to lis defined limits, as Now York,
NO mood as many engines and as many fire.
men. But lio does not take into nccount that
Chicago, which now has Firo-Dcpart-
mellt only second in size to those Of Lon
don aud Now York, hns hardly two-1fths
tho population Of the ono nor onc-
eighth tho population of tho otler Wo do
not need engines nor men to protect open
spaces, aud Of these Our city limits contain
whole square miles. But there is another
consideration which Gen. Slnler also ignores,
to-wit: 100000 people cannot fairly bo asked
to expontl the ganle amount Of money on O
Fire~Depart,lent which is expended by mill
ion people il Quo city, Or three and half
millions in another. Our Fire-Dopar1nent,
in current expenses md gradual nccretious,
already costs us about tbrec.quartcrs Of 4
million a yenr; aud we must begin our re-
form with tho understanding tiat this is as
much RS the tax-payory Of Chicngo can we'll
bear. Az tlora is limit to tile capacity of
taxpayers, which Gen. Slsaler seems to oyo,-
look, 30 there il limit to tho usefulness
Of engines and tire-maohines, which he
appears likewise to forget. It is entirely
safo 10 say Tint tho working force Of our pres
ent Department il creator than our water
supply. If VIC hnd arrangements for drawing
water from tho lake or river in limitlcss ttat-
titles, or from vast cisterns Systematically dis
tributol throughout tho city, We might, por-
haps, in grent emergencies, employ largcr
number of engines and mon ut tllo point on
tlangored thau we now have, But the ca
pacity of eight or twelyo.inch pipes is readily
measured by number Of engines much
smaller than the number which we now have
OIL hnntl 70 increase tho engines, and the
number Of men to work them, Mt m immense
cost to tic city, so long as orr wnter.pipes
arc not sufficiently largo to feed any moro
thnn wo hive now, ut the point where ilro
may 10 raging, is to 60 Mt reform wrong-end
foremost; aud, if Gen. shalor l.as nothing
but this to suggest, it can hardly bo regarded
rs original, useful, Or likely to bo adopted.
Wo foar that tho renl trouble IS that Gen.
shaler is going to work with the idea that ho
coll provide for Chicago Just such system
Of fighting fires rs he has organizcd in brlclt-
antl-stonc-bni1t New York. However do
sirablo this might DO in the abstract, 1t is
uttcrly inprecticablo for the present Oht-
cago is totally different sort of city from Now
York, and syatona which, has succeeded III
tho latter would not necessarily succeed here.
New York IL so|idly uni more eonlpaotly built
Of uon.combustible materials, md possessed
Of ynatly greater wealth. If Gou. Eh'lor IL Il
nun Of resources he will recognize these dis
tiaotions. md start out to protect wooden
Chicago, not upon p1an modelled