Daily Republican., 1880-01-27
Philadelphia Fire Department.

Philadelphia Fire Department.
1t looks now ID if Philadelphia wa
to have several law suits on hant
brought by the owners of property de
stroysd recently by fire. The pie,
upon which the suits are to be brough
is that there has not been q suficienc,
Of hose supplied by the City Couuci
for the Fire Department and What ha
been supplied is Of such an inferio
quality that it bursts while in servic,
and is worse than no hose at all. A
the Whitman fire on Sunday it is sale
that more than dozen sections of hos,
burst, and that the consequent increas,
Of the destruction Of property far ex
ceeded what it would have cost
to have supplied the city with all the
good hose that it needs. Philadelphia
has paid fire department and the city
finds engines, hose, ladders and every
thing needful for extinguishing fires,
and pays living salary to all en-
ployed il the department, thereby
shifting the whole responsibility Of an
efficient fire department from the shoul-
der, a volunteer department to the
City Council. The defects of the work. :.
ing system of tie department are said
to be found in the interjecting of poll
tics into the constitution of the
force and the false economy of
Councils in their refusal to pur-
chase the hest OF hose. The Even
ing "Bulletin " in referring to the
matter, says that so long as Councils
refuse appropriations to the Fire de-
partment and continue..the stupid law of
giving contracts 10 what is called the
lowest bidder, so long must Philadelphia
continue t. suffer not only from the
destructive effects of uncontrolled fires,
but it must suffer from the disrepute of
fires raging tsyond the control of the
department because it has little but
rotten and bursting hose at its com
mand. This is certainly bad state of
affairs for the Philadelphia Fire depart.
ment to be in, and while it should not
be used as an argument against the ef-
fciency of paid Fire department, it
shows that the introduction of politics
into the department will make it much
less efficient than the old volunteer
system was. There are some things in
which it will not do to exercise the most
rigid economy and one of those things
is the purchase of hose for Fire compa-
MES. To have good hose is about the
most particular thing in an efficient
Fire department, and the idea of giving a
contract for furnishing hose to the lowest
bidder is simply ridiculous, and Phila-
felphia having been purchasing hose
On the 'lowest bidder" principle will
now probably have to pay more for the
results of such a niggardly policy, than
it would have cost her to have supplied |
very hose carriage in the department
With the best kind OF hose at the high
'st prices. 1t is not always economy
hat economies. 1t would bs much
otter to leave the purchase of hose to
he different fire companies themselves
han to let such an important matter
Do controlled by the meanness which
pervades a City Council con-
rolled by narrow partisanship, for in
hat case wholesome rivalry between
'mpanies would result in each trying
. have the best hose. So far as we
;now the fire companies of Wilmington
lnder the volunteer department, are
upplied with an ample supply Of {
he best OF hose, hut if it is not We hope
profitable lesson will be learned from
he inefticieDcy Of the Philadelphia I
aid department, rendered so by a fail ,
Ire to be supplied with good hose. 8